ほととぎす

鳴きつる方を

眺むれば

ただ有明の

月ぞ残れる

Hokusai

ごとくだいじのさだいじん

ほととぎす

なきつるかたを

ながむれば

ただありあけの

つきぞのこれる

Fujiwara no Sanesada

Gazing out to

Where I heard

The cuckoo singing

There was only left

The moon of dawn. 

Fujiwara no Sanesada (1139 - 1191), also called Go Tokudaiji no Sadaijin or ‘the Later Minister of the Left of the Tokudaiji’. He was a nephew of Toshinari (poem 83) and first cousin of Teika (poem 97). He became a priest in his later years. There are 79 poems of his in several collections, and his personal poetry collection is known as the Rinka Shu. With this poet we are in the same age as the compiler of this Hyakunin Isshu anthology, Fujiwara no Teika (poem 97).

作者略伝と語釈

The hototogisu, or lesser cuckoo, is an early summer bird. In summer its song can be heard day and night in mountainous plateaus, hills and fields, but it is very different from the bigger common cuckoo we known elsewhere. This bird is a famous topic in poetry.

Hototogisu, lesser cuckoo, cuculus poliocephalus

In some tales, the cry of a hototogisu in a lonely wood was associated with the longing of the spirits of the dead to return to their loved ones still living. So this poem could refer to the passing away of a loved one. In this sense it would belong to the progressive poetry style, almost modern. Hokusai’s drawing shows us both the moon and the hototogisu flying away.