A cuckoo comes calling.
宿かれと花橘はにほへどもこゝろもとめぬ郭公哉
yado kare to
hana tachibana wa
nioedomo
kokoro mo tomenu
hototogisu kana |
‘Come rest here!’ calls
The orange blossom,
So fragrant, yet
Heedless is
The cuckoo. |
A cuckoo comes calling.
郭公きかずは何を外山なるまさきのかづらくるかひにせむ
hototogisu
kikazu wa nani o
toyama naru
masaki no kazura
kuru kai ni semu |
The cuckoo
Goes unheard, so why
To the distant mountains –
Vine choked –
Does he come calling? |
今はとてそむき果ててし世中になにと語らふ山ほとゝぎす
ima wa tote
somuki hateteshi
yo no naka ni
nani to katarau
yama hototogisu |
Now
I have completely abandoned
The world of men,
Why does he yet sing,
The mountain cuckoo? |
暮かゝる山田の早苗雨過ぎてとりあへず鳴ほとゝぎすかな
kure kakaru
yamada no sanae
ame sugite
toriaezu naku
hototogisu kana |
Darkness falls upon
The mountain fields of seedling rice,
Rain swept, as
Too soon sings
A cuckoo. |
The following year on the Fifth Day of the Fifth Month, on hearing a cuckoo call
しでの山越えて來つらん郭公戀しき人の上語らなん
side no yama
koete kituran
Fototogisu
koFisiki Fito no
uFe kataranan |
The mount of death:
Oh, that you’d come from there,
Cuckoo.
Then of my darling boy,
You could give me news. |
歩きながらに傘ほせばほととぎす
arukinagara ni
karakasa hoseba
hototogisu |
Out walking and
As if to dry my umbrella
A cuckoo calls. |
On cuckoos.
ほととぎす待や都のそらだのめ
hototogisu
matsu ya miyako no
soradanome |
For a cuckoo
I wait, pleading with the Capital’s
Empty skies. |
On cuckoos.
木がくれて茶摘も聞やほとゝぎす
ko gakurete
cha tsumi mo kiku ya
hototogisu |
Hidden by the trees,
Do the maidens picking tea, hear you, too,
O, cuckoo? |
(1694)
On cuckoos.
京にても京なつかしやほとゝぎす
kyō nite mo
kyō natsukashi ya
hototogisu |
Now I am in the Capital
It seem so dear to me,
O, cuckoo. |
(1690)
On cuckoos.
ほととぎすなくなくとぶぞいそがはし
hototogisu
naku naku tobu zo
isogawashi |
The cuckoo
Constantly calling on his flight
Seems so busy. |
(1688)
'Simply moving and elegant'