Samidare no harema mo mienu kumoji yori yamahototogisu nakite sugu nari

五月雨の晴れ間も見えぬ雲路より
山ほととぎす鳴きて過ぐなり

Roma-ji: Samidare no harema mo mienu kumoji yori yamahototogisu nakite sugu nari
English Translation: In the summer rain,
no clear break to be seen,
through the cloudy path
the mountain cuckoo, it seems,
passes, singing as it goes.
Meaning: Through the path of clouds, where no break in the early summer rain can be seen, a mountain cuckoo seems to pass, singing as it goes.
Commentary: Summer Poems 198

Headnote: "The cuckoo in the rain"
This poem was composed on the topic of the cuckoo in the rain. From thick clouds with no break in the endless rain, only the voice of a mountain cuckoo is heard as it passes. The poem catches the song of a bird unseen, deep within the rain clouds.
Where the preceding poem lamented the cuckoo that does not sing under the rainy sky, this one tells of a cuckoo singing as it passes through the same rain clouds, moving from a poem of waiting to a poem of hearing.

First line, “samidare no”: the long rains of the Fifth Month, leading to harema in the second line.
Second line, “harema mo mienu”: not even a break in the rain clouds can be seen.
Third line, “kumoji yori”: kumoji is the path through the clouds where birds and the moon travel, and yori marks the route, passing through the clouds.
Fourth line, “yamahototogisu”: the cuckoo come out from the mountains.
Fifth line, “nakite sugu nari”: nari infers from sound; the auxiliary itself conveys that the bird is not seen and its passing is known only by its voice.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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