Miyama idete mada sato narenu hototogisu tabi no sora naru ne o ya nakuramu - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

み山出でてまだ里なれぬほととぎす
旅の空なる音をや鳴くらむ

Roma-ji: Miyama idete mada sato narenu hototogisu tabi no sora naru ne o ya nakuramu
English Translation: Leaving the deep hills,
still a stranger to the village,
the little cuckoo,
as though under traveler's skies,
may be crying out its song
Meaning: Having just come down from the deep mountains and not yet at home in the village, is the cuckoo crying with the forlorn voice of one beneath a traveler's sky?
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 104

The poet imagines that the cuckoo, just come down from the deep mountains and not yet used to the village, must be singing with the forlorn voice of one under a traveler's sky. The cuckoo, thought to descend from the hills to the villages in early summer, is likened to a traveler.
From this poem through poem 126, poems on the cuckoo follow one another, expressing every mood around the bird: waiting for its first song, seeking it out, rejoicing at hearing it and lamenting having missed it.
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, 'miyama idete', means leaving the deep mountains, marking the season when the cuckoo comes out to the villages. The line has an extra syllable.
Second line, 'mada sato narenu', means not yet at home in the village; nu is the attributive form of the negative zu.
Third line, 'hototogisu', is the bird that stands for early summer and the central motif of this book.
Fourth line, 'tabi no sora naru', means as if under a traveler's sky, likening the cuckoo to a traveler.
Final line, 'ne o ya nakuramu', means is it crying out its song; the particle ya binds with the conjectural ramu, sympathizing with its loneliness.
Author: Fujiwara no Akisue
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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