Kinkai wakashū 156

玉くしげはこねのやまの郭公むかふのさとに朝な朝ななく

tamakushige
hakone no yama no
hototogisu
mukau no sato ni
asana asana naku
A jewelled comb
On Hakone Mountain
A cuckoo
In that paradise
Cries with every morn.[i]
A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.

[ii] This poem is inspired by: 心乎之 無何有乃郷尓 置而有者 藐孤射能山乎 見末久知香谿務 kokoro oshi / mukau no sato ni / okite araba / bakoya no yama o / mimaku chikakemu ‘My heart / In paradise / Should I leave behind, then / Mount Miaogushe / Would I soon come to see.’ Anonymous (MYS XVI: 3851). The Man’yō poem refers to Mount Bakoya (C. Miaogushe), a legendary Chinese mountain where immortals were said to dwell, and Sanetomo’s reference to Hakone echoes this due to the partial homophony between the place names.

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