Hototogisu kiku to wa nashi ni takekuma no matsu ni zo natsu no hikazu henubeki

時鳥聞くとはなしに武隈の
まつにぞ夏の日数経ぬべき

Roma-ji: Hototogisu kiku to wa nashi ni takekuma no matsu ni zo natsu no hikazu henubeki
English Translation: Hototogisu—
without hearing you at all,
like Takekuma's pine
I only wait, and summer's days
will surely pass me by this way.
Meaning: Without ever hearing the hototogisu, I shall spend summer's days only waiting, like the pine of Takekuma.
Commentary: Summer Poems 140

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Waiting for the hototogisu"
The poet laments that, without hearing the hototogisu, he will spend the days of summer doing nothing but wait. Playing on matsu, "pine" and "wait," in the famous pine of Takekuma in Michinoku, he entrusts his longing to the name of a celebrated place.
According to the source's note, line 3 read takema no in the original and the editor emended it to takekuma no following the Ruijū and Teika texts; this edition follows that emendation.

Line 1 again names the hototogisu at the outset, continuing from the preceding poem.
Line 2, "without meaning to hear," is the same as line 2 of the next poem, 141, so the two stand side by side in expressing the waiting heart.
Line 3 introduces Takekuma, a poetic place in Michinoku long celebrated for its pine with twin trunks.
Line 4: matsu is a pivot word meaning both the pine of Takekuma and "to wait," and zo is a binding particle.
Line 5: nubeki means "will surely come to," concluding zo in the attributive form.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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