ほととぎす姿は水に宿れども
声は映らぬものにぞありける
声は映らぬものにぞありける
- Roma-ji
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Hototogisu sugata wa mizu ni yadoredomo koe wa utsuranu mono ni zo arikeru
- English Translation
-
O little cuckoo,
though your form within the water
finds a place to dwell,
your voice, it seems, is something
that no water can reflect
- Meaning
- The cuckoo's form is mirrored in the water, but its voice, I find, is something that cannot be reflected there.
- Commentary
-
Book Two Summer Poems 106
The poet realizes that while the flying cuckoo's form is mirrored on the water, its voice cannot be. Contrasting form and voice, the poem expresses, as a clever discovery, the regret of gazing at the reflection while longing for the fading song.
From poem 104 through poem 126 in this book, 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, Tadamichi, is Fujiwara no Tadamichi. A son of Fujiwara no Tadazane, he rose to Regent and Chancellor and was called the Hosshōji Regent. He also excelled in Chinese verse and calligraphy.
First line, 'hototogisu', opens by naming the theme.
Second line, 'sugata wa mizu ni', is the cuckoo's form reflected on the water, set against 'its voice' in the fourth line.
Third line, 'yadoredomo', uses yadoru in the sense of being reflected: though the form is mirrored, leading on concessively to the lower half.
Fourth line, 'koe wa utsuranu', means the voice is not reflected, in contrast with 'its form' in the second line.
Final line, 'mono ni zo arikeru', is a binding in which zo closes on the attributive keru, expressing the wonder of discovery. The line has an extra syllable. Poem 109 in this book ends with the same final line.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Tadamichi
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Kyō mo mata tazune kurashitsu hototogisu ikade kikubeki hatsune naruramu
- Next Poem
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Hototogisu nakitsu to kataru hitozute no kotonoha sae zo ureshikarikeru