Contents
Poem Index
Poems 1-5
Poem 1
aki no ta no kario no io no toma o arami wa ga koromode wa tsuyu ni nuretsutsu
|
The coarsely thatched roof Of this makeshift watchman's hut In the autumn fields Admits the falling dew that Gathers thickly on my sleeves. |
Comments
This poem is taken from the Gosen wakashū (Later Selection of Waka) anthology of 951; it is based on an original found in the eighth-century poetic anthology the Man'yōshū. The attribution to an emperor is thought to be spurious (Tenji reigned from 668-671 and was responsible for instituting the Taika Reforms, the starting point for the establishment of a centralized government).
The "autumn fields" mentioned in the translation are, of course, rice fields at harvest time, and a watchman is necessary to keep the ripe rice from being ravaged by birds and other scavenging animals. In real life, one would hardly find such work very poetic. The overall tone of the poem, however, is as elegant as it is desolate, and it is presumably this combination that appealed to Teika. The first three lines present a situation that gives rise to the situation described in the last two.
Literal rendition and notes
- Line 1: autumn | 's | field | 's
- Line 2: temporary-hut / rice-ears | 's | hut | 's
- Line 3: thatching | due-to | coarse
- Line 4: I | 's | clothing-sleeves | as-for
- Line 5: dew | with | getting-wetter-and-wetter
Poem 2
haru sugite natsu kinikerashi shirotae no koromo hosu chō ama no Kaguyama
|
Spring has passed, it seems, And now summer has arrived; For this, they say, is when Robes of pure white are aired On heavenly Mount Kagu. |
Comments
The immediate source is the Shin kokin wakashû (New Collection of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poetry, 1205). Like the previous poem, however, it is a variant of an original that appears in the Man'yōshū and has also been spuriously attributed to an early Japanese sovereign. Jitô was Tenji's daughter and the wife of Emperor Temmu; she ruled in her own right as the (supposed) forty-first tennō from 690 to 697. Mount Kagu is located slightly to the southeast of the ancient Fujiwara-kyō capital in Nara (capital from 694 to 710).
The poem is a relatively simply one in which the poet, upon observing white robes laid out for airing, makes use of hearsay to evoke traditional Japanese social customs and mythical associations. Poetic techniques used include a makurakotoba ("pillow word," a fixed epithet of five-syllables placed before certain expressions to enhance their evocative power or to modulate the rhythm) and taigendome (the use of a noun at the end of the poem to leave a feeling of grammatical incompleteness). The makurakotoba was one of the most common devices in Japanese poetry beginning from the time of the Man'yōshū; taigendome is considered typical of early thirteenth-century preferences.
Literal rendition and notes
- Line 1: spring | has-passed
- Line 2: summer | appears-to-have-come (the particle -rashi indicates a conclusion based on observation)
- Line 3: pure-white | 's (shirotae is a makurakotoba deriving from a word for cloth woven from tree-bark fiber; often used to modify white objects)
- Line 4: robes | to-air | they-say
- Line 5: heaven | 's | Mount Kagu
Poem 3
ashibiki no yamadori no o no shidari o no naganagashi yo o hitori ka mo nemu
|
On a night as long As the long, drooping tail on The copper pheasant Dwelling in the steep mountains, Am I, too, meant to sleep alone? |
Comments
Taken from the Shūi wakashū
The poem neatly makes a comparison between the length of the tail on a mountain pheasant and the slow passage of time experienced by a lover who must sleep alone, and is based further on the fact that male and female copper pheasants do indeed sleep in separate locations. Poetic devices include the use of a makurakotoba (ashibiki no, here translated as "steep"), which itself appears within the larger device of a jokotoba -- an "introductory phrase" of at least seven syllables -- that functions as the link between the natural world (the tail on a copper pheasant) and human perception (the length of the night). Here the jokotoba spans the first three lines of the waka; although conventional enough to be considered a standard poetic device, it differs from the makurakotoba both in terms of length and in point of conception since, as an original metaphor, it is the product of the poet's own imagination rather than having simply been chosen from among a pre-existing stock of epithets.
Literal rendition and notes
- Line 1: steep | 's (ashibiki is a makurakotoba associated with "mountain")
- Line 2: mountain-bird | 's | tail | 's
- Line 3: drooping | tail | 's
- Line 4: long- long-night | (accusative particle)
- Line 5: alone | ? | also | will-sleep
Poem 4
Tago-no-ura ni uchidete mireba shirotae no Fuji no takane ni yuki wa furitsutsu
|
As I venture out Onto the shore at Tago Bay, I see snow, pure white, Falling now ever deeper On Mount Fuji's lofty peak. |
Comments
This waka, taken from the "Winter" section of the Shin kokin wakashū, is based on an original by Yamabe found in the Man'yōshū. Yamabe, an eighth-century courtier whose dates are uncertain, was ranked by Ki no Tsurayuki in his preface to the Kokinshū with Kakinomoto Hitomaro as one of the two best Man'yōshū poets. He is represented in that collection by 13 chōka (long poems) and 37 tanka (short poems).
Much of the appeal of the poem lies in the contrast between the sharp image of Fuji's snowy peak in the distance and the vague abstractness of Tago Bay (in present-day Shizuoka Prefecture) in the foreground. The contrast creates an impression of spatial depth which is thought to be in keeping with Yamabe's reputation as a "visually depictive" poet. However, since it would presumably be impossible to see snow falling at such a distance, a touch of fantasy is also involved. The expression shirotae is the same makurakotoba found in Poem 2 above.
Literal rendition and notes
- Line 1: Tago Bay | at
- Line 2: go-out | when-try-to
- Line 3: pure-white | 's
- Line 4: Fuji | 's | lofty-peak | on
- Line 5: snow |as-for | keeps-falling
Poem 5
okuyama ni momiji fumiwake naku shika no koe kiku toki zo aki wa kanashiki
|
Deep in the mountains, Striding through red, fallen leaves, A stag calls for a mate; And hearing its plaintive cry, I am struck by autumn's sadness. |
Comments
This poem appears in the "Autumn" section of the Kokin wakashū. Nothing is known about the supposed author, who has legendary status as a waka poet. In the Kokinshū, the poem is prefaced by a note stating that it was submitted as an entry in a poetry contest, indicating that already by the end of the eighth century court circles associated autumn with a feeling of sorrow, thus forming a marked contrast with the harvest festivities characteristic of rural life.
The central interpretive problem is whether the subject of "stride" is the stag or the poet himself. Here it is assumed that a walk in the mountains is less characteristic of aristocratic life than listening to the call of the stag from a (more comfortable) distance. The interpolated meaning of the stag's call is based on a conventional poetic association.
Literal rendition and notes
- Line 1: deep-mountains | in
- Line 2: autumn-leaves (written with the character for "red") | walk-through
- Line 3: calling | stag (it is the male that calls) | 's
- Line 4: cry | hear | time (="when") | !
- Line 5: autumn | as-for | sad