The haiku is by the revered Japanese poet, Issa, and written in 1815. It is translated into English by David G. Lanoue. He has this to say about the haiku:

"Nikko is a famously scenic city in modern-day Tochigi Prefecture. Shinji Ogawa notes that it is "a sightseeing place, where Tôshogu Shrine was built to commemorate the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu. There is a highway called Nikkô Road on which one can reach Nikkô Shrine. This haiku depicts the scene of people on the Nikkô Road, one after another, returning from the Nikkô Shrine visiting."

This is a black-billed cuckoo.