Opinion on kozuka mei

[PhoenixDude]

Was wondering if I could get some other opinions on this mei. The left half is somin with kao, looks like 5th generation to my eye and looks good to me. I don't know about the right half though.

[SteveM]

The right hand is the name of the poet who wrote the poem inscribed on your kozuka.

其角　Kikaku

https://en.wikipedia.../wiki/Takarai_Kikaku

 

The poem is

それよりして月夜烏や郭公

Who will awake first, the crow or the cuckoo

 

it has several layers of wordplay embedded. The crow's cawing is said to follow the cuckoo's calling, and the idea is that one can spend the night listening to the call and response of the cuckoo and the crow. This use of cuckoo in this poem may also have the double meaning of someone who stays out at night, and so the poem sounds like its saying, "what sound will you hear first? the sound of the morning crow, or the sound of one returning from a night out". 

 

The left is Sōmin, but I don't know if its authentic or not.

 

[PhoenixDude]

Dude I would have never guessed that, thanks!

[k morita]

Steve,
In this case, the cuckoo is pronounced Hototogis.

それよりして、夜明がらすや郭公。(soreyori -shite yoake-garasu-ya hototogis).　
Hototogis  was singing in the night, and crow announced the dawn.

 

 

[PhoenixDude]

anybody have the haynes index for this guy?