On remembering times long past, when she had served as the Shrine Priestess at Kamo.
ほとゝぎすそのかみ山のたび枕ほのかたらひしそらぞわすれぬ
hotototgisu
sono kami yama no
tabi makura
hono kataraishi
sora zo wasurenu |
O, Cuckoo!
When on that holy mount
I briefly laid my head,
Faintly your call came
From the sky–never will I forget it. |
Princess Shokushi
式子内親王
Topic unknown.
をのがつまこひつゝなくやさ月やみ神なび山のやま郭公
ono ga tsuma
koitsutsu naku ya
satsuki yami
kaminabi yama no
yama hototogisu |
For his mate,
In yearning, does he call?
In the Fifth Month’s darkness,
On Mount Kaminabi,
A mountain cuckoo… |
Anonymous
Topic unknown.
さ月山うの花月よほとゝぎすきけどもあかず又なかんかも
satsuki yama
u no hana zuku yo
hototogisu
kikedomo akazu
mata nakan ka mo |
Summer rain in the mountains,
The moon white as deutzia blooms:
Cuckoo calls
I hear, yet never get my fill;
I wonder, will he call again? |
Anonymous.
One morning, when she was in seclusion at Kamo, she heard a cuckoo calling:
ほとゝぎすみ山いづなるはつこゑをいづれのやどのたれかきくらん
hototogisu
miyama izunaru
hatsu koe o
izure no yado no
tare ka kikuran |
A cuckoo
Emerging from the mountains:
His first call:
Where’s the house and
The one who’ll hear it, I wonder? |
Ben no Menoto
Topic unknown.
なくこゑをえやはしのばぬほとゝぎすはつうの花のかげにかくれて
naku koe o
e yawa shinobanu
hototogisu
hatsu u no hana no
kage ni kakurete |
A breath of song:
You cannot let it slip,
O, cuckoo,
In the early deutzia blooms’
Shade concealed. |
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
柿本人麻呂
Topic unknown.
夏草はしげりにけれどほとゝぎすなどわがやどに一聲もせぬ
natsu kusa wa
shigerinikeredo
hototogisu
nado wa ga yado ni
hito koe mo senu |
The summer grasses
Have grown lush and thick, yet,
O, cuckoo
Why at my home
Do you not give a single call? |
The Engi Emperor (Daigo) (885-930; r. 897-930)
Topic unknown.
たがさともとひもやくるとほとゝぎす心のかぎりまちぞわびにし
ta ga sato mo
toi mo ya kuru to
hototogisu
kokoro no kagiri
machi zo wabinishi |
Whose home
Do you visit now,
O, cuckoo?
While all my heart
Awaits you in lonely melancholy. |
Murasaki Shikibu
紫式部
A cuckoo poem from a hundred-poem sequence composed at the request of the former Regent and Lay Priest, when he was Minister of the Right.
雨そゝくはなたち花に風すぎて山郭公雲になくなり
ame sosoku
hana tachibana ni
kaze sugite
yama hototogisu
kumo ni naku nari |
Rain drips
From the orange blossoms,
Blown by the wind;
A mountain cuckoo
Calls from within the distant clouds. |
Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office [Fujiwara no] Toshinari
藤原俊成
A cuckoo poem from a hundred-poem sequence composed at the request of the former Regent and Lay Priest, when he was Minister of the Right.
むかしおもふくさのいほりのよるの雨になみだなそへそ山郭公
mukashi omou
kusa no iori no
yoru no ame ni
namida na soe so
yama hototogisu |
Deep in thoughts of long ago,
Upon a grassen hut
Rain falls at night-
Do not make my tears fall so,
O, mountain cuckoo! |
Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office [Fujiwara no] Toshinari
藤原俊成
Topic unknown.
ほとゝぎす聲まつほどはかたをかのもりのしづくにたちやぬれまし
hototogisu
hito koe nakite
inuru yo wa
ikade ka hito no
i o yasuku neru |
A cuckoo
Gave a single call and
Went away this night:
How can one then
Simply sleep? |
Middle Councillor [Ōtomo no] Yakamochi
大伴家持
'Simply moving and elegant'