Contents
Poem Index
Poems 11-15
Poem 11
wata no hara yasojima kakete kogiidenu to hito ni wa tsugeyo ama no tsuribune
|
O fishing boat, Tell the one I leave behind That I have rowed out Toward the countless islands In the broad expanse of the sea. |
Comments
This poem appears in the "Travel" section of the Kokinshū. The poet, Ono Takamura (802-852), was a scholar of the first rank skilled in composing Chinese poetry. He was exiled to the island of Oki when (after two previously unsuccessful attempts) he refused to board an unsound ship that was supposed to carry him to China as a court envoy. This waka was supposedly composed at the time of his exile.
The poem is meant to convey the loneliness and uncertainty of the exile first by reference to the contrast between the many islands of the Inland Sea and the solitary boat carrying the poet to Oki, and second by implying emotional intensity through the device of gijinka or gijin-hō (personification), charging a nearby fishing boat with delivering the poet's message to his loved one (or, in an alternate interpretation, to all of his acquaintances back in the capital).
Literal rendition and notes
- Line 1: sea | 's | plain
- Line 2: eighty-islands (the numbers eight and eighty are frequently used in classical Japanese to connote manifoldness) | setting-out-for
- Line 3: have-rowed-out | (quotation particle; the "that" of "say that")
- Line 4: person | to | inform ((imperative form of the verb associated with the quotation particle)
- Line 5: fisherman | 's | fishing-boat
Poem 12
ama tsu kaze kumo no kayoiji fukitojiyo otome no sugata shibashi todomemu
|
Let the wind in the sky Blow shut the cloudy passage So that I may keep The forms of heavenly maidens Before me a while longer. |
Comments
This waka comes from the first "Miscellaneous" section of the Kokinshū. The poet, a grandson of Emperor Kanmu whose lay name was Yoshimine no Munesada (816-890), took the tonsure after the death of Emperor Ninmyō in 850. Along with Ono no Komachi (see Poem 9), Henjō later became known as one of the "six immortals " (rokkasen) of classical Japanese poetry.
In the Kokinshū, the waka is preceded by the heading "Composed when watching the Gosechi dancers." The Gosechi dances were held in the Eleventh Month (of the lunar calendar) and were one of the highlights of the court's year (the dances figure prominently in The Tale of Genji, and the social tensions surrounding their selection are described by Murasaki Shikibu in her diary). The poet is so taken by the beauty of the dancers that he uses the conceit of their being celestial maidens to express the wish that the moment could be extended indefinitely. (For a representation of a Gosechi dancer, click here.) In Japanese, the major semantic break comes after the third line (a technique known as sanku-gire), and the comparison of the Gosechi dancers to celestial maidens or angels illustrates the technique of mitate ("likening" or "comparison"). The translation alters the direct address of the Japanese to a somewhat more general command.
Literal rendition and notes
- Line 1: heaven | 's | wind
- Line 2: cloud | 's | passageway
- Line 3: blow-and-close (a compound verb in imperative form)
- Line 4: maidens | 's | figure
- Line 5: for-a-while | will-stop (i.e., "will not let out of my sight")
Poem 13
Tsukuba-ne no mine yori otsuru Minanogawa koi zo tsumorite fuchi to narinuru
|
Like the Minano, That starts its fall at the peak Of Mount Tsukuba, My love has swollen on its course And now fills a deep, still channel. |
Comments
This poem was taken from the third "Love" section of the Gosen wakashū, where a preface states that it was sent by Yōzei (868-949) to Princess Suishi, whom he later married.
The name "Minano" is composed of the Chinese characters for "man" and "woman," a combination intentionally echoing the image of the win peaks of Mount Tsukuba, which serves as the river's source. While it is unlikely that the poet ever actually saw Mount Tsukuba, which is located in Ibaraki Prefecture, the mountain was a popular topic in waka poetry, and the first three lines of this poem are considered to function as an introductory jokotoba (see Poem 3). Although in translation the semantic connection is weakened, the comparison of the poet's ever deepening (and even somewhat melancholic) love to the course of the Minano River -- accomplished in the original by juxtaposing the single word "love" (koi) to the name of the river -- remains quite effective.
Literal rendition and notes
- Line 1: Mount Tsukuba | 's
- Line 2: peak | from | falls
- Line 3: Minano River
- Line 4: love | ! | builds
- Line 5: deep-pool | to | has-become
Poem 14
Michinoku no shinobu-mojizuri tare yue ni midaresomenishi ware naranaku ni
|
Who is to blame For this secret disarray, So like the patterns dyed In northern Shinobu cloth? Most surely it is not I. |
Comments
This waka comes from the fourth "Love" section of the Kokinshū and also appears in the first section of The Tales of Ise, where it is used to describe the feelings of a young man who accidentally catches sight of two beautiful sisters. The poet, known for his elegant lifestyle, was a son of Emperor Saga who went so far as to design his garden (at his residence Kawara-no-In) to evoke a salt-making scene at Matsushima (including the installation of a functioning salt furnace).
Some rather dense wordplay surrounding the expression shinobu-mojizuri serves to give the original version a multilayered effect not easily conveyed in translation. "Shinobu" is first of all the name of a district in what is now Fukushima Prefecture; in classical times it was part of the Michinoku region occupying much of northeastern Honshu. The district produced a cloth that contained a scattered pattern produced by rubbing in a dye derived from the shinobu (hare's-foot) fern. In addition to both of these distinct meanings, shinobu is also a verb that means "to conceal" (along with connotations of "to endure" and, when written with a different Chinese character, "to think longingly of"). "Concealed love" is a major theme in waka poetry, and refers to a love nominally prohibited by social taboos such as rank or marriage. The conventional nature of this metaphor allows the first two lines of the waka to function as an introductory jokotoba (see Poem 3). In lines 3 and 4, the frustrated poet rhetorically asks who is at fault for his emotional disarray, and the final line (a form of tōchi-hō, or grammatical inversion, which can be taken here as working in a way similar to dividing "Whose fault is it but yours that..." into two parts) fixes the blame on the woman. Other poetic techniques include yonku-dome (a grammatical and semantic break after the fourth line) and engo, "related words" that expand the imagery of the poem through a process of association, here referring in particular to midare ("falling into disarray") and -some ("to begin...," with the additional sense of "to dye") as words associated with mojisuri ("cloth with a scattered pattern").
Literal rendition and notes
- Line 1: Michinoku | 's
- Line 2: Shinobu- cloth-with-scattered-pattern (incorporating a place name, a plant name, and the idea of secrecy)
- Line 3: who | the reason | for
- Line 4: having-started/been dyed-to-scatter (combining the notion of psychological dissarray with the scattered patterns of Shinobu cloth)
- Line 5: I | not-be | however (the contrast is with the "who" of the third line)
Poem 15
kimi ga tame haru no no ni idete wakana tsumu wa ga koromode ni yuki wa furitsutsutsu
|
As I gather herbs From this field in early spring, Intending them for you, The falling snow starts to gather On the sleeve of my outstretched arm. |
Comments
This waka was taken from the first "Spring" section of the Kokinshū. Kōkō (830-887) was the third son of the emperor Ninmyō and succeeded Yōzei to the throne. The preface to the poem in the Kokinshū states that it was composed while Kōkō was still an imperial prince, to accompany a traditional New Year's gift of spring herbs.
The pairing of snow with spring herbs creates a pleasing contrast of green and white in this otherwise straightforward poem. The direct reference to "you" in the first line can perhaps be said to add an extra note of intimacy, although the recipient could, of course, be either male or female. The syntax is quite regular, with semantic breaks also marking the rhythmic divisions.
Literal rendition and notes
- Line 1: you | 's | purpose (i.e., "for the purpose of you" = "for you")
- Line 2: spring | 's | field | to | go-out
- Line 3: herbs | pick (used attributively to modify "sleeve")
- Line 4: I | 's | sleeves | on
- Line 5: snow | as-for | keeps-falling