Hototogisu tsuki no katabuku yama no ha ni idetsuru koe no kaeri iru kana

郭公月の傾く山の端に
出でつる声の帰り入るかな

Roma-ji: Hototogisu tsuki no katabuku yama no ha ni idetsuru koe no kaeri iru kana
English Translation: O cuckoo,
to the mountain's rim where now
the moon is sinking,
the voice that came forth just now
turns back and goes in again.
Meaning: O cuckoo, your voice that came forth goes back again into the mountain's rim where the moon is sinking low.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1472

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems on the Cuckoo"
The closing poem of the ten on the cuckoo. The cuckoo's voice that came from the mountain's rim goes back again toward the rim where the moon is setting.
It traces the movement of the cuckoo's voice as the bird flies off calling, overlaid on the mountain edge where the moon goes down. Through the motion of a voice that comes forth and returns, it conveys both the brevity of a single call and the hour near dawn. By bringing in the moon at the close of the cuckoo poems, it links to the ten on the moon that follow.

First line, “hototogisu”: an address naming the subject.
Second line, “tsuki no katabuku”: the moon leaning west and about to set, showing that dawn is near.
Third line, “yama no ha ni”: to the mountain's rim.
Fourth line, “idetsuru koe no”: tsuru marks completion, "the voice that came forth."
Fifth line, “kaeri iru kana”: paired with “ide” in the fourth line, "goes back in again"; kana marks exclamation.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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