Kusa no ha ni kadode wa shitari hototogisu shide no yamaji mo kaku ya tsuyukeki - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

草の葉に門出はしたりほととぎす
死出の山路もかくや露けき

Roma-ji: Kusa no ha ni kadode wa shitari hototogisu shide no yamaji mo kaku ya tsuyukeki
English Translation: Upon the grass blades
I have set out on my way,
O cuckoo, tell me,
is the mountain path of death
drenched with dew like this as well
Meaning: I have set out on my journey over the dewy grass. O cuckoo, is the mountain path to the land of the dead as wet with dew as this?
Commentary: Book Ten Miscellaneous Poems II 645

The poet has set out on a journey treading on the dew of the grass; O cuckoo, is the mountain path to the land of the dead as wet with dew as this? Asking the cuckoo, said to come singing from the Mountain of Death, about the path one follows after death, and overlaying the dew on the grass with tears, the poem expresses thoughts of the journey to the other world.
Dew also appears in 613, 619 and 633 in this book as a figure for fleeting life or for sin.

First line, 'kusa no ha ni', means upon the blades of grass, pointing to grass laden with dew.
Second line, 'kadode wa shitari', means I have set out, closing with the perfective tari; the poem breaks after the second line.
Third line, 'hototogisu', means O cuckoo, an address. The cuckoo is said to cross over from the Mountain of Death and is also called shide no taosa.
Fourth line, 'shide no yamaji mo', means the mountain path of death too, the path over the mountain crossed after death, tied to the cuckoo in the third line.
Final line, 'kaku ya tsuyukeki', means is it so dewy, the particle ya answered by the attributive tsuyukeki. It answers kusa no ha in the first line, overlaying dew with tears.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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