Hashitaka no suzuro kasade mo furusasete suetaru hito no arigata no yo ya

はし鷹のすずろかさでもふるさせて
据ゑたる人のありがたの世や

Roma-ji: Hashitaka no suzuro kasade mo furusasete suetaru hito no arigata no yo ya
English Translation: The sparrow hawk—
not sending it off rashly,
letting it grow old,
one who keeps it on the hand,
how rare in this world of ours!
Meaning: One who keeps a sparrow hawk on the hand, never sending it off rashly but letting it grow old in his care—how rare such a person is in this world!
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1390

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Hearing that two hawks were to make the Irago crossing, but that one of them had stayed behind..."
Taking up the same story of the two hawks: one who keeps a sparrow hawk on his hand, not sending it off rashly but letting it age in his care, is rare in this world, the poet says.
The poem is full of hard-to-construe words and its meaning is unsettled. Here it is taken as praising one who cherishes and keeps a hawk that stayed behind rather than crossing the sea, letting it grow old.

First line, “hashitaka no”: of the sparrow hawk, a small hawk.
Second line, “suzuro kasade mo”: hard to construe, taken as "not sending it off rashly."
Third line, “furusasete”: taken as "letting it grow old."
Fourth line, “suetaru hito no”: of one who keeps it perched on the hand.
Fifth line, “arigata no yo ya”: arigata is rare; ya is exclamatory.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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