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Comments

The source is the “Summer” book of the Senzaishū (SKT 161). Fujiwara no Sanesada (1139 – 1191) was a cousin of Fujiwara no Teika (see Poem 97) and talented at playing the biwa and composing poetry in a variety of styles. "Tokudaiji" was the appelation of a branch of the Fujiwara family originating with a courtier who founded the Tokudai Temple in Kyoto; Sanesada affected the form Go-Tokudaiji.

The cuckoo is a migratory bird traditionally considered a harbinger of summer, and hearing its first call was a highly anticipated event among court aristocrats. The waka transitions from the auditory to the visual -- from the call of the cuckoo to the sight of the moon. It is this transition that gives the poem its unique approach to an otherwise conventional pairing of images.

Literal rendition and notes

• Line 1:  cuckoo
• Line 2:  call-just-emitted | direction | (acc.)
• Line 3:  when-gaze
• Line 4:  only | dawn | 's |
• Line 5:  moon | ! | be-remaining

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Comments

The source is the third “Love” book of the Senzaishū (SKT 818). Dōin, (1090 – 1182?), whose lay name was Fujiwara no Atsuyori, apparently had trouble freeing himself from his attachment to poetry. According to the Mumyōshō (Nameless Notes) of Kamo no Chōmei (1155 – 1216), Dōin prayed regularly for inspiration at Sumiyoshi Shrine and, after his death, supposedly appeared to Fujiwara no Shunzei in a dream to thank him for including so many of his waka in the Senzaishū.

The contrast between the objective continuity of life and the emotional devastation of rejection in love reflects the dissociation that can occur at times of psychological distress, with the poet's tears -- which seem to fall of their own accord -- acting as a mediary between the two worlds. Despite the waka's inclusion in the "Love" book of the Senzaishū, the headnote simply remarks that the topic is unknown (dai shirazu), so the circumstances surrounding the poem's composition are unclear, and it also seems possible to interpret the poem in a broader sense more in keeping with Dōin's status as a monk.

Literal rendition and notes

• Line 1:  thinking-to-distraction
• Line 2:  even-so | life | as-for
• Line 3:  exist | even-though
• Line 4:  anguish | to | not-endure | as-for
• Line 5:  tears | be! (the final exclamation implies coming to an awareness of something that has happened -- an interesting conflation of time quite common in classical Japanese poetry)

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Comments

The source is the second “Miscellaneous” book of the Senzaishū (SKT 1151). Fujiwara no Shunzei (or Toshinari, 1114 – 1204), the compiler of the Senzaishū, was the father of Fujiwara no Teika (or Sadaie, see Poem 97), the presumed compiler of the Hyakunin isshu.

The metaphorical message is, of course, that one cannot escape the melancholy sorrow of human life. The conventional loneliness associated with a stag calling for mate is here given a slight ironic twist because even though presumably the poet was actively seeking isolation, he is put even more in mind of the sadness attending upon human loneliness. The ambivalence gains in subtlety by being conveyed indirectly through the image of a stag. A syntactic break after the second phrase marks the nikugire technique, establishing a clearly defined contrast between the two hemistiches of the waka (unlike the previous waka, however, no conjunction meliorates the contrast).

Literal rendition and notes

• Line 1:  world | !
• Line 2:  road | ! | not-exist
• Line 3:  devotedly-thinking
• Line 4:  mountain | 's | interior | at | even
• Line 5:  stag | ! | call-out

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Comments

The source is the second “Miscellaneous” book of the Shinkokinshū (SKT 1843). Fujiwara no Kiyosuke (1104 – 1177) was the son of Fujiwara no Akisuke (see Poem 79), from whom he was long estranged. Despite a relative lack of success at obtaining preferment at court, Kiyosuke was much admired for his discernment as a critic.

The shifts in time give this waka its appeal: the first three lines move from the present to the future, while the last two lines move from the present to the past. In that way, past, present, and future are marshalled to suggest not only the sadness of life but also the particular sense of resignation that comes from living it. The question that is completed grammatically at end of the third line signals the use of the sankugire technique.

Literal rendition and notes

• Line 1:  if-live-long
• Line 2:  again | present-time | ? (the question particle applies to the verb in the next line)
• Line 3:  recall-fondly
• Line 4:  wretched | (quot.) | did-regard | world | !
• Line 5:  now | as-for | wistful

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Comments

The source is the second “Love” book of the Senzaishū (SKT 766). Shun’e (1113 – ?) was the son of Fujiwara no Toshiyori (see Poem 74) and waka teacher to Kamo no Chōmei (1155 – 1216), the author of Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness).

The (rather exaggerated) complaint is that the woman resents not only the heartlessness of her neglectful lover but also the "cruelty" of the gaps between her bedroom doors (and presumably between the doors and their frame), which give no sign of the approach of dawn and thus an end to her anguished waiting. Shun’e is writing in the persona of a spurned woman, a fairly common pose in classical Japanese poetry.

Literal rendition and notes

• Line 1:  all-night-long
• Line 2:  painfully-contemplating | recent-time | as-for
• Line 3:  not-yet-being-fully-dawn
• Line 4:  bedchamber | 's | gap | even
• Line 5:  has-become-heartless

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Comments

The source is the fifth “Love” book of the Senzaishū (SKT 929). Saigyō (1118 – 1190), whose lay name was Satō Norikiyo, is known for the waka he composed during his lengthy travels around Japan. Poets such as Matsuo Bashō (1654 – 1694) made a point of visiting the places Saigyō had memorialized in his poetry.

The moon, it is clear, is not to be regarded solely as a symbol of austere beauty -- it also evokes the resentment of unrequited love (this motif can be traced in part to the influence of Chinese poetry, particularly that of Bai Juyi [772 – 846]). The gijin-hō technique is apparent in the personification of both the moon, which is blamed for the poet's morose feelings, and the poet’s tears, which deliver a rebuke in the poet's stead. The question-response format signals the use of the sankugire technique, as in Poem 84, above.

Literal rendition and notes

• Line 1:  must-lament | even-saying
• Line 2:  moon | ? | thing | (acc.) (the question particle governs the rest of lines two and three: "Does [the moon] make me think about things?")
• Line 3:  make-think
• Line 4:  having-reproachful-face
• Line 5:  I | 's | tears | ! ("falling from my eyes" has been interpolated)

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Comments

The source is the second “Autumn” book of the Shinkokinshū (SKT 491). Jakuren (1139? – 1202), whose lay name was Fujiwara no Sadanaga, was the nephew of Fujiwara no Shunzei (see Poem 83) and one of the compilers of the Shinkokinshū, although he died before its completion.

The word maki is a general term for such evergreens as Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress. The image of dark trees enveloped by white mist on an autumn evening creates the impression of a monochromatic ink painting (one immediately thinks of the folding screens of Hasegawa Tōhaku), but one that shifts in perspective from near (the drops on the leaves) to distant (trees in the mist). The entire waka constitutes a single nominative clause, illustrating the taigendome technique. The somber beauty evoked is extraordinary.

Literal rendition and notes

• Line 1:  sudden-shower | 's
• Line 2:  dew | also | not-yet | to-dry
• Line 3:  evergreen-trees | leaves | on
• Line 4:  mist | rise-up
• Line 5:  autumn | 's | evening

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Comments

The source is the “Love” book of the Senzaishū. (SKT 807). The poet, whose dates are unknown, was active in the 12th century and served under Empress Seishi (1121 – 1181), wife of Emperor Sutoku (see Poem 77).

An extended metaphor, and thus difficult to translate within the prescribed syllabic format, the waka contains no fewer than three kakekotoba, or pivot words: karine, representing both cropped reeds and a short sleep; hitoyo, meaning both one segment of a reed stalk (between two nodes) and a single night; and miotsukushi, used nominatively for “channel marker” and verbally as part of a phrase meaning “consuming oneself.” In addition, the place name Naniwa-e is accompanied by the related words (engo) of ashi (“reeds”), karine, hitoyo, and miotsukushi. Finally, the kakekotoba pair of karine / hitoyo is prefaced by a descriptive jokotoba referring to reeds at the entrance to Naniwa (Osaka) Bay, known for its large population of prostitutes. The connection is made clear in the headnote in the source, which specifies as the topic a love tryst at an inn for travelers. Ostensibly, then, the waka becomes a sympathetic depiction of the tenuous existence of such women, continually sacrificing themselves for a series of brief romantic liaisons, although from a modern perspective the conflation of prostitution with romance sits rather uneasily. Surprisingly, the waka scans quite smoothly in Japanese despite the convoluted wordplay.

Literal rendition and notes

• Line 1:  Naniwa Inlet | 's
• Line 2:  reed | 's |cropped-root + short-sleep | 's
• Line 3:  one-segment + one-night | reason
• Line 4:  channel-marker + exhaust-oneself | ? (the question particle applies to the verb in the next line)
• Line 5:  extend-love | should (as a question, the sense becomes "Should I be expected to go on loving?")

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Comments

The source is the first “Love” book of the Shinkokinshū (SKT 1034). Shokushi (sometimes spelled Shikishi; 1149 – 1201) was the third daughter of Emperor Go-Shirakawa (1127 – 1192; r. 1155-1158). She served as Vestal Virgin of Kamo Shrine and eventually became a nun.

The passionate tone of this waka and the previous one are conventionally held to be characteristic of female poets of the classical period (and later). The first two lines give expression to the poet’s romantic desperation, while the next three add apprehension over the possibility of her secret being discovered. The clear syntactic break at the end of the second line demonstrates the nikugire technique. Tae ("breaking"), nagarae ("living on"), and yowari ("losing strength") are all engo associated with the word o ("thread" or "cord"). The headnote in the source specifies the topic as "concealed love." That concealment demands forebearance is so implicit in the verb shinobu that it is not treated as a kakekotoba in Japanese poetics despite the difference in English nuance.

Literal rendition and notes

• Line 1:  beaded-string | ! ("tama" -- "bead" or "jewel" -- is homophonous with the word for "soul," so "tamanoo" is a conventional metaphor for life; the exclamatory particle "yo" indicates direct address)
• Line 2:  if-break | do-break
• Line 3:  if-live-longer
• Line 4:  being-endured | thing | (subj.)
• Line 5:  growing-weak | also | ! | do

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Comments

The source is the fourth “Love” book of the Senzaishū (SKT 886). The poet (1131? –1200?) was the daughter of Fujiwara no Nubunari (1197 – ?) and lady-in-waiting to Princess Ryōshi (1147 – 1216), more commonly referred to as Inpumon’in.

The conventional notion at the center of the waka's meaning is that one's passionate tears (tears of blood, that is) dye the sleeves of one's kimono red. The poem itself is an allusive variation of Poem 48: this is the rhetorical device of honkadori, which is present in eight of the last eleven waka of the Hyakunin isshu and can therefore be said to demonstrate one of the shaping impulses of the compiler. In this case, the image of the water-soaked sleeves of common fishermen is being appropriated for aristocratic use to suggest the rather more elegant anguish of the poet (the headnote in the source specifies the topic as love). Rather unusually in terms of rhetorical devices, the waka has semantic breaks after both the first and fourth lines (shokugire and shikugire); the translation retains only the first of these. It should also be noted that this is the third in succession of a short series of passionate waka composed by women.

Literal rendition and notes

• Line 1:  wish-to-show | !
• Line 2:  Ojima | 's | fisher | 's (unlike modern Japanese, the classical word "ama" can refer to either men or women)
• Line 3:  sleeve | even | also
• Line 4:  get-wet | and | ! | get-wet
• Line 5:  color | as-for | not-change (the "wa" creates a contrastive example, directing attention to the poet's sleeves as opposed to those of the fishermen)