五月山木高き峰のほととぎす
たそがれ時の空に鳴くなり
たそがれ時の空に鳴くなり
- Roma-ji
-
Satsukiyama kodakaki mine no hototogisu tasogaredoki no sora ni nakunari
- English Translation
-
Fifth-month mountains—
on the peak of lofty trees
the hototogisu
in the sky at twilight time
I can hear it singing out.
- Meaning
- From the peak of tall trees on the fifth-month mountain, I hear the hototogisu singing in the twilight sky.
- Commentary
-
Summer Poems 157
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The hototogisu"
The poet hears the hototogisu that lives on the peak of tall trees in the leafy mountains of the fifth month singing in the evening sky. Through a voice that links the high peak and the darkening sky, he portrays the expanse of an early-summer evening.
In the source text consulted, a character at the start of line 2 could not be read and has been supplied from the Teika text's kodakaki mine no.
Line 1, satsukiyama, is a mountain thick with green leaves around the fifth month.
Line 2 means "a peak of tall trees."
Line 3 sets the hototogisu as the bird of the peak.
Line 4, tasogaredoki, is twilight. Against the morning voice of "morning after morning" in the preceding poem, this poem sings of the evening voice, so morning and evening form a pair.
Line 5: nari infers from sound, sensing the bird by its voice resounding in the sky.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
-
Tamakushige hakone no yama no hototogisu mukau no sato ni asa na asa na naku
- Next Poem
-
Minahito no na o shimo yobu ka hototogisu nakunaru koe no sato o toyomuru