GSS 3
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Text
兼盛王
けふよりは 荻のやけ原 かきわけて 若菜つみにと 誰をさそはむ
Translation
Prince Kanemori
From today / burnt fields of *ogi* / making our way through / to pick young shoots / whom shall I invite?
Textual Notes
- 兼盛王] 兼覧王（荒・標ィ・全釈）、兼覧大君（堀・慶・片*）
- つみにと] つまんと（八・増）
Other Sources
Notes
- 兼盛王
- This attribution is only found in this poem, and it is not completely clear who it refers to, or if there is a mistake. As can be seen from the Textual Notes, the poem is sometimes attributed to Kanemi rather than Kanemori. The 後六々集 lists Kanemi as the author, while Teika's 定家八代抄, the 和歌童蒙抄, and the 大和物語 attribute it to Taira no Kanemori. The 袋草紙 has a long note on the problematic attributions of a number of Kanemori's poems, including this one. Modern commenters take various approaches: 全釈 emends the text, with Kifune claiming that it would have been wrong to use the suffix 王 with Kanemori. 新体系 says that this would have been his title prior to 950, and 新注 simply notes the various sources and says that it is probably Kanemori's composition. Finally, 和歌大系 says that either is possible, and notes that the 大和物語 is not necessarily a completely trustworthy source.
- 荻
- Kana spellings include 乎岐（和名類聚抄）、乎支（新撰字鏡）、and 乎疑（万葉集１４・３４４６）. Despite the spelling おき in the 中院本 and 正徹本, it seems that をぎ (with the voiced second syllable) is the historically correct reading. The plant first appears in imperial collections in the GSS (in a total of 4 poems), although it occurs in four MYS poems and one poem in the 新撰和歌. It is not included in the 古今和歌六帖 Starting with the 千載集 it becomes a standard autumn plant. 「下。をぎ原。庭、野などによむ。水辺にも有るべし」（八雲御抄）.
- 荻のやけ原
- 「春、野火で焼いたあとの荻の原をいう。また、荻の初生の芽が黒いのにたとえたものともいう」（日本国語大辞典）. See also [[SIS 1020]: 「かすがののをぎのやけはらあさるとも見えぬなきなをおほすなるかな」These sources read the term as やけはら, unvoiced.
- かきわけて
- This term would seem to suggest making your way through a dense forest, which is not appropriate here -- it may suggest searching for the 若菜 among the burnt ashes.
- 若菜
- Picking young shoots is an activity seen in a number of early spring poems -- although there was sometimes a specific ritual associated with it, such as presenting the shoots to the Emperor, here it seems to be a more casual activity. cf. 枕草子: 「七日、雪まのわかなつみ、あをやかに、例はさしもさるもの目ちかからぬ所に、もてさわぎたるこそをかしけれ」
- 誰
- Early phonetic representations of this word are always unvoiced, and the 日葡辞書 has "tarega" for 誰が. Although 誰 can sometimes be た, here it is clearly たれ to fit the meter (and following other manuscripts that write the word in kana).
Analysis
The unspoken conclusion to this poem is "you are the only one that would be worth inviting." 「野焼は春日野が有名。前歌の春日山の連想によるか」（新注）「春到来の喜びの歌」（注釈）
This poem, like the first two, is probably the sort of public poem found in the KKS. But in dealing with the aristocratic practice of the "new shoot" picking, as well as being ostensibly addressed to someone, it suggests the type of private poem that will follow in the collection.
The term yakebara is not found in the KKS. However, poem 17 does refer to the practice. In the KKS the poem leads into a series of four poems on young shoots (19-22). The GSS places poem 3 in the middle of other poems dealing with the snow of early spring –- perhaps to suggest the mixing of the spring snow with other early spring activities. Kudo also suggests a possible connection with the previous poem –- as the KKS poem above indicates, burned fields were especially associated with Kasuga. So this poem may have been linked to the previous one from that image.
Ogi, as well, is a seasonal plant that did not appear in the KKS, although examples can be found in the MYS.
This poem appears in the Tales of Yamato with a response poem (see Other Sources above).
「野焼は春日野が有名。前歌の春日山の連想によるか」（新注）「春到来の喜びの歌」（注釈）