This autumn night, as long as the drooping tail of the mountain pheasant — must I sleep it through alone and lonely?
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet of the Asuka period who served under Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu. The greatest poet of the Man'yōshū, he was revered by later generations as a "saint of poetry." This poem is traditionally attributed to Hitomaro (it appears in the Shūi Wakashū) and was placed third in the Hyakunin Isshu.
The length of a night without the beloved is overlaid onto the length of the copper pheasant's drooping tail. The old lore that these mountain birds sleep apart at night, separated by a valley, gives the lament "must I sleep alone?" its outline of solitude.
We took the solitary night of the original poem, which measured the night's length by a mountain bird's tail, and moved it to three in the morning today, where a screen glows with an "I want to see you" typed and deleted, typed and deleted. Our aim was to dig up the hope hidden inside the source: the mountain birds that sleep apart across the valley return to their mate when morning comes. So we sing "the longer the night, the more the longing grows," and re-sang that long, long night of a thousand years ago as a loneliness that ends with the dawn.
あしびきの（拾遺和歌集・百人一首3番）Garu JP
ながながし夜を ひとりかも寝む
ながながし夜を ひとりかも寝む
消したはずの スマホがひかる
ちがう 自分で また開けたんだ
君の名前を 眺めるだけで
指は止まったまま 動けない
「会いたい」って打って 消して
時計はまだ 夜の途中
あしびきの 山鳥の尾の
しだり尾より ながいながい夜
君がいない それだけのことで
世界はこんなに 静かになる
ながながし夜を ひとりかも寝む
千年前の 歌人も同じ
届かない距離を 数えてた
山鳥は 谷をへだてて
朝が来るまで 離ればなれ
つがいの鳥さえ 夜はひとり
だったらこの孤独も 普通のこと
あしびきの 山鳥の尾の
しだり尾より ながいながい夜
星を数えても 減らない時間
君の夢まで あと何時間？
ながながし夜を ひとりかも寝む
ひとりの夜が 教えてくれる
どれだけ君に 会いたいかを
長い夜ほど 想いは育つ
山鳥は朝 つがいに戻る
あしびきの 山鳥の尾の しだり尾の
ながながし夜を ひとりかも寝む
あしびきの 山鳥の尾の
しだり尾より ながいながい夜
でも夜が長い そのぶんだけ
会えた朝は やさしくなる
ながながし夜を ひとりかも寝む
ひとりじゃないと 知る朝が来る
ながながし夜を……
おやすみ もうすぐ朝だ
Ashibiki no (Shui Wakashu / Hyakunin Isshu No.3) Garu JP
Must I sleep alone through this long, long night?
Must I sleep alone through this long, long night?
The screen I turned off lights up again
No — it was me who opened it
Just gazing at your name
My finger frozen, unable to move
I type "I miss you" — then delete it
The clock still says the night's halfway
Ashibiki no — like the mountain pheasant's tail
This night drags on, longer than its trailing feathers
Just because you're not here
The world turns this quiet
Must I sleep alone through this long, long night?
A poet a thousand years ago felt the same
Counting a distance he couldn't cross
Mountain pheasants sleep apart, valleys between
Till morning comes, kept separate
Even paired birds spend the night alone
So maybe this loneliness is only natural
Ashibiki no — like the mountain pheasant's tail
This night drags on, longer than its trailing feathers
Counting stars won't make the hours shrink
How many more until I reach your dream?
Must I sleep alone through this long, long night?
The lonely night teaches me
How much I long to see you
The longer the night, the more this love grows
At dawn the pheasants return to their mates
Ashibiki no — the mountain pheasant's trailing tail
Must I sleep alone through this long, long night?
Ashibiki no — like the mountain pheasant's tail
This night drags on, longer than its trailing feathers
But the longer the night
The kinder the morning we finally meet
Must I sleep alone through this long, long night?
Morning comes to tell me I'm not alone
This long, long night...
Good night — morning is almost here