Famous Haiku(俳句) of lesser cuckoo(Hototogisu : ほととぎす).
Do you know about famous Haiku(俳句) of lesser cuckoo in Japan?
We call lesser cuckoo “Hototogisu(ほととぎす:時鳥)” in Japanese and Hototogisu is a really elegance and beauty bird because of their beautiful singing.
There are 3 famous Haiku of Hototogisu which was written by 3 different famous Samurai.
Through the 3 Haiku, we can know about their personality.
And we’ve already know about their destiny, so there are kind of proverbs.
1.
Nakanunara Koroshite simae Hototogisu
鳴かぬなら 殺してしまえ ほととぎす
Meaning: If the Hototogisu doesn’t sing then I will kill it.
This Haiku was written by Nobunaga Oda(織田信長).
2.
Nakanunara Nakasete miseyou Hototogisu
鳴かぬなら 鳴かせて見せよう ほととぎす
Meaning: If the Hottogisu dosen’t sing then I let it sing (or make it sing)
This Haiku was written by Hideyoshi Toyotomi(豊臣秀吉)
3.
Nakanunara Nakumade matou Hototogisu
鳴かぬなら 鳴くまで待とう ほととぎす
Meaning: If the Hototogisu dosen’t sing then I will wait for it to sing.
This Haiku was written by Ieyasu Tokugawa(徳川家康)
He made Edo era which last 265 years.
3 of them are famous Samurai.
If you search about 3 samurais, these Haiku will be getting more interesting.
And one more interesting thing is Hototgisu’s Kanji is 時鳥.
時 means time.
鳥 means bird.
See? It’s interesting, isn’t it?