郭公必ず待つとなけれども
夜な夜な目をも覚ましつるかな
夜な夜な目をも覚ましつるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Hototogisu kanarazu matsu to nakeredomo yona yona me o mo samashitsuru kana
- English Translation
-
Hototogisu—
it is not that I must
wait for you, and yet
night after night my eyes have
woken from their sleep for you.
- Meaning
- It is not that I am waiting for the hototogisu, and yet night after night I have found myself waking.
- Commentary
-
Summer Poems 139
Headnote: "Waiting for the hototogisu"
This poem was composed on the topic of waiting for the hototogisu. While claiming he is not waiting, the poet shows himself waking every night to listen for its voice, expressing his longing for the first call by way of paradox.
The Ruijū text gives the headnote as "On the spirit of waiting for the hototogisu." Kamo no Mabuchi judged lines 2 and 3 to be in the manner of the poet's later period. In the source text consulted, some characters in line 4 could not be read and have been supplied from the Teika text's yona yona me o mo.
Line 1 names the hototogisu, the object of waiting, at the outset. Four poems through 142 form a sequence under the topic "Waiting for the hototogisu."
Line 2, "that I must wait," is a preamble set up only to be denied.
Line 3 is concessive, "it is not so, and yet." Along with "without meaning to hear" in the next poem, 140, and "I cannot say I do not wait" in 141, this deliberate denial of waiting runs through the sequence.
Line 4, "night after night my eyes too," shows the reality of broken sleep despite the denial.
Line 5: tsuru is the attributive of the perfective tsu and kana an exclamation, "how I have woken."
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
-
Satsuki matsu oda no masurao itoma nami sekiiru mizu ni kawazu nakunari
- Next Poem
-
Hototogisu kiku to wa nashi ni takekuma no matsu ni zo natsu no hikazu henubeki