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?