Waga yado ni hanatachibana o uete koso yamahototogisu matsu bekarikere

我が宿に花橘を植ゑてこそ
山ほととぎす待つべかりけれ

Roma-ji: Waga yado ni hanatachibana o uete koso yamahototogisu matsu bekarikere
English Translation: In my dwelling place
had I planted orange blooms,
only then, I see,
for the mountain cuckoo's song
should I have waited and watched.
Meaning: Only after planting a flowering mandarin orange tree at my own home should I have waited for the mountain cuckoo.
Commentary: Summer Poems 182

Headnote: "The cuckoo"
This poem was composed on the topic of the cuckoo. Since the cuckoo was thought to be drawn to the blossoms of the tachibana, the poet reflects that he should first have planted one at his home before waiting for the mountain cuckoo. Looking back on himself, who had waited without planting it, he expresses his longing for the bird.
The pairing of tachibana blossoms and the cuckoo is a tradition going back to the Kokinshū, and the poem rests on that convention.

First line, “waga yado ni”: at my own dwelling.
Second line, “hanatachibana o”: the tachibana, a mandarin orange that bears white blossoms in early summer, a flower the cuckoo was thought to love.
Third line, “uete koso”: koso stresses only by planting it.
Fourth line, “yamahototogisu”: the cuckoo that comes down from the mountains to the villages.
Fifth line, “matsu bekarikere”: koso is answered by the perfective form kere, expressing the belated realization that only then should he have waited.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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