Yorozu no koto no ha

2011-05-15T01:31:00.003+09:00

Today's post is actually from a paper I wrote in graduate school about the Kin'yo wakashu and Minamoto Toshiyori. I've included the introduction and the first three spring poems (the first three poems of the anthology).

Compiled by Minamoto Toshiyori (源俊頼) at the behest of Retired Emperor Shirakawa, the Kin'yô wakashû is designed to be an intentional departure from the typical imperial anthology, varying in both structure and aesthetics. As Toshiyori is one of the few non-Fujiwara editors of the chokusenshuû, it is clear that Shirakawa chose him as much for politcal reason (to help break the hold on power that the Fujiwara had) as for poetic reasons. Comprised not of the typical twenty-two books, but of ten, the compilation includes the following books: spring, summer, autumn, winter, congratulatory poems, poems of separation, two books of love poetry, a book of miscellaneous poetry, and a book of both miscellaneous and travel poetry. One of the major difficulties in studying this collection, however, is the three textual lines: Toshiyori submitted three different drafts before Shirakawa accepted one, but it is the second, not the third, that is generally recognized as the definitive Kin'yô wakashû.¹ In any case, the Kin'yô wakashû is the shortest of all imperial anthologies.

As Donald Keene mentioned in Seeds in the Heart, this collection is interesting in the editor's approach to both poetics and the compilation of the Kin'yô wakashû. Minamoto Toshiyori was considered a radical in his time, and his radicalism can be seen in the selection of poetry for the anthology. The most striking aspects are Toshiyori's emphasis on contemporary poets and his appreciation for rustic and natural imagery over more emotional poetry. However, as Keene also points out, Toshiyori was also original in his use of waka to express “grievances”, going so far as to include a headnote indicating his bitterness over “not having obtained office until the age of seventy”.

As the collection does not contain a preface, it is difficult to guess what, exactly, Toshiyori's intentions were in the compilation process. However, as poems by Toshiyori himself are the greatest in number (thirty-seven poems out of about six-hundred fifty total), and as Toshiyori was the sole compiler, we can assume that his poetic vision and aesthetics were the primary factor, despite requiring Retired Emperor Shirakawa's final decision for approval.

Minamoto Toshiyori (sometimes read as Shunrai), despite maintaining a low standing in terms of court rank, was somewhat of a revolutionary in terms of poetics. He had no problem with poems dealing with “vulgar” topics, going so far as to include poems riff with 'vulgarities' in a collection submitted to Emperor Horikawa², included below:

Is it because

To be love's coolie has become

A habit I am stuck with

That even on a journey it wells up,

This day's-end clatter banging in my breast?

This poem was obviously startling for a courtly audience, where elegence was the rule, as it deals so directly and coarsely with “relations”.

However, Toshiyori was not limited to vulgarities, or he surely would not have been selected to compile the collection by Retired Emperor Shirakawa. Looking at his own poems he chose to include in the selection, we can see a powerful ability to provoke emotion with concrete images. Turning to poem 51 of the Kin'yô wakashû, we can see an elegent demonstration of Toshiyori's descriptive abilities:

Even though the wind blows in the treetops, it can't be seen; the lucious

beauty of sakura flowers: the wind has become clear

In this poem, Toshiyori creates a unique spring poem—while it is a common trope to mistake sakura flowers for other things, such as clouds, here he's taken that trope and inverted it, by using sakura as an illuminating image. Though we cannot “see” the sakura, their scent allows us to detect the wind with our other senses. In a way, this poem is creating a new way of looking at the world—while our eyes may fail us, if we use our various senses thoughtfully, we can find a way to approach things difficult to “see”.

Despite being the shortest imperial anthology, the Kin'yô wakashû is of great importance, as Toshiyori's asthetic vision has a great influential power on what eventually becomes the dominate vision of Japanese poetics in the the following eras. While Retired Emperor Shirakawa was not himself an complete advocate of Toshiyori's renegade style, he was lucky in his selection of Toshiyori, as his name is now forever associated with one of the most influential anthologies of Japanese poetry.

1Keene, pg 307

2Brower and Miner, pg 244

初春の心をよめる

吉野山峰の白雪いつ消えてけさは霞の立ち替わるらん

yoshino yama mine no shirayuki itsu kiete kesa ha kasumi no tachikawaruran

源重之

Composed on the appearance of the first day of spring

The white snow of the summit of Mount Yoshino—when will it vanish?

and when will the first spring morning mist swell with magic?

Minamoto no Shigeyuki (????-1000)

堀川院御時、百首の歌召しけるに、元日の心をつかうまつれる

うちなびき¹春は来にけり山川の岩間の氷けふや解くらん

uchi nabiki haru ha kinikeri yamakawa no iha ma no tsurara kefu ya tokuran

修理大夫顕季

Composed on the heart of moved by New Years day, upon reading the Hundred Poem collection from the reign of Retired Emperor Horikawa

The plants' branches have grown long, spring has come; the mountain rivers are yet

frozen between the rocks, but will they, perhaps, thaw today

Official In Charge of Palace Repairs Fujiwara no Akisue (1055-1113)

天徳四年内裏の歌合によめる

倉橋²の山の****より春霞年を積みてや立ち渡るらん

kurahashi no yama no kahi yori haru kasumi toshi wo tsumite ya tachi waruran

中納言朝忠

Composed at the Emperor's palace at the poetry meet of the fourth year of Tentoku

From within the narrows of Yamato's mountains, the spring mists seem to

accumulate the years, swell, and spill out over the land

Middle Counsellor Fujiwara no Asatada (910-966)

ふろさとは春めきにけりみ吉野の御垣の原も霞こめたり

furusato ha haru mekinikeri miyoshino no mikaki no hara mo kasumi kometari

平兼盛

Same as previous poem

Since the ancient times treasured Yoshino that seemed like spring

even the Imperial villa filled with mist

Taira no Kanemori (????-990)

あさみどり³霞めるそらのけしきにや常盤の山は春を知るらん

asa midori kasameru sora no keshiki ni ya tokiha no yama ha haru wo shiruran

少将公教母

Same as previous poem

From the hue of the pale green of the misty sky about the mountains,

who live eternally, cannot one see that spring draws nigh?

Major General Kinnori's mother⁴ (????-????)

年毎に変らぬものは春霞立田の山のけしきなりけり

toshigoto ni kaharanu mono ha harugasumi tatsuta no yama no keshikinarikeri

藤原顕輔朝臣

Same as previous poem

Each and every year, completely without fail, the spring mists do swell,

seeming to have risen up around Tatsuta Mountain

Courtier Fujiwara no Akisuke (1090-1155)

正月朔に雪の降り侍りけるを見て遣はしける

あらたまの年の初めに降り敷けば初雪とこそいふべかるらん

aratama no toshi no hajime ni furishikeba hatsu yuki to koso ifu bekaruran

修理大夫顕季

On honorably watching the snow fall in the first month of the year

As it is falling all about at the beginning of the new year

is it not right for us to call it the “the first snow”?

Official In Charge of Palace Repairs Fujiwara no Akisue (1055-1113)

返し

朝戸開けて春の梢の雪見れば初花ともやいふべかるらん

asa to akete haru no kozue no yuki mireba hatsu hana tomo ya ifu bekaruran

春宮大夫公実

Upon opening the door in the morning and seeing spring treetops

covered in snow could not one say, “Indeed! The first flowers!”

Steward to the Crown Prince Fujiwara Kinzane (1043-1107)

1A makurakotoba for spring

2A makurakotoba for the first state of Japan (Yamato)

3A makurakotoba for mist

4The Kin'yô wakashû is the only anthology to contain her work

The Leaves of Autumn Past

2010-11-25T19:58:00.001+09:00

Today's poem is number 252 from the second book of autumn poems of the Kokin wakashuu.

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題しらず
daishirazu

霧立ちて雁ぞなくなる片岡の朝の原はもみぢしぬらん
kiri tachite kari zo nakunaru kataoka no ashita no hara ha momidi shinu ran

よみ人しらず
yomibito shirazu

Topic unknown

As the mist rolls in/ and the cries of the wild geese/ echo, I wonder/ if the leaves have changed color/ on Kataoka plateau

poet unknown

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Today's poem is a bit simpler than most, as there is not any clever word use. Instead, the beauty of the poem lies with the utamakura "Kataoka no ashita no hara" which refers to an area in Nara prefecture. It is a lovely area with beautiful mountains covered with trees, and was reminiscent of the previous capital in Nara. Additionally, it was quite a distance south from Kyoto (the capital at the time). By wondering about the leaves of the Kataoka plain, the poet actually asking two questions. First, he or she is wondering how far along autumn has progressed, not an altogether poetic question. But, second, as autumn and spring both roll north through Japan, he or she is wondering how much farther into the season the area of the old capital was. One feels as if one is somehow looking back into time and comparing the seasons of the different capitals. If the leaves of Kyoto were already turns red and gold, how much deeper might be the colors of Nara? How might the poets of the past felt at seeing those changing colors?

One other interesting aspect of "Kataoka no ashita no hara" is the ashita which can mean either morning or tomorrow. While ashita is the place name in this case, it's use suggests a temporal leap forward as well, allowing the poet to hint at a third question. How might the poets of the future feel gazing upon the autumn colors?

Though this poem is not as linguistically complex as some other poems of the Kokin wakashuu, it's temporal and spatial musings give it a unique flavor...

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I hope you've enjoyed today's selection! Hopefully we'll see you soon!

The Eternal Leaves of Tokiwa Mountain

2010-11-24T10:39:00.000+09:00

Today's poem is number 251 from the Kokin wakashuu.

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秋の歌合しける時よめる
aki no utaawase shikeru toki yomeru

もみぢせぬときはの山は吹くかぜのをとにや秋をききわたる覽
momidisenu tokiwa no yama ha fuku kaze no woto ni ya aki wo kikiwataru ran

紀淑望
ki no yoshimochi

Composed at an autumn poetry contest

Upon eternal/ Tokiwa Mountain whose leaves'/ colors do not change,/ cannot one still hear the winds/ that tell of autumn's coming?

Ki no Yoshimochi

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Tokiwa Mountain is a mountain in Kyoto, once the location of a retreat owned by the court noble Minamoto no Tokiwa (a son of Emperor Saga). It's name was thus derived from a play on Minamoto no Tokiwa's name, which further inspires the poetic word play in today's poem. What I've translated as "eternal Tokiwa Mountain" is actually redundant, as Tokiwa would mean eternal. As such, we see that the poem uses a place name to comment on the coming of spring. The poet has set the poem on Tokiwa Mountain, and thus assumed that the leaves would not change colors. Instead, the poet (and the audience) can only mark the coming of autumn by the sound of its winds.

While the images by themselves are may not be particularly engrossing, their application presents an interesting approach to autumn. A common motif in waka is the changing colors of the season, whether the white clouds of spring blossoms or the golds and reds of autumn's leaves. By removing the visual impact of autumn, one has a sense of disorientation--as if blindfolded. Though one can hear the autumn winds and knows from the calendar that autumn has arrived, one's eyes fail to impart such knowledge.

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Ki no Yoshimochi, today's poet, is best know for his contribution to the compiling of the Kokin wakshuu, as well as authoring its kanbun preface. In addition to Ki no Tsurayuki's kana preface, the anthology features a preface written the Japanese version of classical Chinese, which uses no kana (the Japanese alphabet). The contents of the kanbun are largely the same as that of the kana preface.

The Flowers of Autumn Waves

2010-11-10T22:53:00.006+09:00

Today, we'll be looking at poem 250 from the second book of the Autumn poems from the Kokin wakashuu.

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草もきも色かはれども　わたつうみの浪の花にぞ秋なかりける
kusa mo ki mo irokaharedomo watsu umi no nami no hana ni zo aki nakarikeru

Though the colors of/ the grasses and the trees may change/ with the coming season,/ the sea's waves of flowers are/ not visited by autumn.

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Like the previous poem, this one was written by Bunya Yasuhide at the poetry meet at Prince Koresada's house.

There are two interlocking images in this poem, that work together to give it an ephemeral and nostalgic feel. The first image is the changing colors of autumn in the trees and the grasses. This is a common image both in Japan and in the West, and one can immediately visualize the myriad colors of fall. At the same time, we are given the image of flowers floating on the waves of the sea--a metaphor for the turbulent ocean waves. Immediately, we see the contrast between the two images: the grasses and trees are not only changing colors, but also at the whim of the seasons--they mirror the temporal nature of human life. Yet, just off the shore, one can see the veritably eternal waves and their unchanging colors--a reminder of the beauty of the warmer seasons (and, one may hope, their eventual return).

While the autumn colors are indeed beautiful, they are melancholy colors--full of memories of the closing year and the passing of what once was. One is struck with the full weight of the meaning of those beautiful colors, the mono no aware (the beauty of transience) of implicit in the golds and reds of fall, while being mocked by the stability and permanence of oceans unwilting, unyielding flowers.

Once more with gusto...

2010-11-05T23:31:00.004+09:00

Let's pretend it hasn't been over a year since I've updated this.

It's autumn! Let's have an autumn poem from the Kokin wakashuu...

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Poem 249 of the Kokin wakashuu (古今和歌集) from the second book of autumn poems.

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これさだのみこの家の歌合のうた
Koresadanomiko no ie no utaawase no uta
吹くからに秋の草木のしほるればむべ山風をあらしといふらむ
fukukara ni aki ni kusaki no shihorureba mube yamakaze wo arashi to ifuramu
文屋やすひで
Bunya no Yasuhide

From the poetry meet at Prince Koresada's house

The moment wind blows/ the autumn grasses and trees/ wither and die, so/ of course bitter winds blowing/ from mountains should be thus named

Bunya Yasuhide

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As with much classical Japanese poetry, the poetics of this poem rely on the multiple meanings あらし　（嵐・荒らし, arashi）can have. In the first sense, arashi simply refers to heavy winds. However, arashi can also refer to a state of violence or disarray (like what may result from the destructive force of heavy winds). Rendering this English, while maintaining the syllable count, seems nearly impossible. As such, I've chosen "bitter" to function in the place of violence. I've done this for two reasons. First, I wanted to maintain the turn that arashi provides in the original, and "bitter winds" could also be taken by an English speaker to mean either storm winds or the winds of fate, as it were. Second, I wanted to capture the lament that flows through the poem. As many have mentioned before, there is no clear distinction between love and season in waka. Often spring is seen as the beautiful beginning of a relationship, and autumn is thus seen as the inevitable parting and sorrow it entails. With this in mind, we see that the bitter (or violent) winds blowing down from the mountain can be seen as the disarray one may find in one's heart after a particularly painful split. This image is enhanced by mentioning the trees and grasses, which function simultaneously as a potent image of autumn and the lack of joy that seeps into the lovelorn poet's life.

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That's it for today! We'll (hopefully) be back soon with more!

Jewels of melted snow...

2009-05-13T23:46:00.006+09:00

Poem 3 of the Shinkokin wakashuu (新古今和歌集), from the book of spring poems.

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百首歌たてまつりし時、春の歌
hyakushu uta tatematurishi toki, haru no uta
山ふかみ春ともしらぬ松の戸にたえだえかかる雪の玉水
yama fukami haru tomo shiranu matsu no to ni taedae kakaru yuki no tamamidzu
式子内親王
Shikishinai shinnou

Presented at the time of a One Hundred Poem Meet, a spring poem

Deep in the mountains / where one wonders if spring comes, / waiting at the gate / of pine branches, pure drops of / melting snow fall here and there

Princess Shikishinai

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This is another poem about the coming of spring. In this case, the drops of melting snow signify the slow approach of spring, coming in drop by drop. Additionally, the pine in the pine branch gate (matsu in Japanese) operates as a kakekotoba--the homonym of matsu (pine) is, again, matsu (to wait). As such, I have incorporated "waiting" and "pine" into the same sentence, as closely as possible, in an attempt to signify their connection. Additionally, the Japanese for the "pure drops" of melting (tamamidzu) is literally "jewel water"--metaphorical language for pure, clean water drops. Finally, in the Japanese, the poet does not literally "wonder" if spring will come, instead she doesn't know if spring will come this deep in the mountains. Obviously this is a hyperbolic description of the poet's Hermitage, but it is an image full of miyabi (or elegance) that so thoroughly informs classical Japanese poetry--and, indeed, most of classical Japanese culture.

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Thanks for reading today! This is a much shorter post than usual, but I expect to continue with shorter posts (maybe not quite this short) as I'm trying to spend more time studying Japanese with the goal of taking the JLPT ikkyu by the end of next year. But that doesn't I'll stop posting! Please keep reading!

Mist lingering about Heavenly Kagu Mountain

2009-05-11T22:24:00.006+09:00

Today we'll be continuing with the Shinkokin wakashuu (新古今和歌集) and moving on to the very next poem: poem 2 in the book of spring poems.

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春のはじめの歌
haru no hajime no uta
ほのぼのと春こそ空にきにけらし天の香久山かすみたなびく
honobono to haru koso sora ni kinikerashi ama no ama no Kaguyama kasumi tanabiku
太上天皇
Daijou tennou

A verse on the beginning of spring

Faintly, in the dawn, / spring has arrived from the sky / and from the peak of / Heavenly Kagu Mountain / mist descends, hangs in the air

Retired Emperor Gotoba

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Taken from the personal collection of waka by Retired Emperor Gotoba (who ordered the compilation of the Shinkokin wakashuu after abdicating the throne [from The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature]), this poem paints a beautiful image of the beginning of spring. It also suggests the image of spring (embodied in the mist) descending from the heavens and slowly settling over the land as a gift from the deities to the Japanese people. (And, for me at least, brings to mind the Man'youshuu poem of the Emperor surveying the land to bring good fortune to his people in the coming year.)

This poem contains some interesting rhetorical language that I would like to look at. In addition to its beautiful images, this poem contains an allusion a Man'youshuu poem which I have quickly translated as: "It seems certain that / spring will come flowing in on / this night as fine mist / lingering about ancient / Heavenly Kagu Mountain." (As I don't have a copy of the Man'youshuu with me right now, I'm offering this an approximation of the meaning only.) I would also like to explain my use of "mist descends, lingers in the air". かすみたなびく (kasumi tanabiku) literally means "mist hangs/lingers in the air". However, the editors have pointed out that 天の (ama no; "heavenly"), coupled with 空にきにけらし (sora ni kinikerashi; "came from the sky") has a nuance of mist falling from towering heavens.

Yesterday, I mentioned some differences between the Shinkokin wakashuu and the Kokin wakashuu in terms of poetic thought. Today, I'd like to discuss Retired Emperor Gotoba's role in the compilation of the Shinkokin wakashuu. He reigned as emperor from 1183 to 1198 (the beginning of the Kamakura period, which directly follows the Heian period) until he abdicated to have more political power. At the time, the power of the Imperial Court was in decline and the power of the military leaders was rising. (If you'd like to read more about the rise of the military powers in the period, I would recommend Karl F. Friday's Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan.) However, there was an even older trend whereby the Fujiwara regents ("advisors") to the emperor had essentially taken control of power by putting younger and younger emperors on the thrown and then forcing them to abdicate before they grew old enough to develop any power of their own. As such, many retired emperors eventually realized what they had missed out on and began attempting to consolidate power in their homes outside the capital. While this more an issue of political history than of poetry, I mention it to give you an idea of the type of man Retired Emperor Gotoba was. In addition to spending much of his life struggling for political power, he was also very dedicated to the arts--hence his command to compile the Shinkokin wakashuu. While he was characterized as being strong headed (and arguing with Fujiwara Teika, chief comiler of the anthology), his poetry, as we've seen today, had an incredible beauty to it.

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I hope you've enjoyed today's poem! I'll be back on Wednesday with more poetry from the Shinkokin wakashuu!

Misty snow fall...

2009-05-08T20:05:00.006+09:00

Today we'll be starting in the Shinkokin wakashuu (新古今和歌集), the eighth of the imperial anthologies of the Heian period. It, along with the Kokin wakashuu and the Man'you wakashuu, is considered one of the three most important waka anthologies compiled. However, before we get into the anthology, let's look at one of it's poems.

Poem 1 from the First Book of Spring Poems.

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春たつ心をよみ侍りける
haru tatsu kokoro wo yomihaberikeru
み吉野は山もかすみて白雪のふりにし里に春はきにけり
miYoshino ha yama mo kasumite shirayuki no furinishi sato ni haru ha kinikeri
摂政太政大臣
Setsujou Dajoudaijin

Composed on the "heart" of the coming of spring
In Yoshino and / in the mountains, too, the mist / rolls in; white snow fall / still covers the old village / at long last, spring has arrived
Setsujou Dajoudaijin

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Let's start by discussing the poem. If you remember the first poem I posted, you probably noticed the surprising similarity the poems have. This is due in part to the "motto" of the Shinkokin wakashuu--"kotoba furuku, kokoro atarashi" which translates most simply as "old words, new heart". This was the compilers' way of maintaining the classical waka tradition while simultaneously allowing room for new personal and artistic expression. It is important to note that, as the eighth imperial anthology, the Shinkokin wakashuu compilation was officially completed in 1205, about 300 years after the Kokin wakashuu and about 400 years after the Man'youshuu, the oldest extent collection of Japanese poetry. I mention these dates to give you a sense of the length of the tradition the compilers were drawing from and carrying on with their completion of the Shinkokin wakashuu.

Of additional significance is, once again, intertexuality. Like the Kokin wakashuu, the arrangement of the poems tells a contiguous story, moving through the seasons and onto a variety of topics ranging from departing to love. Additionally, as each poem is so brief, the poets had to rely on allusions to enhance their poems beyond simple sentences. Each poem is imbued with the weight of all the poems it directly and indirectly references. So, while the words are old (i.e. the allusions, vocabulary, and grammar all hearken back to poems from the last four hundred years), they can express a new feeling. If a poet is feeling sad, for example, at the departure of a loved one, he or she can use place names that invoke similar feelings, kakekotoba (or pivot words--homonyms that can have multiple grammatical functions as well as definitions) that allow for closer connections between clauses (as well as more meaning per syllable), and allusions to other poems that may be expressing similar sentiments. For a modern (or postmodern) reader, this can result in a particularly challenging read--contemporary audiences were expected to memorize and be fluent in the poems and language of their tradition. Thankfully most modern editions have editors who will point out poems of significant allusory importance!

Please look over the first posted poem if you need a bit of a refresher on the significance of Yoshino (as well an idea of what the "original" poem was).

For today's poem, I'd like to first point out the differences between the Kokin wakashuu poem and the Shinkokin wakashuu poem. In the Kokin wakashuu poem, spring has officially arrived (according to the calendar), but the snow is still falling (leading the poet to wonder where the mists could be rolling in). In the Shinkokin wakashuu poem, the mist has rolled in--despite the snow cover still laying over the village. While both poems exist in very nearly the same temporal space (the beginning of spring), they express distinctly different sentiments--the first the longing for spring to arrive and the second a quiet thankfulness and amusement at its arrival.

Additionally, this poem features a kakekotoba. Furinishi (in between the fourth line) has two meanings. The first (and most obvious grammatically) is "has fallen", as in the rain or snow has fallen. Furi is the ren'youkei of furu and has ni (the ren'youkei of nu, a past tense suffix) attached, which in turn has shi (the rentaikei, or adjectival/nomintive form of ki, which is an additional past tense suffix) attached. You may be wondering why there are multiple past tense suffixes attached to one verb. While one suffix indicates past-tense-ness, the other indicates super-past-tense-ness, if you will. One is a past tense suffix, the other is the completed-past-tense-suffix. If this sounds confusing, please ignore it and move on. While it is these kinds of nuances that make waka be waka, I do not think that it is necessary to understanding the translation.

The other meaning of the previously discussed verb is a bit more complicated. Furusato is literally old village. You'll notice the lack of a "furusato" in the original. This is not a mistake. Instead, the poet knew that his audiences would immediately pick up on the intended meaning, so it was not necessary to use an exact homonym.

For the waka poets of old (and, indeed, even of today) the beauty of the poems lied not only in the images and emotions expressed, but also in the way they are expressed and how the poet "plays" with the language.

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I hope you've enjoyed today's poem and discussion! If you have any questions or comments, please post them in the comment section below!

My apologies

2009-05-06T23:27:00.001+09:00

Sorry, no post this Wednesday, but Friday I'll be starting with the first book of spring poems from the Shinkokin wakashuu (新古今和歌集). See you then!

Of rain soaked flowers and...

2009-05-05T11:16:00.005+09:00

Poem 133 of the Kokin wakashuu, from the last book of Spring poems.

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弥生のつごもりの日、雨の降りけるに、藤の花を折りて人につかはしける
yayohi no tsugomori no hi, ame no furikeru ni, fudi no hana wo worite hi ni tukaha shikeru
濡れつつぞしひて折りつる年の内に春はいくかもあらじと思へば
nuretsutsu zo shihite woritsuru toshi no uchi ni haru ha ikukamo araji to omoheba
在原業平
Ariwara Narihira

On the last day of the 3rd month, attached to broken off wisteria flowers soaked with rain

The flowers are soaked / and have been torn asunder / as I'm wondering / how many days of spring yet / linger this year, I think of...

Ariwara Narihira

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There are two aspects of Narihira's poem I'd like to talk about today: the first is the metaphorical meaning of the poem and the other is the classical Japanese calendar and the seasons.

Let's start with the poem itself. It's grammar is pretty straightforward, as is the vocabulary. The metaphorical implications of the poem lie in it's unfinished thought. The poem ends with the verb 思へば (omoheba) which is conjugated such that ba can be affixed. The peculiar aspect of this conjugation is that ba, in classical Japanese (and similar to that of contemporary Japanese), can indicate causation, temporal condition, contrast, or although. Obviously, something is supposed to come after the clause. Clearly, the thought is not finished--something is left unsaid, which leads us to the metaphorical implication of the poem. In wondering how many days of spring are left in the year, Narihira is also wondering how many springs he has yet to see. (The editors of the volume even go so far as to suggest that he is wondering how many happy springs of youth he has left.) In my translation, I've tried to leave the thought unfinished as in the original, but I felt it necessary to add an additional clause to the end ("I think of..."). In the Japanese, the ba clearly indicates an strong relationship between the remaining days of spring and the unfinished thought. As such, I wanted to lead the reader down a similar train of thought, without spelling anything out too explicitly.

There are some more interesting aspects of the poem, but first we need to talk about the classical Japanese calendar. As noted in The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature, like an number of older civilizations, the Japanese calendar was lunar with months of 29 or 30 days and the occasional extra month added to keep the calendar in place with the actual time of year. So when we read in the head note that the poem was written in the third month, it does not necessarily mean March. Additionally, each month had an animal associated with it, as with the Chinese zodiac. Of greater interest for this poem is the seasons: the first through the third months were spring, regardless of the amount of snow on the ground. Additionally, as the editors note, it's a bit odd to ask how many days of spring are left on the last day of the third month as it's also the last day of spring. They suggest that it could be Narihira's way of complaining about his declining fortunes, due to some complications with court politics, but that's not exactly clear. (One interesting bit of evidence they supply is his mention of the wisteria [藤] which is read as fudi or fuji like that of the Fujiwara family [藤原], to whom he had requested a promotion.)

Thus, Narihira is wondering about the future of himself and spring. He is also, simultaneously, indicating their decline--like that of the wisteria flowers overwhelmed and broken by the heavy rains that accompany the end of spring.

Ariwara Narihira is the famed poet of Ise monogatari, as well as being one of the six poetic geniuses (rokkasen) named in the Kana Preface of the Kokin wakashuu by Ki no Tsurayuki. He is famed for both his poetry and his romantic exploits--including the alleged "conquest" of the high priestess of Ise. The Princeton Companion indicates that he was born in 825 and died in 880.

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Sorry this post is a day late! It's Golden Week in Japan, and I've been a little off. I should be back tomorrow with another poem, this time from a new collection!

The heart of fickle flowers and lovers...

2009-05-02T22:04:00.007+09:00

Sorry for the delay, this week! Today we'll be looking at poem 101 from the second
Book of Spring Poems of the Kokin wakashuu.

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寛平御時后の宮の歌合の歌
Kanpyou ontokikisai no miya no utaawase no uta
咲く花はちくさながらにあだなれど誰かは春をうらみはたてる
saku hana ha chikusa nagara ni adanaredo dare kaha haru wo uramihatateru
藤原の興風
Fujiwara no Okikaze

A poem from the poetry meet in the fifth year of Kanpyou (893) at the Imperial Court

Despite how swiftly / every blooming flower / scatters here and there / who could hardly bear a grudge / for the spring that brings them forth

Fujiwara no Okikaze

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As noted in my previous post, poems grouped into the seasonal books often have multiple meanings completely unrelated to the actual season. In the last poem by Ki no Tsurayuki, we explored the implications of its metaphors in relation to his daughter's death. Today's poem also carries an additional metaphorical meaning, although of a romantic nature. As I believe I've mentioned before, the idealized development of love in classical Japanese literature is not dissimilar to that of the development of the seasons through the year. Let's look more closely at poem 101 of the Kokin wakashuu to see an example.

Taken at face value, the poet, Fujiwara no Okikaze, is extolling the beauty of the spring flowers and expressing lamentation of their inevitable scattering. However, the editors have illuminated an interesting dimension of the poem. While the poet is clearly saddened by the thought of the flowers' scattering, he's expressing, in so many words, the old adage: "'Tis better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all." While this sentiment is overtly about the flowers, its double meaning becomes more obvious as we look more closely at the poem.

The editors point out that the "every blooming flower scatters here and there" is a metaphor for the flightiness of the human heart. So, while the flowers must eventually scatter and the hearts of our lovers are so fickle, who can begrudge the spring (or love) for bringing the flowers and our lovers. Whether in spring or in love, all the beauty we see and experience inevitably ends, but the poet does not hold ill will and cannot imagine anyone else would either.

Personally, I think it's a wonderful sentiment, and I hope you'll agree with me!

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Thanks for reading today! See you Monday.

The new sakura

2009-04-29T22:15:00.004+09:00

Poem 49 from the Kokin wakashuu:

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人の家に植ゑたりける桜の、花咲きはじめたりけるを見よめる
hito no ihe ni uwetarikeru sakura no, hana saki hajimetarikeru wo miyomeru
今年より春知りそむる桜花散るといふことはならはざらなむ
kotoshi yori haru shiri somuru sakurabana chiru to ifu koto ha narahazaranamu
紀貫之
Ki no Tsurayuki

Composed upon viewing the first blossoming of flowers of newly planted cherry trees at someone's residence.
Sakura flowers / bloom, first knowing spring this year, / and how I truly / wish for them not to learn of / the scattering yet to come
Ki no Tsurayuki

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Another poem by Ki no Tsurayuki! You're probably starting to wonder why, but, to be perfectly honest, I randomly happened upon this poem and found it quite beautiful. So its authorship is entirely coincidental and won't be the topic of today's post.

Instead, I'd like to talk about the personification of the sakura blossoms. The reason I found this poem so beautiful centers around the poet's wishes for the blossoms and the way that the flowers are personified. In and of itself, it's a pretty metaphor: the poet, knowing that these are the first blossoms of new planted trees, wish that they would never fall and scatter with the wind, despite the inevitability. This sentiment vividly reflects the philosophy of pre-modern, Buddhist Japan. Ukiyo (浮世) literally means floating world and, in pre-Edo times, refers to the transience of everything. So, while the poet is alluding to the transience of life, he is also directly treating the subject at hand. The wish for a beautiful moment to last forever in stasis is hardly a rhetorical conceit specific to Japan, but it is a very important characteric of Japanese poetry.

There is another dimension to the poem that is relevant to its author as well. I promised not to talk about Ki no Tsurayuki, but his authorship adds a significant meaning to the poem in terms of intertextuality. Ki no Tsurayuki is also the author of the Tosa nikki (Tosa Diary), which chronicles his journey with his family and retainers from a post in the provinces back to the capital. Of specific interest to this poem is his daughters death before their departure. Though the diary was written from the perspective a maid in his household, it was clearly written by him. The work includes a large number of poems as well a prose description. It also specifically discusses Tsurayuki and his wife's sadness at the loss of their daughter. While it may be a stretch, the personification of the first sakura flowers for newly planted trees can be seen as veiled reference to his daughters young death. Just as he wishes for the beautiful cherry blossoms to last longer, he wishes that his daughter had lived to maturity. And just as the cherry flowers must, inevitably fall and scatter with the wind, he was powerless to stop his daughters passing.

Even as the poem captures the joy of new flowers and their first beautiful blossoming, it is imbued with a serious gravity that cannot be ignored. Japanese poetry, especially waka, often carries such a heaviness that is in line with the contemporary Japanese world view. Every beautiful spring eventually becomes winter, but every winter eventually melts and spring begins anew.

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Thanks for reading! I'll be back Friday with another poem from the Kokin wakashuu.

The warm winds of spring...

2009-04-27T22:35:00.003+09:00

Today we'll be continuing in the First Book of Spring Poems from the Kokin wakashuu, with poem number two. (Last Friday was the first poem, in case you've forgotten.)

春立ちける日よめる
haru tachikeru hi yomeru
袖ひちてむすびし水のこほれるを春立つけふの風やとくらむ
sode hichite musubishi mizu no kohoreru wo haru tatu kefu no kaze ya tokuram
紀貫之
Ki no Tsurayuki

Written on "spring coming"
My sleeves are soaked, but / all the promised water I've / scooped up is frozen / I wonder... will the spring winds / come to thaw the ice today
Ki no Tsurayuki

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If you'll remember my first post, you might recognize the poets name--Ki no Tsurayuki. He (and three other men) were commissioned by the emperor to compile the Kokin wakashuu (which translates to An Anthology of Poems Old and New). Before discussing today's poem, I'd like to take some time to talk about one of the things that make the Kokin wakashuu so amazing. The first is how the poems are arranged. Each book of poetry has been compiled in such a way that reading the poems in succession reveals an underlying story. (As we can see even between the first and second poems of the collection: the first wonders if spring has really come and the second wonders if--as the calendar claims it has--its warm winds will thaw the ice.) What makes this characteristic even more amazing is that the poems were collected from the works of over a hundred poets, some of those poems being hundreds of years old. That the editors were able to blend together and create a unified yet diverse poetic voice with such a wide variety of poets is simply (in my mind at least) a staggering feat.

As I've already mentioned, Ki no Tsurayuki was responsible not only for compiling the anthology (and contributing some beautiful poems as well), he also wrote the Kanajo (Kana Preface) that so thoroughly defined Japanese poetic sensibilities for hundreds of years. As Earl Miner, Hiroko Odagiri, and Rober Morrell wrote in The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature:
The conception underlying the collection no doubt reflected then existing ideas about
poetry. But it realized them so well and so influentially that to some degree all Japanese
poetry before 1868 is conceivable only on its terms.
While I personally feel that this may be an exaggeration, I do agree that the influence of the Kokin wakashuu can be seen all the way up to the Meiji Restoration...if not beyond.

Let's turn to today's poem, and discuss a wonderful peculiarity of the Japanese language--homonyms. Many words in Japanese are pronounced the same, but have disparate meanings. Today's poem gives us a slightly difficult example. むすぶ (musubu, in the poem in the conjunctive ren'youkei form to connect to the past tense shi [which is a conjugation of ki]) can mean "to scoop up" (like water in a ladle) as well as "to promise". I've rendered both possible meanings in my translation for two reasons. The first is the lack of a properly poetic word in English that would fit in its place. The second is to hint at hidden meaning in the poem. As with any poetry, what a poet says (or writes) and what a poet means are not always the same. In this case, we have a fairly straightforward poem about the coming of spring and the lingering cold of winter. At the same time, there's a fragrance of love that hangs about in the air. By referring the water as being "promised", could Ki no Tsurayuki be thinking of a distant lover? Perhaps one who once wept so much her sleeves were drenched with tears (a common poetic image in Heian literature and waka)? A lover who now treats him coldly, freezing even as he's reaching to scoop her up? And, just as he hopes the warm spring winds will thaw the frozen waters, does he not hope that the joy of the coming year may also thaw her coldness towards him?

While it's not explicitly in the poem, this sort of double meaning and word play abound in Japanese poetry, especially Heian period waka, and it's hardly a rare occurance to find a love poem wrapped in a seasonal poem. In fact, one of the characteristics of the "storytelling" found in the editors' compilation of the Kokin wakashuu is the that the seasonal books often mirror the ideal love affair with it's joyous beginning, hotly passionate middle, and slowly cooling end.

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I hope you've enjoyed today's poem and the commentary. I realize that there's quite a bit being thrown out there, especially if one is new to Japanese literature, so if anyone has any questions, please feel free to post them in the comment section. I'll be sure to check them regularly and attempt to respond to whatever you may have to say!

Preston From

The snow still falls...

2009-04-24T23:16:00.009+09:00

Today, we'll be looking at a "simple", as the editors refer to it, poem.

題しらず
dai shirazu
春霞たてるやいづこみよしのの吉野の山に雪はふりつつ
haru gasumi tateru ya itzuko mi-Yoshino no Yoshino no yama ni yuki ha furi-tsutsu
読人しらず
yomihito shirazu

Topic unknown
Where could it be that / the spring mists are rolling in? / On Mount Yoshino, / in beautiful Yoshino, / winter snows, alas, still fall
poet unknown

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This is an extremely simple example of waka. There's only one possible kakekotoba (or pivot word)--between いづこ and みよしの (where and beautiful Yoshino, an area in Western Japan--more on this later)--こみ (komi) can mean "to fill up", as in mist filling a valley. However, that's the limit of linguistic play in this poem. For this poem, the beauty is not in it's structure, but in it's utamakura--its pillow words. I am referring, in specific, to Yoshino.

In his book Utamakura, Allusion, and Intertextuality in Traditional Japanese Poetry, Edward Kamens describes utamakura as words that act as "pillows" (makura) for poems (uta). He cites Keichu in the preface of his book as presenting the idea that writing poetry is like dreaming, and utamakura (like a real pillow) provides a place for the poem (or dream) to develop. In the poem we're looking at today, Yoshino is an utamakura--in specific, it is a meisho (a famous place). The point of Yoshino as an utamakura in this poem is to provide a place for the poem to develop. By place, I do not mean a literal place. While the poem is set in Yoshino, it's entirely likely that it was actually written in some other place, like the capital. Yoshino was (and still is) known for it's beautiful cherry blossoms and, as such, is often associated with spring (when the cherry trees bloom and the entire country side turns pink-white). As the contemporary editors of the collection point out, the poem can be read as wondering what it's like at Yoshino mountain when the calendar says that spring has come, but the snow still fall. So, Yoshino is less a literal setting, and more a metaphor for spring.

By setting the poem in Yoshino, the poem in imbued with all the poetic associations that come with Yoshino. We immediately think of green mountains covered in snow, impatiently waiting for the first thaw and the spring mists. At the same time, it has a sense of longing. Yoshino is a way off from the capital and, as such, could be taken as a place of distant desire. By setting the poem in Yoshino, the poet imagines the longing for spring felt in a distant place, far from the world he or she knew and experienced on a daily basis (if the poet is actually from the capital).

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Thanks for reading today! Look for another poem on Monday!

Preston From

Welcome to Yorozu no Koto no Ha!

2009-04-22T21:03:00.003+09:00

Welcome to Yorozu no Koto no Ha! I hope you'll enjoy this journey through classical Japanese poetry as much as I will!

Now, first off, let's just get the name out of the way. It's long and probably a bit cumbersome for any non-Japanese speaker. It literally means 10,000 words and that's all I'm going to say for now. This title will make more sense later on, I promise!

Second, you're probably wondering what my mission statement is. Well, I don't have one. But I can tell you what my intentions are here in my own little hole on the Internet. I love waka...and I'd like to share my love of this magnificent poetic form with you! I know, how lucky you must be. I'm also trying to spend time each day working on my classical Japanese skills, so I think a blog would be an excellent way to both document and share my work. And I encourage comments! (Even the not so nice ones...though I probably will ignore them if they're not helpful.)

So, what's going to happen on a weekly basis? Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I'm going to check to check out a waka collection fro my local library and translate a few poems for our enjoyment. I'll try to include commentary and some context with each post, to enhance the reading experience. I'll also include the original, so if you want to play along, you'll need Japanese fonts installed on your computer. (And if you really want to play along, I can tell you that I'll be using compilations mostly from the Shinpen Nihon koten bungaku zenshuu.) My plan right now is to use poems the first eight Imperial anthologies, but I do expect to branch out to personal collections and other works that include waka that may not be poetry collections. Also, as time allows, I'll occasionally be adding posts of my own poetic criticism. However these posts will have less to do with specific poems and more to do with the application of post-modern philosophy to the reading and understanding of waka as a whole. Don't worry, these posts probably won't be popping up for a while, and if post-modernism isn't your thing, please feel free to ignore them. (Or berate on them, if you hate post-modernism that much. Though I have to admit, I'll probably ignore those comments. :) Sorry!)

Also, since I'm not terribly interested in using special characters, I'll be using extra u's or o's to indicated long vowels. If that means nothing to you, you can safely ignore it. :)

Now, let's make some sense of the name of this blog. 万の言の葉 (yorozu no koto no ha) is taken from the Kana preface of the 古今和歌集 (Kokin wakashuu), which was written by Ki no Tsurayuki, one of it's esteemed compilers. The Kana preface (which was written with the native Japanese writing system called kana) is one of the first poetic criticism written in Japanese (as opposed to Chinese, which was the common method of writing for men at the time). Personally, I find the opening sentence to be one of the most beautiful and succient commentaries on poetry ever written. I would have liked to title this blog as something along the lines of Seeds in the Heart, but the mere thought of even mildly annoying Donald Keene makes me twitch, so I decided to be a little creative.

So, for the first day, I'm not actually going to translate any poetry... Instead I'll be translating the first paragraph of the Kana preface (or 仮名序). It provided the beginning for the start of a grand tradition that still lives today, as well as influencing poets for hundreds of years.

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やまとうたは、人の心を種として、万の言の葉とぞなれなれりける。世の中にある人、ことわざ繁きものなれば、心に思ふことを、見るもの聞くものにつけて、言い出せるなり。花に鳴く鶯、水に住む蛙の声を聞けば、生きとし生けるもの、いづれか歌をよまざりける。力をも入れずして天地を動かし、目に見えぬ鬼神をもあはれと思はせ、男女のなかをも和げ、猛き武士の心をも慰むるは歌なり。

Yamato uta, from its seeds in the human heart, flows out as ten thousands leaves of words. As the people in this world are overcome with innumerable experiences, what they feel in their hearts, they express through what they've seen and heard. And once you hear the cry of the bush warbler in the flowers and the voice of the frog in the water, what living creature does not sing a song? That which moves the heavens and the earthwithout effort, evokes the deep passions of unseen demons and spirits, eases the affairs of men and women, and calms the tempestuous hearts of warriors is poetry.

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For this translation, you'll notice that I've left Yamato uta untranslated. Literally, it means Japanese poetry--Yamato is another name for Japan and uta can mean anything from song to poem, though in this case it means poetry. However, as I feel that what Ki no Tsurayuki has written about Japanese poetry is equally relevant to all poetry, I chose to leave it open to the readers interpretation. This may cause some initial confusion, but I think it helps personalize the work.

Also, you'll notice that I've translated yorozu no koto no ha as ten thousand leaves of words. I'd like to point out a different translation by Helen McCollough as "myriads of words as leaves", which you can find here. I point this out to emphasize the incredibly fluid nature of the Japanese language--particularly classical Japanese. The Kana Preface has been translated innumberable times, and I'm sure each translation says something different. As such, I would not dare to presume that mine is the best--or even 100% right. But I hope that bringing myself to the text will allow for a greater understanding of the text.

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Well, that's all for now. But I'll be back on Friday! This time with some actual poetry from the first book of Spring Poems.