あしひきの山郭公木隠れて
目にこそ見えね音のさやけさ
目にこそ見えね音のさやけさ
- Roma-ji
-
Ashihiki no yama hototogisu kogakurete me ni koso miene oto no sayakesa
- English Translation
-
From the footsore hills
the mountain hototogisu,
hidden in the trees,
though it cannot meet the eye—
how clear and pure its voice rings!
- Meaning
- Hidden among the trees, the mountain hototogisu cannot be seen—yet how clear its voice rings out!
- Commentary
-
Summer Poems 149
Headnote: "The hototogisu"
The poet celebrates the clear, pure voice of a mountain hototogisu hidden among the trees. Contrasting the unseen form with the heard voice, he captures the charm of a bird that makes its presence known by sound alone.
The Ruijū text gives the headnote as "Poems on the hototogisu." The structure of knowing by sound what the eye cannot see recalls Fujiwara no Toshiyuki's Kokin Wakashū poem on autumn's arrival, unseen by the eye but startling in the sound of the wind.
Line 1, ashihiki no, is a pillow word for "mountain." The next poem, 150, opens with the same "mountain hototogisu," and the two stand side by side.
Line 2 names the mountain hototogisu.
Line 3, kogakurete, "hidden in the trees," gives the reason it cannot be seen.
Line 4 concludes the binding particle koso with the evaluative ne and continues concessively, "though it is not seen."
Line 5 ends on a noun, sayakesa, the nominal form of sayakeshi, expressing wonder at the voice's clarity. The next poem shows the bird emerging into the moonlight to sing, so the hidden bird and the revealed bird form a pair.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
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Hototogisu naku koe ayana satsukiyami kiku hito nashimi ame wa furitsutsu
- Next Poem
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Ashihiki no yama hototogisu miyama idete yo fukaki tsuki no kage ni nakunari