鳴かぬなら鳴くまで待とう時鳥

鳴かぬなら鳴くまで待とう時鳥

Japanese

Kanji in this term
鳴	鳴	待	時	鳥
な Grade: 2	な Grade: 2	ま Grade: 3	ほととぎす
			Grade: 2	Grade: 2
kun’yomi			jukujikun

Etymology

From the 甲子夜話 (Kasshi Yawa), a collection of essays by Matsura Seizan written during the late Edo period.[1][2] This senryū is attributed to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the third of the three major lords of the Sengoku period and the first Tokugawa shogun.

Literally “if the lesser cuckoo does not sing, wait until it sings”.

The essay has the differing reactions of the two other lords of the era:

• Oda Nobunaga: 鳴かぬなら殺してしまえ時鳥 (nakanu nara koroshite shimae hototogisu, “if the lesser cuckoo does not sing, kill it”)
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi: 鳴かぬなら鳴かしてみしょう時鳥 (nakanu nara nakashite mishō hototogisu, “if the lesser cuckoo does not sing, make it sing”)

Phrase

鳴(な)かぬなら鳴(な)くまで待(ま)とう時鳥(ほととぎす) • (nakanu nara naku made matō hototogisu) 

1. waiting patiently until time is ripe, compare English good things come to those who wait

   Synonym: 鳴くまで待とう時鳥 (naku made matō hototogisu)

References

1. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
2. Jonathan Clements (2017) A Brief History of Japan: Samurai, Shogun and Zen: The Extraordinary Story of the Land of the Rising Sun, Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN