Hototogisu sono nochi koen yamaji ni mo katarau koe wa kawarazaranan

ほととぎすその後越えん山路にも
語らふ声は変はらざらなん

Roma-ji: Hototogisu sono nochi koen yamaji ni mo katarau koe wa kawarazaranan
English Translation: O you cuckoo,
on the mountain paths I'll cross
in the days to come,
let that voice that speaks to me
never change, I pray of you.
Meaning: O cuckoo, on the mountain paths I will cross after this, too, may the voice with which you speak to me so fondly never change.
Commentary: Summer Poems 192

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composing five poems on the cuckoo"
This poem closes the set of five cuckoo poems. The poet hopes that the voice of the cuckoo, which now sings to him so intimately, will sound the same on the mountain paths he will cross in the days ahead. It reveals a fondness for the bird as though it were a companion on the road.
The five poems begin with walking a mountain path without hearing the song, move through a longing that never tires, the seeing off of a fading voice, and a wish to hold the voice back, and end with this hope for an unchanging voice on paths still to come. The first and fifth poems both speak of mountain paths, so the set begins and ends on the mountain road.

First line, “hototogisu”: presented as an address to the bird.
Second line, “sono nochi koen”: that I will cross hereafter; n is the attributive of the conjectural mu.
Third line, “yamaji ni mo”: on other mountain paths too; the word yamaji echoes the last line of the first of the five poems, linking the beginning and end of the set.
Fourth line, “katarau koe wa”: katarau is to talk intimately, a word also used for the cuckoo's song.
Fifth line, “kawarazaranan”: nan is a final particle expressing a wish addressed to another, may it not change.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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