cuckoo — tomorrow i'll cross that mountain over there
hototogisu asu wa ano yama koete ikō
1933–1934 · Begging trips from the hut
Sōmokutō · On the Begging Road (Gyōkotsu tojō)
Wake to this poem.
Santōka Alarm is an iOS app that wakes you each morning with a single poem.
Set a poem you love as your alarm.
iOS 26+
Listening to the cuckoo's call, he decides that tomorrow he will cross that mountain. His route is set not by a map but by the shape of the hills and the voice of a bird — and that was enough. Among the traveling poems this one faces forward with special brightness; murmured at dawn, it seems to lighten the step.