ware kikite hito ni wa tsugeku hototogisu omou shiruku mazu koko ni nake
I listen, and To folk will tell, O, cuckoo, so Where I am lost in thoughts of you, Sing here first!
Mitsune 47
Right
かたをかのあしたのはらをとよむまでやまほととぎすいまぞなくなる
kataoka no ashita no hara o toyomu made yamahototogisu ima zo nakunaru
Until in Kataoka The plain of Ashita Does resound The mountain cuckoos Are singing now!
48
When ‘Until in Kataoka / The plain of Ashita / Does resound’ had been recited, His Majesty laughed, saying, ‘It would be impossible for it to resound,’ so the final part of the poem was not recited and it lost.
kururu ka to mireba akenuru natsu no yo o akazu to ya naku yamahototogisu
Did you think ’twas sunset? When a glance would show the breaking dawn Of this summer night- Unsated by your song, do you sing on, Cuckoo in the mountains?
The poetry competition held at the residence of Yukihira, the Minister of Popular Affairs: Left and Right prepared tableau, among other things. The tableau were in the form of rustic dwellings. Poems were composed on these in relation to cuckoo calls.
Left (Tie) – on the form of a mountain dwelling
夏深き山里なれど時鳥声はしげくも聞えざりけり
natu Fukaki
yamazato naredo
Fototogisu
kowe Fa sigekumo
kikoezarikeri
Deep in summer
Lies this mountain hut, yet
The cuckoo
Calls lush and thick, but
I cannot hear them!
1
Right – on the form of a country house
荒れにける宿の梢は高けれど山時鳥まれに鳴くかな
arenikeru
yado no kozue wa
takakeredo
yamahototogisu
mare ni naku kana
Gone to ruin is
This house where treetops
Are tall, yet
The mountain cuckoo
Calls there but rarely!