Uguisu no naku ni tsukete ya makane fuku kibi no yamabito haru o shiruramu - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

鶯の鳴くにつけてやまかねふく
吉備の山人春を知るらむ

Roma-ji: Uguisu no naku ni tsukete ya makane fuku kibi no yamabito haru o shiruramu
English Translation: Is it by the songs
the warblers sing that they know,
where the iron's forged,
the mountain folk of Kibi,
that the spring has come again
Meaning: Is it by the warbler's song that the mountain people of Kibi, land of forged iron, come to know that spring has arrived?
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems 12

The poet imagines that the people of the distant mountain villages of Kibi learn of spring not from the calendar but from the warbler's song. He borrows the phrase 'Kibi, where the iron's forged' from a sacred song in the Kokinshū.
The author, Akisue, is Fujiwara no Akisue. A son of Fujiwara no Takatsune, he was trusted as a close retainer of Emperor Shirakawa because his mother had been the emperor's wet nurse, and he rose to Master of the Office of Palace Repairs. He founded the Rokujō Fujiwara house of poetry.

First line, 'uguisu no', is the bird that announces spring; from this poem through poem 16, poems on the warbler follow one another.
Second line, 'naku ni tsukete ya', means by its singing, with ya forming a question that pairs with ramu in the final line.
Third line, 'makane fuku', is a pillow word for Kibi, meaning to smelt iron, because Kibi was a source of iron.
Fourth line, 'kibi no yamabito', are the people living in the mountains of Kibi, villagers far from the capital.
Final line, 'haru o shiruramu', is the same final line as poem 9, and shares its guess at how spring is known.
Author: Fujiwara no Akisue
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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