誰が里に語らひかねて時鳥
帰る山路のたよりなるらむ
帰る山路のたよりなるらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Taga sato ni kataraikanete hototogisu kaeru yamaji no tayori naruramu
- English Translation
-
In whose village was
it that you failed to win your talk,
O hototogisu,
that you call here only by chance
on your way back to the hills
- Meaning
- In whose village did you fail to find someone to talk with, cuckoo, that you stop here only in passing on your way back along the mountain road?
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 315
The poet wonders whether the cuckoo calls here only because it failed to talk as it wished in some other village, stopping by on its way back to the hills. Likening the cuckoo to a lover, the poem resentfully suggests he visits only in passing on his way home from another woman.
The first line, "taga sato ni" (in whose village), poses a question.
The second line, "kataraikanete," means unable to converse, overlaid with failing to share intimate talk with a lover.
The third line, "hototogisu," names the bird that calls in early summer, here standing for a visitor.
The fourth line, "kaeru yamaji no," refers to the road back to the mountains.
The final line, "tayori naruramu," combines the copula "nari" and conjectural "ramu": is it only a chance stop?
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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