Sudaka wataru irago ga saki o utagaite nao ki ni kaeru yamagaeri kana

巣鷹渡る伊良湖が崎を疑ひて
なほ木に帰る山帰りかな

Roma-ji: Sudaka wataru irago ga saki o utagaite nao ki ni kaeru yamagaeri kana
English Translation: Fearing to cross over
Cape Irago where the hawks
fly off from the nest,
it returns still to the trees—
the yamagaeri hawk.
Meaning: Doubtful of crossing Cape Irago, where the nest-reared hawks fly over, it returns to the trees after all—a hawk true to its name, yamagaeri, "back to the mountains."
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1389

Headnote: "Hearing that two hawks were to make the Irago crossing, but that one of them had stayed behind and was perched at the top of a tree"
Hearing that two hawks were to cross the sea at Irago but one stayed behind in a treetop, Saigyō composed this. Doubtful of crossing Cape Irago, the hawk returns to the trees after all, a true yamagaeri.
Cape Irago was famous for hawks crossing the sea in flocks in autumn. The hawk that lost its nerve and turned back is portrayed like a person. Yamagaeri, a hawk that has spent a year in the mountains and molted, is overlaid with the sense of "returning to the mountains."

First line, “sudaka wataru”: sudaka is a hawk taken from the nest and reared; the line has an extra syllable.
Second line, “irago ga saki o”: Cape Irago in Mikawa.
Third line, “utagaite”: doubting, hesitating.
Fourth line, “nao ki ni kaeru”: still returning to the trees.
Fifth line, “yamagaeri kana”: the name of a hawk that has spent a year in the hills, echoing "return to the mountains"; kana is exclamatory.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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