(1v) 後撰和歌集巻第一　春上

Gosenshu Volume 1: Spring 1

The GSS has three spring volumes, in contrast to the KSS' two, although only slightly more poems (146 to 134). The first book of spring poems begins with new years' poems, continues through the "Day of the Rat" festivities, and contains a large number of poems on plum blossoms. The book also contains poems on lingering snow, spring mist, and warblers.

1

正月一日、二条の后きさいの宮にて、白しろき大袿おほうちきを賜たまはりて

On the first day of the first month, he received a large robe at the Nijō Empress' residence.

正月一日] 元日に (行・雲・八・増・新・標), 元日 (荒) The latter four Edo-period editions all note 正月一日 as a variant reading.
おほうちきを In the base text, を is written in later, but appears to be in Teika's hand. No other texts lack を.

藤原敏行朝臣

Lord Fujiwara no Toshiyuki

ふる雪の　みのしろ衣　うちきつつゝ　春きにけりと　おどろかれぬる

Straw robe \ of falling snow \ while I wear it, \ spring has come, \ I am surprised [to see].

正月一日: This is probably meant to be read as むつきのついたち. The reading むつき for 正月 is found in both the 伊呂波字類抄 and the 八雲御抄. Katagiri assigns it this reading his edition; all other editions do not specify a reading, and all the manuscripts have just the kanji (or the alternate reading of 元日 seen above). In KKS 8, however, 正月三日 is written as むつき三日 in several manuscripts. Manuscripts of the *Tale of Genji*, *Ise Monogatari*, and other Heian period texts contain readings of "[Month name]のついたち", and the other possible readings of 一日 seem to be confined to other meanings of the word.

大袿: This is a large robe worn underneath the outer garment. It was "large" (uncut) so that it could be tailored later to the person. It is frequently given as a ceremonial gift (禄ろく). In the Tale of Genji, it is among the gifts given to Genji at his coming of age ceremony. Tales of Yamato 132 and the Murasaki Shikibu Diary also mention the gift robe.
賜はりて: The humble たまはる is used for Toshiyuki with respect to the Nijō Empress.
朝臣: This compound, read あそみ in older texts but perhaps あそむ in the early Heian period, is used with someone higher than 5th rank. Other texts and sources suggest that the の particle should be inserted between the name and 朝臣.
ふる雪: This may indicate that snow was actually falling on the day it was given, but it also creates wordplay for 古行の身.
みのしろ衣: みの（蓑） is a straw jacket worn to protect against rain or snow. 蓑代衣 appears to be a coat worn instead of the normal straw coat to (better?) protect against the elements. It creates a play on 白衣 referring to the Empress' gift. A good deal of the early commentary on this poem in sources like the Ogisho are devoted to defining this term and perhaps questioning its poetic appropriateness. Several commentators note that the word is not in the MYS but appears once again in the GSS in poem 1354 by Nakahara no Muneki. Minamoto no Toshiyori thought that Muneki had used Toshiyuki’s poem as a precedent to compose his own, but without knowing anything about Muneki, it’s hard to say. The Waka dōmōshō attempts to call on a Chinese precedent, a story of Emperor Xiàowǔ [430–464] from the Book of Sòng (which I could not find).
うちきつつ: This plays on the robe 袿 and also うち着つつ (wear again and again).
春きにけり: The "realization" けり on the surface seems to suggest surprise that spring has come given the lingering snow. 春 is also often used to refer to the beneficence of a ruler (in this case, the Empress).
おどろかれぬる: おどろく here may indicate suddenly noticing something (see KKS 169, the opening autumn poem, also by Toshiyuki: あききぬとめにはさやかに見えねども風のおとにぞおどろかれぬる). The れ is the 自発 passive and the ぬる is the completion auxiliary in RT form, which has a nominalizing effect like のだ in modern Japanese.

--

The opening poem of the collection sounds a keynote for the special qualities of the GSS in comparison to the other collections.

The KKS and the SIS both begin with poems about the new year. The KKS' poem is a logical, witty poem that is typical of the elevated KKS style, whereas the SIS poem was written for a poetry contest.

としのうちに春はきにけりひととせをこぞとやいはむことしとやいはむ

Spring has come before the end of the year. Shall we say the year is last year or this year? (KKS 1)

はるたつといふばかりにや三吉野の山もかすみてけさは見ゆらん

Is it only because spring has started that we Yoshino this morning obscured by mist? (SIS 1)

The GSS, on the other hand, begins with an occasional congratulatory poem. It recalls KKS 8 which was also composed in response to the Nijō Empress. Since the lunar calendar’s spring began when it was still cold and often snowy, early poems in the imperial collections frequently contain the theme of conflict between the calendar and the actual conditions. Without a prose preface, this poem could be read as entirely a seasonal poem – essentially a complaint that the poet is surprised spring has come, given that he has to keep wearing his snow clothes.

Most commentaries read this as being composed in the falling snow (or at least with snow on the ground) although the preface does not specify that. Kifune sees a connection between the snow and old age/white hair (as in KKS 8), although there's no way to tell when this was composed. It's also not clear that it has anything to do with political ambitions or rank.

Another reason for this poem's selection is that KKS ends with a poem by Toshiyuki, so the compilers created a link between the previous Imperial collection and this one.

The poem was included in Shunzei's Korai futeisho as well as Teika's Teika hachidaisho.

Other sources:

敏行集 1
俊頼髄脳　和歌童蒙抄　奥儀抄　八雲御抄　色葉和歌集
古来風体抄　定家八代抄
前摂政家歌合(1443年) ２６２. The poem is referred to in a judgment, probably written by Ichijo Kanera. The poem is 時雨ふるま木のいた屋にね覚して冬きにけりとおどろかれぬる. The judge was unimpressed with this poem, noting that the last two lines are exactly the same as the poem above, with “winter” substituted for “spring.” Evidently he felt this was an improper use of the honka-dori technique.

2

春はる立つ・日よめる

Read on the first day of spring.

よめる] ナシ (行・慶)

大河内躬恒

Ōshikōchi no Mitsune

春立つ・と　ききゝつるからに　かすが山　消え・あへぬ　雪の花と見ゆらん

"Spring has come" / having heard this / Kasuga Mountain's / difficult to melt / snow looks like flowers.

かすが] よしの (荒・片) Mount Yoshino is more associated with snow than Kasuga, although Kasuga has the spring association that Yoshino lacks.

ききつるからに: つる is the RT of the つ auxiliary, showing completion. からに means "as soon as..."

かすが山

--

Following the KKS precedent, the GSS continues the spring volume with poems evoking the lingering snow of early spring, and the clash between the calendar season and the natural world. This is a public, occasional poem typical of the KKS style. Kudo notes that putting 立春 after 正月一日 is peculiar to the GSS.

Although Kasuga plains appears in several KKS spring poems (17, 19, 22), Kasuga mountain only appears in poem 364, a "celebration" poem where it's used by association with the Nara Shrine on it. The mountain does appear in the MYS with spring associations, such as poem 1845:

鴬の春になるらし春日山霞たなびく夜目に見れども

It seems to have become the warbler's spring. Even though I see mist on Kasuga Mountain at night.

Also 1843, which appears in a variant form as SIS 3.

昨日こそ年は果てしか春霞春日の山に早立ちにけり

Yesterday the year ended, and today the spring mist is rising on Kasuga Mountain.

Using Kasuga Mountain with snow, however, seems specific to Mitsune's poem, and the image does not occur in later imperial anthologies.

The image of snow confused for flowers is one that goes back to Chinese poetry. In the Japanese tradition, the theme occurs in the MY, as well as the KKS. KKS 7 (poet unknown) is particularly close to Mitsune's poem.

Other sources:

躬恒集（体系I.232,II.181,III.256). The poem is not found in the text of the Mitsune collection that the SKTK editors used as their main text.
金玉集　三十人撰　三十六人撰　古来風体抄　定家八代抄 This was apparently a favored poem of Teika, Shunzei, and Fujiwara no Kinto.
歌合文永二年七月２. The judge, Shinkan, was commenting on the losing right poem. The poem had clouds on the mountain be mistaken for flowers. Shinkan did not like this image, and wondered if the poet had GSS 2 in mind.
沙石集　The SKTK lists this as poem 190; it apparently occurs in variant manuscripts but I'm not yet sure exactly how it fits in.
五代歌枕

3

[Read on the first day of Spring.]

兼盛王

Prince Kanemori

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

kehu yori ha                  Starting from today
wogi no yakebara              Whom shall I invite to go
kaki-wake-te                  Making our way through
wakana tumi ni to             The burned-out fields of ogi
tare o sasoha-mu              To pick the newly grown shoots?

Burned-out fields of ogi: This refers to the practice of "agricultural burning," done in fields to encourage growth of crops.
Young shoots: These are plants that grow in early spring and are eaten as food. Katagiri links this with the ritualized practice of picking certain types of plants and eating them to celebrate the season and hope for long life, but Kifune thinks this should rather be interpreted as an ad-hoc activity to rejoice in the coming of spring, not a specific ritual.
Who shall I invite?: This is playfully directed to the listener: "I would invite no one else but you."

Supplementary Notes

--

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.

4

ある人のもとに、新参にひまいりの女の侍り・けるが、月日久ひさしく経へて、睦む月のついたちごろに、前まへゆるされたりけるに、雨の降るふ・を見て

A woman came into the household of a certain man, and after many days and months, around the first of the year she was permitted to visit him, and she looked at the falling rain.

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

白雲のうへしるけふぞ春雨のふるにかひある身とはしりぬる

sirakumo no                   Today when I know
uhe siru kehu zo              The world above the white clouds
harusame no                   Now I truly know
huru ni kahi aru              That it was worth waiting through
mi to ha siri-nuru            Spring rains falling on the peak.

A woman: The prose preface refers to a woman becoming a mistress or wife to a man and moving to his household. According to Kifune, the woman would not be allowed to visit the man’s bedchambers until she showed her personality and work ethic.
Above the white clouds: This was often a term for the Emperor or the palace; the prose preface suggests a commoner’s household. Either the term is being applied to a high-ranking commoner, or the poem was originally composed for a different context than the preface.
Spring rains: The primary purpose of this, aside from the seasonal imagery, is to set up a play with huru meaning both “[rain] falls” and “time passes.” Kifune suggests that through the traditional association of spring rains with long rains, this term also suggests the common play on nagame meaning both “long rains” and “gazing with sorrow.”
Worthy: The idea is that it was worth waiting through the long “rains” (period where she was not allowed to visit) to finally be allowed to see above the clouds (visit him). There may be an additional play on words here, with kahi meaning both “worth” (e.g. kahi aru mi = a body/person worthy) and a mountain peak, which would be an associated word with “white clouds.”

Supplementary Notes

--

After the first three public-style poems, the GSS moves into a sequence of four private poems on early spring themes. Since 5-7 deal with picking new shoots, they link better to poem 3. However, since poem 4 is a new year poem, the compilers placed it first. The compilers in general group the public poems and private poems separately.

In a household with multiple wives or mistresses, being able to visit the man more frequently than others was a sign of prestige, so this is a poem of gratefulness to the man for allowing her to be in his presence. As Katagiri notes, spring was often used as a symbol of youth and blessing. The poem is similar to ones found in the KKS that display gratefulness to the Emperor, especially ones written by older people. The KKS would normally place these in the miscellaneous or celebration books, however.

This is also the first of many poems in the GSS that have “poem tale”-like prefaces -– although these poems can be found scattered throughout the imperial anthologies, the anonymous “poem tale” compositions are especially common in the GSS.

Cranston interprets this as a poem of complaint rather than praise, perhaps reading it sarcastically. Using "above the clouds" for a non-Imperial person might heighten the sarcasm?

5

朱雀院の子日（ねのひ）におはしましけるに、障さはること侍り・て、えつかうまつらで、延光朝臣につかはしける

When Retired Emperor Suzaku went to do Day of the Rat activities, something prevented [the Minister], and so he could not go, and sent this to Lord Nobumitsu.

左大臣

Minister of the Left (Fujiwara no Saneyori)

松もひきわかなもつまず成り・ぬるをいつしか桜はやもさかなむ

matu mo hiki				Pulling up Small Pines,
wakana mo tuma-zu			Picking the New Shoots of spring --
nari-nuru wo				Neither do I now;
itu si ka sakura			Oh Cherry Blossoms – when, when!
haya mo saka-na-mu			I wish that you would bloom soon.

Day of the Rat activities: On the first Day of the Rat of the new year, people would go out and pick small pine shoots and new plants, and eat them. This was supposed to bring health, long life, and blessings.
Lord Nobumitsu: Apparently Nobumitsu was accompanying the Emperor, and the poet sent his message and poem via Nobumitsu. Poem 61 also involves Nobumitsu and the Suzaku Palace.

Supplementary Notes

--

After the first set of poems focusing on the new year, the next six poems involve the young shoots (wakana). The small pine trees (komatu) occur only in this poem. Small pines, as a spring image, does not occur in the KKS, and only rarely in other collections. One example is poem 23 from SIS, by Tadamine:

子日する野辺に小松のなかりせば千代のためしに何を引かまし

If there were no small pines in the fields where we go for the Day of the Rat, what would we pick as a symbol of long life?

The above poem is also an example of the use of the "day of rat" ceremonies in poetry -- once again, this is not found in the KKS, but first appears in the GSS, matching with the compilers' interest in the everyday activities of court nobles.

Wakana, on the other hand, is a firmly established topic in the KKS and is used in spring poems in all of the anthologies, although the KKS puts them after poems about warblers in the snow.

This is a poem of praise and apology; Saneyori, unable to attend the Emperor’s event, hopes that the cherry blossoms will bloom quickly so that he can make up his absence to the Emperor by participating in a cherry blossom viewing. Kifune notes that poem 61’s prose preface mentions the brilliance of the cherry blossoms at the Suzaku Palace. Kifune also uses historical data to suggest that this poem may have been composed in 947. This is also the first poetic exchange in the GSS; the large number of poetic exchanges is a defining feature of the collection.

6

院御返し

The Retired Emperor [Suzaku]'s reply

松にくる人しなければ春の野のゝわかなも何もかひなかりけり

matu ni kuru				Since you will not come
hito si nakere-ba 			To the pines when I'm waiting,
haru no no no 				Young shoots or spring fields
wakana mo nani mo			Not them, no not anything
kahi nakari-keri			Will give me any pleasure!

Pines are waiting: The first word matu is a very common wordplay on “pine tree” and “wait.” Thus the first two lines can be “If there is no person to come see the pines” or “If the person I am waiting for does not come.” Kudo sees this poem as being written from the viewpoint of the pines and shoots, thus it is the trees themselves waiting (suggesting the Emperor, of course).
Young shoots: Kudo suggests a play here on wakana (“young shoots”) and waga na (“my name”) – thus lending the secondary meaning of “Even if myself, the Emperor, cannot draw you in.”

Supplementary Notes

--

The Emperor's reply is a playful but respectful response, acknowledging and lamenting Saneyori's absence. Katagiri highlights the “everyday” language of this exchange, meaning that this is a genuine exchange of poetry between the Emperor and Saneyori rather than an fictional constructed exchange.

7

子日に男おとこのもとより、「今日けふは小こ松引ひきになむまかりいづる」といへりければ

On the Day of the Rat, when someone was sent this from a man: “I am going out to pick small pine shoots.”

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

君のみや野辺に小松を引きにゆく我もかたみにつまむわかなを

kimi nomi ya			Is it only you?
nobe ni komatu wo		Going to the field to pick
hiki ni yuku			The small shoots of pine
ware mo katami ni		I wish to pick them with you,
tuma-n wakana wo		The young shoots in the basket.

Poet unknown: A few variant texts assign this poem to "The mother of the Empress' Handmaid." This "handmaid" is perhaps Uma no Naishi, a noted female poet of the mid-Heian period. Her mother's poetry does not appear in Imperial collections, however.
With you: The word katami creates a pun, meaning both “with you” and “small basket.” Thus this is a pivot construction: ware mo katami ni tuman (I also wish to pick them with you) and katami ni tuman wakana (The young shoots that are picked and placed in a basket).

--

This is another private poem on the day of the rat festivities, this time an exchange between a man and a woman (although only the woman's poem is given).

Kudo and Kifune both consider the somewhat angry tone of this poem to be rather an expression of playfulness. The word wotoko (“man”) in the prose preface suggests a love relationship and thus probably the man’s statement to her is a playful invitation. Katagiri again notes this as an example of “everyday” language and a private situation, similar to poems 5 and 6.

8

題しらず

Circumstance unknown

[Poet unknown]

霞立つ・かすがののゝべのわかなにもなり見てしがな哉人もつむやと

kasumi tatu			I would like to be
kasuga no nobe no		A young plant shoot that’s growing
wakana ni mo 			On the mist-shrouded
nari-mi-te si gana		Hills of the Kasuga field – 
hito mo tumu ya to		Maybe he would pick me then!

Circumstance unknown: The exact meaning of this phrase is disputed; because of the GSS' emphasis on real poetry exchanges and situations, rather than assigned topics or contests, I have chosen "circumstance unknown" rather than "topic".

Kasuga field: A common spring location; Katagiri says that because of the kanji representation (春日), this suggests a spring day.
He: The word hito, literally “person,” often refers to a lover, or at least a person that the poet has romantic feelings for.
Pick: A number of commentaries suggest that this has a secondary meaning of "notice me", but this depends on the interpretation of the poem overall. See the comments below for details, but given the placement of this poem in the GSS it should probably be understood this way.

--

This poem continues the "young shoots" block of poems, but introduces the image of spring mist. The KKS uses spring mist in several poems but does not tie the mist to a particular time in spring (or a special group of poems). GSS also treats the spring mist in this fashion.

This poem is very similar to poem 1031 from the KKS, in the Haikai (comic poems) section. There it is attributed to Fujiwara no Okikaze, read at the "Empresses' Poetry Contest during the Kanpyo Era."

春霞たなびく野辺の若菜にもなり見てしがな人もつむやと

I would like to be a young plant shoot that's growing on the field where spring mist is rising: maybe he would pick me then!

Takeoka Masao, in Kokin wakashū zenhyōshaku, notes that opinions are divided on the meaning of the last line. Takeoka's opinion is that if the poem is to be taken as a haikai poem, the last line should be interpreted literally in a comic fashion. But in the GSS context, it's probably more in line with the compilers' intentions to take this as a play on words as suggested in the notes above.

Why was this poem included despite the appearance in KKS? Since the GSS poem is anonymous and with no circumstance given, it's possible that this version of the poem reached the compilers in a different context. Or, they may have felt that the KKS compilers were in error in labeling this a haikai poem -- but if that were the case, it seems like they would have retained the original authorship and circumstance. The original poem was a "public" poem (at a poetry competition), but the compilers may have included it in this group of GSS poems because they viewed it as a private, poem-tale like composition.

9

子日しにまかりける人に遅れてつかはしける

Sent to someone who had gone out on the Day of the Rat, when [Mitsune] stayed behind.

みつね

[Ōshikōchi no] Mitsune (859-925)

春ののに心をだにもやらぬ身はわかなはつまで年をこそつめ

haru no no ni				For one who can’t go,
kokoro wo da ni mo			Out into the fields of spring,
yara-nu mi ha				Even in spirit,
wakana ha tuma-de			I am not picking young shoots,
tosi o koso tume			But am growing old instead.

Picking, growing: There is a play on tumu, meaning “to pick [young shoots]” and “to pile up” (e.g. years pile up, grow old). The structure suggests that the poet has “picked up” years instead of shoots.

--

Another private poem on spring shoots, also having to do with the Day of Rat activities.

Both the Kigin and Kifune say that this poem may have a second meaning of regret at not attaining the rank that he had hoped to attain, a theme that shows up in several spring GSS poems. This would possibly suggest a play on wakana (spring shoots) and waga na (my name/reputation). Kudo points out that since in the old counting system, everyone got older on new year’s, that would be a time when people were particularly sensitive to their age.

10

宇多院に子日せむとありければ、式部卿のみこを誘ふとて

He was going to do the Day of the Rat ceremonies at the Uda Palace, and so sent this to invite His Highness of Ceremonial.

行明親王

Prince Yukiakira [926-948]

ふるさとののべ見にゆくといふめるをいさもろともにわかなつみてん

hurusato no				You seem to say that
nobe mi ni yuku to			You will go to see the fields
Ihu-meru wo				Of the old village,
iza morotomo ni			But come! Let’s join together,
wakana tumi-te-n			And go to pick the young shoots.

His Highness of Ceremonial: The Hachidaishū-shō identifies this as Prince Shigeakira [906-954], a son of Emperor Daigo. He became His Highness of Ceremonial after 943. However, another possibility given by modern editions is Prince Atsuzane [893-967]. The Hyōchū gives a prose preface from an alternate text that reads “Prince Atsuzane” instead of “His Highness of Ceremonial.” The non-Teika texts of the GSS have a variety of readings here: Lord Funmitsu, Lord Nobumitsu, and Prince Toshizane (possibly a mistake for Atsuzane).

Prince Yukiakira: A number of variant texts ascribe this poem to "Prince Yukiakira's Mother" instead. This would be Fujiwara no Houshi, who is represented in imperial collections only by GSS 1404, but appears in several prose settings of the poems. Yukiakira has only 2 poems in the GSS.

The old village: The term hurusato literally means “old village” and can have that meaning, but it can also refer to a former capital or one’s hometown. Several explanations have been offered for its use here. Kigin thought that because the Uda Palace was in the west of the capital, that suggested an older area. Modern commentators tend to take this as either the childhood home of Yukiakira and Atsuzane (or Shigeakira), or at least it suggests that feeling since their father lived there. The term is also used in a number of spring poems, and it could here suggest Yamato, and thus Kasuga Fields.

--

As the Shinshō says, this seems to have no hidden meaning or complicated structure; it’s simply a poem of invitation using spring imagery to fit the season. It finishes the block of poems dealing with young shoots, which particularly focus on poems of invitation or apology surrounding the practice of picking the shoots. Some texts put this poem after poem 6, thus collecting the "invitation" poems in one group.

11

初春の歌とて

Composed as a poem for the start of spring

紀友則

Ki no Tomonori [c. 850-904]

水のおもにあや吹きみだる春風や池の氷をけふはとくらん

midu no omo ni				Upon the water
aya huki-midaru		        Furiously blowing ripples
harukaze ya				The early spring wind:
ike no kohori wo			Today will it be what melts
kehu ha toku-ramu			The ice of the frozen pond?

Ki no Tomonori: He was one of the compilers of the KKS, but died before its completion. Like the other KKS compilers, he had a high reputation as a poet but never rose very high in government. One of the 36 poetic immortals, he has 9 poems in the GSS.

Blowing ripples: Older commentaries such as the Seigi and Kigin say this presents the image of the wind playing the surface of the lake like a koto, but I am not certain where the authority for this derives – neither aya nor huku appear to connect to the playing of the koto.

Melt the ice: The idea that the winds of spring melt the ice of winter is a commonplace in the KKS (e.g. KKS 2, 12), but the idea goes back to Chinese poetry and as far as the Classic of Rites. Kifune notes that aya can also refer to cloth patterns, and toku can also mean “unravel,” so there is a series of puns by association.

--

The string of private poems is interrupted by two public-style poems. The preface suggests an assigned (or chosen) topic rather than a genuine situation (cf. the prose preface of KKS 2, "Read on the first day of spring"), which links it to the next poem from a poetry competition. This link may have influenced the placement of the poem more than any connection of imagery. The imagery itself is only used in a few poems.

Many commentators, beginning with Kigin, cite a line from a poem of Bai Juyi: “There are ripples on the lake’s surface, all of the ice opens.” (池有波文氷尽開) Katagiri considers this poem to be a direct rewriting of the line, while Kifune is more tentative. The Shinshō says that Bai Juyi’s poem is based on directly watching the melting ice and snow, while Tomonori’s poem is a supposition based on the feeling of the changing seasons. This is similar to KKS 2, by Ki no Tsurayuki:

袖ひちてむすびし水のこほれるを春立つ今日の風やとくらむ

Will the wind of today, the start of spring, melt the ice of the water we wet our sleeves with?

12

寛平御時の后の宮の歌合の歌

At the Empress’ poetry competition during the Kampyo era

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

吹く風や春たちきぬとつげつらん枝にこもれる花さきにけり

huku kaze ya				Is it blowing wind
haru tati-ki-nu to			That seems to announce to us
tuge-tu-ran				That spring has begun?
eda ni komore-ru			Flowers hiding in branches
hana saki-ni-keri			Have finally bloomed, I see!

Empress’ poetry competition: A 100 round poetry competition held in the late 9th century. Most of the poems were later included in the Shinsen man’yōshū, and 26 had been selected for the KKS. However, Katagiri notes that this poem is not found in the extant manuscripts of the poetry competition (although it is in the Shinsen man’yōshū).

Flowers: In many poems the generic term hana refers to cherry blossoms, but since this is an early spring poem, it suggests plum blossoms instead (Kifune).

--

This is a rare example of a poem taken from a poetry competition in the GSS, which mostly avoids explicitly public poems of this type. It does provide a link to poem 11, which also seems to be a performance poem. A further link is provided by the references both poems make to Bai Juyi (see below). This poem is also the first actual appearance of flowers (poem 5 mentions cherry blossoms but only as a future event).

The early 12th-century commentary Waka dōmōshō cites a line from a spring poem by Bai Juyi: “First the mild wind sends out a message bringing tidings.” (先遣和風報消息) Many later commentaries repeat this citation, and Katagiri goes so far as to label this poem a rewriting of that line.

As both Katagiri and Kifune note, this poem anthropomorphizes both the wind and the flowers. The wind brings the tidings to the flowers, who were secluded in the branches, but now come forth upon hearing the wind’s message.

13

師走（しはす）計に、大和へ事につきてまかりけるほどに、宿りて侍りける人の家のむすめを思ひかけて侍りけれど、やむごとなきことによりてまかりのぼりにけり。あくる春、親のもとにつかはしける。

Around the 12th month, when he was on his way to Yamato for business, he fell in love with the daughter of a person whose house he lodged at. He had to return to the capital for unavoidable reasons, and he sent this poem the next spring to the parents.

みつね

[Ōshikōchi no] Mitsune [859-925]

かすが野におふるわかなを見てしより心をつねに思ひやるかな

kasuga no ni			Ever since I saw
ohuru wakana wo		The young shoots growing over
mi-te si yori			The Kasuga fields,
kokoro o tune ni		The depths of my own heart has
omohiyaru kana		        Always sent its thoughts to them.

Business: Whether this is private or public business is hard to know. The “unavoidable reasons” are probably official business at the capital, but it could be romantically related as well.

Young shoots: A metaphor for the woman.

--

As Kigin says, the meaning of the poem is clear. It may seem that the "young shoots" poem is misplaced here and would go better with the earlier block of "young shoot" poems. But poems 13-15 make a small group of love poems with extended, "poem-tale" like prefaces, which rounds off the "beginning of spring" section while pointing ahead to the budding flowers.

Why was this sent to the parents rather than the woman herself? Kudo thinks this may have been part of a letter of introduction to the parents, proceeding towards some level of official recognition of their relationship.

14

かれにける男の、もとにその住みける方の庭の、木の枯れたりける枝を、折りてつかはしける

This was sent to a man who had left her, along with a withered branch she had broken off from a tree in the garden of the house where he had visited her.

兼覧王女

Prince Kanemi’s Daughter

もえいづるこのめを見てもねをぞなくかれにし枝の春をしらねば

moe-idu-ru				Even looking at
ko no me wo mi-te mo			The buds that have blossomed forth,
ne wo zo naku				I can only weep:
kare ni si eda no			As the dead branch knows no spring,
haru wo sira-ne-ba			So you have left me alone.

Prince Kanemi’s Daughter: Nothing is known about her. Some manuscripts and standard medieval editions read “Prince Kanemi’s Mother” instead, although nothing is known about her either. A few manuscripts simply read “Prince Kanemi.” In the latter case he would have to be writing in a woman’s voice.

I can only weep: Ne wo zo naku may have a play on “I cry tears” and “There are no roots [for the withered branch],” and possibly also suggest nenasi (no sleep). (Kudo)

Dead: There is a common pun here with kare meaning both “separate” and “wither.” In this poem the pun is made explicit because the verb kare is used in the prose preface to refer to the man leaving her alone after having a relationship with her.

Spring: Spring is a common metaphor for fortunate circumstances, which could refer to the man visiting her (Kifune).

--

This poem continues the small group of love poems with poem-tale like prefaces. The budding flowers continue the progression of the season.

Both Kifune and Kigin explain the overall technique of the poem: On its surface it is a spring poem lamenting the fact that the withered branches on the tree cannot experience spring. The subtext is that the poet herself is the withered branch, unable to know the “spring” of the man’s visit because he has left her.

15

女の宮づかへにまかりいでて侍りけるに、めづらしきほどは、これかれ物いひなどし侍りけるを、ほどもなくひとりにあひ侍りにければ、む月のついたちばかりに、いひつかはしける

A woman entered palace service. While she was still fresh, she chatted with various men, but after only a short time she was seeing only one man. So around the first of the 6th month, this was written and sent.

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

いつのまに霞立つらんかすがのの雪だにとけぬ冬と見しまに

itu no ma ni				When did it happen:
kasumi tatu-ran			It seems the mist has risen!
kasuga no no				On Kasuga plains,
yuki da ni toke-nu			The snow has not yet melted,
huyu to mi-si ma ni			And I had just seen winter.

Palace service: Although this word can describe any form of service in the palace, up to the highest ranking wives of Emperors, the context suggests a lower-ranking gentlewoman. A woman of that rank would be free to pursue casual romantic affairs with court noblemen.

Chatted: This may literally mean talking (probably flirtatious), but can also indicate a sexual encounter.

Kasuga plains: The snow on Kasuga plains was said to take a long time to melt.

--

This is the third of the small group of love poems with extended prose prefaces.

This poem has a straightforward reading as a poem of early spring – many early spring poems involve confusion between seasons, as the snow falls in spring, or spring does not come when expected. However, the prose preface adds an additional layer of meaning to the poem. The word kasumi (mist) also suggests sumi (live with a man). The mist could also suggest the woman being concealed from other men (Katagiri). The idea of spring coming would be a metaphor for this woman finding a stable relationship. Just as the snow on Kasuga takes a long time to melt, so it was expected that this woman would take a long time to find a permanent lover. “Melt” can also suggest letting down your guard and being romantic with someone.

Who is the author of the poem, in this case? The prevalent opinion is a man writing to the woman, essentially saying he missed his chance because he didn’t think she would be so quick to have a permanent relationship. Kudo suggests the implication that he would have picked her like a young shoot in spring, but she was gone before that. Or, perhaps he is criticizing her coldness. Taken alone the poem could also be by the woman herself, but then it would not be clear who she is sending the message to.

Cranston and Kudo connect the imagery of this poem with KKS 478, by Tadamine:

春日野の雪間をわけて生ひいでくる草のはつかに見えきみはも

Just as the young shoots in the snow of Kasuga can be glimpsed only faintly, so have I only seen you at a glimpse.

Finally, Katagiri notes that poems written by men to gentlewomen are a particular feature of the GSS.

16

題しらず

Circumstance unknown

閑院左大臣

Kan'in Minister of the Left [Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu, 775-826]

なほざりに折りつる物を梅花こきかに我や衣そめてん

naozari ni				I broke off a branch,
Ori-tu-ru mono wo			Without any serious thought:
ume no hana				But these plum flowers,
koki ka ni ware ya			Will their deep suffusing scent,
koromo some-te-mu			Seep fully into my robes?

Kan'in Minister of the Left: Some variant manuscripts have other ranks or offices instead, but since Kan'in refers to Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu's house, it must still be his authorship even so. The Joho text's reading of "Chancellor" is simply his posthumous rank. Keichu felt that since the compilers would not have referred to Fuyutsugu with a lower rank than he attained, this must be a later author with the same rank, but he strained to identify a specific author. All four of Fuyutsugu's poems in the GSS (in the standard base text of Teika) identify him as the Minister of the Left. Perhaps this is intended to represent the rank he had when he composed the poems, or simply the rank he attained in life.

--

Earlier commentaries such as the Hachidaishū-shō read this as a straightforward poem about the scent of plum flowers. The Shinshō questions whether this might in fact be a love poem: the plum would then be a woman. The man began seeing her without any real intent, but found that he was now deeply in love with her. The modern commentaries adopt this reading with no question.

I believe this should be read in context as primarily a seasonal poem with a public character, introducing the theme of plum flowers which will show up in the remainder of the first volume. However, the suggestion of the love meaning provides a link back to the previous block of poems. The sentiment is similar to poems 33-36 in the KKS, which introduce the plum blossoms with hints of love themes hiding behind the poems.

This is one of three poems from this volume chosen by Fujiwara no Shunzei as exemplars in the Korai futeishō.

17

前栽に紅梅をうゑて、又の春遅く咲きければ

He planted plum trees in his garden, and the next spring they were slow to bloom.

藤原兼輔朝臣

Lord Fujiwara no Kanesuke [877-933]

やどちかくうつしてうゑしかひもなくまちどほにのみにほふ花かな

yado tikaku				I moved them and then,
utusi-te uwe-si			Replanted near my garden,
Kahi mo naku				It was of no use:
Matidoho ni nomi			These flowers have no beauty,
Nihohu hana kana			But the glow of impatience.

Fujiwara no Kanesuke: One of the 36 poetic immortals, he has 23 poems in the GSS. As many of the prose prefaces to the GSS indicate, he was a major patron and friend of lower ranking KKS-era poets such as Ki no Tsurayuki and Mitsune.

Near: The poem contrasts tikasi [“near”] and tohosi [“far”], the latter of which is in the compound matidoho [“impatience”].

Beauty: The word nihohu can refer to scent, but in earlier Heian poetry and the MY especially, it typically refers to beauty or radiance instead.

--

This type of poem can be considered a public-style poem since it's not addressed to any specific person or people, in which case it joins the group of 16-18.

This poem also appears in Yamato monogatari 74 with the following preface: "[Kanesuke] had uprooted the cherry tree which was growing a trifle too far from the front of the main building of his mansion, replanting it closer to the building. Noting that the tree was beginning to wither, he composed this poem:"

The prose preface in the Kanesuke Collection begins with “After his dismissal from the Palace Guards…” As Kifune notes, this adds an additional dimension to the poem, making the flowers a metaphor for his disappointed political ambitions. See poem 9 for another example of a poem that can have an additional meaning of political fortune or wealth.

18

延喜御時、歌めしけるに、たてまつりける

In the Engi period, [the Emperor] asked for a poem, and he presented this.

紀貫之

Ki no Tsurayuki [c. 868-945]

春霞たなびきにけり久方の月の桂も花やさくらん

harukasumi					It seems the spring mist,
tanabiki-ni-keri				Is rising into the sky!
hisakata no					Is the katsura
tuki no katura mo				Growing on the far moon,
Hana ya saku-ramu				Also blooming in that mist?

Ki no Tsurayuki: One of the 36 poetic immortals, and one of the best known poets in the classical tradition. He was one of the compilers of the KKS and wrote its celebrated kana preface. His poetry dominates the first three collections; with 80 poems, he has the most of any poet in the GSS.

hisakata no: This is a pillow word for tuki (moon).

Katura: This is based on a Chinese legend of a katsura tree growing on the moon. The idea is that the mist rises even to the heavens, so spring should be everywhere, including on the moon.

--

This is the first poem in the collection by Ki no Tsurayuki, and an example of an explicitly public poem -- in this case one requested by the Emperor himself. Although it continues the flower theme of the previous poem, this one is not on plum blossoms. However, the mo ("also") suggests the plum blossoms that are currently blooming on Earth.

This poem is very similar to poem 194 from the Kokinshu:

久方の月の桂も秋は猶もみぢすればや照りまさるらむ

If even the katsura tree on the moon shed its autumn leaves, then perhaps the light would shine even brighter.

Kigin says “This poem is elegant and grand, and can be seen as truly an example of a great poem.” Katagiri says that in its evocation of an unseen sight, it is a typical Ki no Tsurayuki poem.

19

おなじ御時、みづき所にさぶらひけるころ、しづめるよしを嘆げきて、「御覧ぜさせよ」とおぼしくて、ある蔵人に送りて侍りける十二首がうち

In the same period [Engi], when he was serving in the Imperial Table Office, he was lamenting his low position. Thinking “I want the Emperor to notice,” he sent twelve poems to a certain Chamberlain; this is one of those poems.

みつね

Mitsune [859-925]

いづことも春のひかりはわかなくにまたみよしのの山は雪ふる

iduku to mo				The light of the spring
haru no hikari ha			Without discrimination
waka-naku ni				Shines in every place,
mada mi-yosino no			But on Yoshino mountain,
yama wa yuki huru			The snow is still falling down.

Imperial Table Office: Midusidokoro, an office under the auspices of the Naizensi which is in the east hall of the Seiryoden (the Emperor’s residence) and handles the food service for the Emperor. As the rest of the preface indicates, this was not a high-ranking position.

A certain Chamberlain: This is someone close to the Emperor; Kifune suggests Fujiwara no Kanesuke (see poem 17) as a candidate.

Yoshino mountain

Yoshino is associated with snow. It appears in several winter poems in the KKS, but also in poem 3 at the beginning of the spring volume:

春霞たてるやいづこみ吉野の吉野の山に雪は降りつつ

“Where is the spring mist rising? On fair Yoshino mountain, the snow is still falling.”

--

This poem is a more private poem than the other two, but may still serve a public purpose. If this was sent to Kanesuke, it turns 17-19 into a politically themed group: Kanesuke, the patron of poets like Mitsune and Tsurayuki, bemoans his own position. Tsurayuki receives the honor of composing a poem for the Emperor, and Mitsune sends Kanesuke poems hoping for his own political fortune to be improved.

Since the granting of new promotions was done in spring, this is an appropriate season for such poems. The “light of spring” here is the Emperor’s beneficence, and snow-blanketed Yoshino is a metaphor for Mitsune’s own low rank. Kifune suggests 910 as a date of composition, and notes that Mitsune was promoted in 911. On the other hand, this poem in the Mitsune Collection has different details in the preface, so perhaps assigning a specific date is not possible.

Fujiwara no Kiyosuke includes this poem in the opening to his poetic treatise Ōgishō. He presents it as an example of a poem that was more serious and weighty than the ones being composed in his time, noting that it presents a deeply held request.

20

人のもとにつかはしける

Sent to a person.

伊勢

Ise [?- c. 939]

白玉をつつむ袖のみながるるは春は涙もさえぬなりけり

siratama wo				Beaded like white jewels,
tutumu sode nomi			The tears wrapped up in my sleeves,
nagaru-ru ha				Are now flowing forth.
haru no namida mo			I now see why this is so:
sae-nu nari-keri			In spring, the tears do not freeze.

Ise: A major woman poet of the Heian period; with 70 poems she is the best represented woman poet in the GSS. One of the 36 poetic immortals. She served in Empress Onshi's court and seems to have had relationships with a large number of men, including the Emperor himself.

A person: In court waka by women this usually means a lover. In the Ise collection, the preface reads "When she was worrying [over love] in the spring."

White jewels: A common image for tears. The nagaru-ru of "flowing forth" suggests nakaru-ru ("crying").

--

This poem has no particular spring imagery other than the season, so it might have been placed elsewhere in the volume. Perhaps it was placed here, before a long string of anonymous poems, to situate Ise next to two other prominent KKS poets (Mitsune and Tsurayuki). The mention of "frozen" may also have suggested an early spring position, similar to KKS 3 below. 20 and 21 are both spring love poems.

This poem is similar to KKS 556, by Abe no Kiyoyuki:

つつめども袖にたまらぬ白玉は人を見ぬめの涙なりけり

These white beads, which I try to wrap in my sleeves but cannot be contained, are the tears of you not noticing me.

KKS 4 also features frozen tears:

雪の内に春はきにけり鶯のこほれるなみだいまやとく覧

Spring has come in the midst of the snow. Will the warblers' frozen tears now melt?

21

人に忘られて侍りけるころ、雨のやまず降りければ

While she had been forgotten by someone, the rain was falling without break.

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

春立てわが身ふりぬるながめには人の心の花もちりけり

haru tatite				Spring has arrived here,
waga mi huri-nu-ru			And in the long rains that fell
nagame ni ha				On my aging self,
hito no kokoro no			The flower of that one’s heart,
hana mo tiri-keri			Seems to have scattered as well.

Someone: Here and in the poem itself, the word hito refers to a lover, as in poem 20. The poem is written in the voice of a woman.

Poet unknown: The Kokin waka rokujo attributes this poem to Ise, although it is not found in the Ise Collection.

Fell: huru creates a pun with “fall” [rain] and “age” [body]. See the analysis. The construction huri-nu-ru (has finished falling) in a number of manuscripts reads furi-yuku (continues to fall/continues to age).

Long rains: Nagame creates a pun with “long rains” and “gazing” [with sorrow].

--

The spring love poems continue from poem 20.

This poem seems to be based on several poems from the KKS:

花の色はうつりにけりないたづらにわが身世にふるながめせしまに

The color of the flowers has faded and I have grown old, while I have uselessly gazed out in the long rains. (KKS 113, Ono no Komachi)

色見えてうつろふ物は世中の人の心の花にぞありけり

Flowers have faded in our view, but what has faded unseen is he hearts of people of this world. (KKS 797, Komachi)

我のみや世をうくひずとなきわぶむ人の心の花と散りなば

I alone, like the warbler cries for the fallen flowers, cry for the flower of his heart that has scattered. (KKS 798)

The KKS compilers put Komachi's poem late in the spring volume due to the scattering flowers, but the GSS poem begins with "Spring has come." Poems on spring rain are not grouped in any one area of the spring volumes in either KKS or GSS.

Cranston calls this poem "one of the more successful GSS poems in terms of its artistry."

22

題しらず

Circumstance unknown, [Poet unknown]

わがせこに見せむと思ひし梅の花それとも見えず雪のふれれば

waga seko ni				To him, my lover,
mise-mu to omohi-si			I had intended to show,
mume no hana				This flower of plum:
sore to mo mie-zu			But since the snow is falling,
yuki no hure-re-ba			It doesn’t look like itself.

Poet unknown: This poem appears in the MY [v8, 1426] attributed to Yamabe no Akahito [8th cent.] The Kokin waka rokujō and the Wakan rōeishū agree with that attribution, as do a few variant manuscripts of the GSS. Several explanations have been offered for the difference:

The compilers did not get this poem directly from the MY, but from a secondary source that provided this as a traditional unattributed poem. Unlike some of the other poems that are common to both the MY and GSS, the poem is exactly the same in both sources.
The authorship was suppressed because this poem is in a woman’s voice. This explanation is problematic because poems written by men in women’s voices were a mainstay of the KKS and appear in the MY as well, so the compilers of the GSS would not be unfamiliar with the practice.

My lover: Although the usual meaning of seko (A MY-era word) is a husband or (male) lover, it is sometimes used to refer to a male friend. Most of the Edo-period commentaries, perhaps due to Akahito’s authorship, support the “male friend” reading. But this seems to be a rare meaning. Certainly with no author the “lover” reading suggests itself, but even with Akahito’s authorship he is probably writing it in a woman’s voice. The "friend" reading mostly suggests itself in that making this a love poem would be unusual in the context of early-Heian love poetry.

--

As Kigin says, this poem has a clear meaning. The idea of plum blossoms and snow being confused with each other goes back to Chinese poetry, and can be found frequently in both Chinese and Japanese poems. One example is KKS 334, which tradition attributed to Kakinomoto no Hitomaro:

梅花それとも見えず久方の天霧る雪のなべてふれれば

The plum flowers do not look like themselves, since the snow from the clouded sky is falling everywhere.

The placement of this poem in the GSS suggests that there might be some love meaning to it, since 20-24 are all love sorrow poems. This may be a reach, however, and perhaps this poem is better placed after 24.

Finally, the "Shirakawa fragments" of the GSS, which have a number of differences from other texts, have a prose preface for this poem: "A man who she loved died, and this was composed the next spring." This does not show up in any other sources and doesn't quite fit with the poem.

23

[Circumstance unknown] [Poet unknown]

きて見べき人もあらじなわがやどの梅のはつ花をりつくしてん

kite mi-beki				There will be no one
hito mo arazi na			Who will come to see them here.
waga yado no				The first plum blossoms
mume no hatuhana			In the garden of my house:
wori-tukusi-temu			I should pluck them all myself!

--

This is perhaps written in the voice of a woman; complaints about men not coming to visit are common in such poetry, often connected with seasonal imagery. This would also continue the seeming love theme of this group of poems.

The poem’s grammar and structure recall the MY era, and several commentaries connect this to poem 2328 in volume 10, some seeing it as a rewriting or alternate transmission of the same poem:

きて見べき人もあらなくにわぎへなる梅の初花散りぬともよし

There will be no one who will come to look, so it’s fine if all the first plum blossoms just scatter.

24

[Circumstance unknown] [Poet unknown]

ことならば折りつくしてむ梅の花わがまつ人のきても見なくに

koto nara-ba				If this is the case,
wori-tukusi-temu			I should pluck them all myself:
mume no hana				The blossoms of plum.
waga matu hito no			He for whom I am waiting,
ki-te mo mi-naku ni			Will neither come nor see them.

If this is the case: There is some difficulty over the interpretation of koto nara-ba, which goes back to pre-modern commentaries. Kigin, Katagiri, and Kifune read it as “If this [bad] thing going to happen, then…” But a number of other sources read this as “If it’s all the same” – that is, if he’s not going to see them either way (or perhaps “If they’re going to end up the same either way”), I might as well pluck them all rather than waiting for them to scatter. This phrase also occurs in KKS 82 (see below). Takeoka Masao, in his Kokin wakashū zenhyōshaku, lists a number of pre-modern and modern theories on the meaning of the phrase, but his own reading is "If it's all the same..."

--

The imagery of this poem is similar to KKS 82 by Ki no Tsurayuki:

ことならばさかずやはあらぬさくら花見る我さへにしづ心なし

If this is the case, why don’t you just not bloom at all, cherry blossoms? Even I who watch you cannot be calm.

However, the GSS poem is a love poem rather than the seasonal poem given here. This block of poems, by virtue of the lack of prose prefaces, has a stronger feeling of a public, composed poem than one actually delivered by lovers.

25

[Circumstance unknown] [Poet unknown]

吹く風にちらずもあらなんむめの花わが狩衣ひとよやどさむ

huku kaze ni				I wish that you could
tira-zu mo ara-namu			Exist without scattering,
mume no hana				Oh blossoms of plum!
waga karikoromo			I will lodge you in my robes,
hitoyo yadosa-mu			And save your scent for one night.

Exist without scattering: A few manuscripts read “Wait before you scatter.” [tira-de mata-namu]

Robes: The term karikoromo literally means “hunting clothes,” but can also be a poetic word for normal casual clothing. It’s hard to tell which meaning would have been primary for the author of the poem or for the GSS compilers.

Save your scent: This is not literally in the words of the poem, but that is the suggestion of “lodging” the plum blossom in the robes for a night.

--

This poem continues the block of anonymous poems on plum blossoms. It is along the lines of the KKS plum poems. As with poem 16, this can be read as a love poem, with the plum blossom being the woman, and the man hiding her from other men (Kifune). In the context of the KKS the seasonal meaning would be primary, but in the context of the GSS we may wish to emphasize the underlying love meaning more. Kifune has strong praise for this poem as holding deep interest and unusual tone. Cranston reads it as a man hunting who spends a night under a plum tree to absorb the scent.

26

[Topic unknown] [Poet unknown]

わがやどの梅のはつ花ひるは雪よるは月とも見えまがふかな

waga yado no				The first plum flowers
mume no hatuhana			In the garden of my house:
hiru ha yuki				I can’t tell them from
yoru ha tuki to mo			The snow in the daylight,
miemagahu kana			        Or the moonlight in the night!

--

As Kigin says, “The meaning is clear.” We move from a plum poem with a love subtext, to a pure plum blossom poem of the kind represented in both KKS and Chinese poetry.

The imagery in this poem is commonplace; mistaking the white plum blossoms for snow or moonlight goes back to Chinese poetry, and is found in a number of MY and KKS poems. For instance:

月夜にはそれとも見えず梅の花香をたづねてぞ知るべかりける

The moonlit night doesn’t look that way: I seem to have come seeking the scent of the plum blossom. (KKS 40)

Katagiri notes that it’s unusual for both the snow and the moonlight to be in the same poem, and perhaps that is the primary interest here.

27

[Topic unknown] [Poet unknown]

梅の花よそながら見むわぎもこがとがむばかりのかにもこそしめ

mume no hana				Gazing from afar
yoso nagara mi-mu			I will watch the plum blossoms.
wagimoko ga				It would be quite bad
togamu bakari no			If she became suspicious
ka ni mo koso sime			From the scent upon my clothes.

Suspicious: Togamu can mean either “criticize” or “become suspicious.” Either or both meanings can work here.

--

This is another poem relating plum blossoms to a woman. In this case, the man is afraid that if he gets too close to the blossoms, the scent will transfer to his clothes and his lover will think that he has picked up the scent from another woman. The closest parallel to this poem is KKS 35:

梅の花立ちよるばかりありしより人のとがむる香にぞしみける

All I did was approach the plum blossoms, but now I’ve been suffused with enough scent to make others suspicious.”

Takeoka calls the Gosenshu poem “somewhat vulgar” and Kifune thinks it has a haikai quality to it. Although it might seem to be a love-related poem, the above KKS poem shows that the KKS compilers treated it as purely seasonal.

Kifune suggests that poems 22-27 can be read as a small love story. Takeakira has argued convincingly that in the love volumes, unrelated poems were sometimes placed together to form a small story, so it's possible that the same was done in the seasonal volumes.

28

[Topic unknown]

素性法師

Priest Sosei [c. 844-910]

むめの花をればこぼれぬわが袖ににほひかうつせ家づとにせん

mume no hana				When I broke the branch,
wore-ba kobore-nu			The petals scattered like rain.
waga sode ni				Please transfer your scent,
nihohika utuse				To the sleeves of my clothing:
ieduto ni sen				I will bring it as a gift.

Priest Sosei: A KKS era poet with 7 poems in the GSS. The son of Bishop Henjo, and one of the 36 poetic immortals. He became a priest apparently at the behest of his father.

Scent: Nihohika is somewhat unclear. The Shinshō seemed to think that the more grammatically correct nihohu ka was not used for poetic reasons. But much further back, Fujiwara no Tameie said the word “should not be used.” Some modern editions voice the syllable making it nihohi ga, but the role of the particle becomes unclear.

--

This poem stands in contrast to the previous one. Whereas the previous poet wanted to make sure he stayed away from the scent, in this case Sosei has tried to break off a plum branch to take home to his lover or family. But the petals immediately scattered everywhere, leaving him with only the hope that the scent would cling to his clothing. Then at least he would have something to bring back.

Sosei uses similar language in KKS 55:

見てのみや人に語らむ桜花手ごとにおれいて家づとにせん

Can I tell the people of the cherry blossoms' beauty just by looking at them? I will break off a branch and bring it as a gift.

29

男につきて、ほかに移りて

Along with a man she moved to a new place.

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

心もてをるかはあやな梅の花かをとめてだにとふ人のなき

kokoro mote				It’s not by my will
woru ka wa aya na			That I am here: How vexing!
mume no hana				Even just to come
ka o tome-te da ni			And smell the blossoms of plum,
tohu hito no naki			No one will visit this place.

Here: woru may be a play on “break off” [e.g. a plum branch]. Katagiri denies this, but Kudo and Kifune support it.

How vexing!: Aya na is an exclamation of dissatisfaction or lack of comprehension.

--

The vagueness of the prose preface has given rise to several explanations of this poem. The main question is who the hito is that she hopes will visit. Kifune explains this poem as being written to friends of the woman. Her husband has moved her to some place far away, and she won’t get any visitors there. This expresses dissatisfaction with her marriage.

Katagiri offers an alternate explanation: the person is a man; she may be his wife, or just a mistress. He has moved her somewhere but now doesn’t visit her. Kudo offers both explanations of the poem.

Thus this poem is either a love or miscellaneous poem; 29 and 30 provide a small break in the string of anonymous, contextless poems.

30

年を経て、心かけたる女の、「今年ばかりをだに待ちくらせ」といひけるが、又の年もつれなかりければ

Over the years he had become interested in a woman, and she asked him to wait at least until next year. The next year she was still cold to him.

[Poet unknown]

人心うさこそまされはるたてばとまらずきゆるゆきかくれなん

hitogokoro				Your unfeeling heart,
usa koso masare			Towards me has grown all the worse,
haru tate-ba				I should disappear,
tomara-zu kiyu-ru			Like the snow in the springtime,
yuki kakure-nan			Melting away to nothing.

Melting away: There may be a pun here on "Go away and hide/retreat into religious life" (yuki kakure-nan).

--

This is another poem-tale like anonymous love poem. Although the spring imagery is clear, it seems misplaced in the section of plum blossom poems. Perhaps the placement was influenced by the "melting snow" imagery, and it was placed next to the other poem in this section with a prose preface.

A number of alternate manuscripts lack the prose preface. Without the preface it would be possible to read hito more generally, as the hearts of people. This would strengthen the feeling of the fifth line as being about religious retreat.

31

題しらず

Topic unknown [Poet unknown]

梅の花かをふきかくる春風に心をそめば人やとがめむ

mume no hana				If the scent of plums,
ka o huki-kaku-ru			Wafts towards me on the spring breeze,
harukaze ni				And my heart becomes
kokoro o some-ba			Dyed with the blossoms’ color,
hito ya togame-mu			Will she doubt my faithfulness?

She: Commentators differ on whether hito here is a specific person (woman) or people of the world in general.

Doubt: See poem 27.

--

See poem 27 for a similar treatment of this theme. The next block of poems is a string of anonymous public poems, moving from plum blossoms to the bush warbler (uguhisu).

Some manuscripts, and the version in the Kokin waka rokujō, read koromo [clothing] rather than kokoro [heart]. Both readings have poetic authority. If hito means more generally people of the world, “clothing” may be better, but there is nothing wrong with “heart.”

32

[Topic unknown] [Poet unknown]

春雨のふらばの山にまじりなん梅の花がさありといふなり

harusame no				If the spring rains fall
hura-ba noyama ni			I will make my way into
maziri-nan				The mountains and fields:
mume no hanagasa			I have heard I will find there
ari to ihu nari			Hats of plum blossoms.

I have heard: This may suggest conscious imitation of several poems or songs that mention plum blossom hats. See the Analysis section.

Hats: The word can also mean "umbrella", and there is probably a suggestion of both.

--

There are a number of poems that mention plum blossom hats. There are at least two in the KKS:

青柳を片糸によりて鶯のぬるてふ傘は梅の花がさ

The hats that they say warblers weave, with the warp being blue willow, are hats of plum blossom” (KKS 1081)

This poem is also a Saibara song, and possibly provides the best poetic authority for this poem -- especially since the mention of warblers in this poem helps GSS 32 lead into the next group of poems involving warblers.

Already in the KKS there is a poem that uses the same "they say" idea:

鶯の笠に縫ふてふ梅花折りてかざさむ老いかくるやと

I shall break off a plum branch, which they say the warblers weave into their hats, and hide my aged body. (KKS 36)

Then from the Kokin waka rokujō:

ちるまではきてもみるべく春雨に我をぬらすな梅の花がさ

I should try to wear this until it scatters. Please don’t let me get wet, hat of plum!

There may also be an echo of the KKS 95 by Sosei, although the hat is not specifically mentioned.

いさけふは春の山辺にまじりなん暮れなばなげの花の影かは

Come, let us go play in the spring mountains and fields. When it grows dark, the shade of the blossoms will protect us.

33

[Topic unknown] [Poet unknown]

かきくらし雪はふりつつしかすがにわが家のそのに鶯ぞなく

kakikurasi				The snow keeps falling
yuki wa huri-tutu			From a sky fully clouded
sikasugani				And yet it is spring,
waga ihe no sono ni			So in the field of my house
uguhisu zo naku			I hear the warbler chirping.

--

This is another public style poem, now introducing the "warbler" theme. In the KKS, warblers occur as early as poem 4, and are often connected with snow. The idea of the warbler as a harbinger of spring occurs in a number of poems in the former collection. The Senshaku sees this poem as representing the poet's intense longing for the warmth of spring, so much that even the tiny voice of the warbler is a welcome sound.

This is a slightly different version of MY 1441, by Otomo no Yakamochi. The MY version begins with utikirasi (“misted”). SIS 14 is the MY original with "Yakamochi" as the author.

Fujiwara no Teika selected the SIS version as one of the spring poems in his selection of good poetry, Shūka no daitai.

34

[Topic unknown] [Poet unknown]

谷さむみいまだすだたぬ鶯のなくこゑわかみ人のすさめぬ

tani samu-mi				The valley is cold,
imada sudata-nu			So the warbler has not yet
uguhisu no				Left its nest and has
naku kowe waka-mi			A cry that is still quite young,
hito no susame-nu			So no one will take interest.

Valley

The connection between warblers and the valley appears in Chinese poetry, as well as in the KKS, for instance poem 14:

鶯の谷よりいづる声なくは春くることを誰かしらまし

If we did not hear the voice of the warbler coming from the valley, who would know that spring had come?

So the warbler: The suggestion may be that the coldness of the valley tricks the warblers into thinking that spring has not yet come, so even when it does their cries won’t be ready. However, this would be counter to the usual poetic trope (such as poem 33) that the warbler’s cries herald spring even if it’s still cold or snowing

--

This is another public-style poem linking the warblers to the beginning of spring, and also the common theme (found in many early KKS poems) of a clash between the start of spring and the actual weather outside.

The Shinshō tentatively offers a secondary love meaning: Because I am not yet far advanced in social standing, my attempts at courting are unheeded. No other commentator mentions this reading, and it seems far-fetched to me. Perhaps Nakayama suggested this reading because of the unusual imagery of the poem (as mentioned above in the notes).

35

[Topic unknown] [Poet unknown]

鶯のなきつるこゑにさそはれて花のもとにぞ我はきにける

uguhisu no				Invited hither
Naki-tu-ru kowe ni			By the voice of the warbler,
Sasoha-re-te				Which has cried to me,
hana no moto ni zo			I find myself having come,
ware ha ki-ni-keru			To the place of plum blossoms.

Plum blossoms: Although the poem just says “flowers,” the placement of the poem, the connection with the warbler, and the probable honka (see below) all indicate plums.

--

This poem continues the block of public, anonymous poems on the plum blossoms and/or warblers.

The early-12th century Waka dōmōshō cites a line from a poem of Bai Juyi:

鶯声誘引来花下

I have come to the flowers, drawn by the voice of the warbler.”

The Dōmoshō and other old commentaries simply say that the two have the same feeling. However, Katagiri notes that in the Poetry Collection of Oe no Chisato this poem appears with the Bai Juyi line as the topic, indicating this is a direct translation or rewriting of the Chinese.

It is hard to say why the poem is anonymous here if it is in the named poetry collection. According to Katagiri, another poem from that collection is in the KKS as anonymous, which may have influenced the compilers of the GSS. The compilers may also have encountered this poem via another source which did not give any attribution. Or, perhaps this was composed by someone other than Chisato but was then inserted into his poetry collection because Chisato's entire collection consists of waka translations of Chinese verse.

36

[Topic unknown] [Poet unknown]

花だにもまださかなくに鶯のなくひとこゑを春とおもはむ

hana da ni mo				Even the flowers
mada saka-naku ni			Have still not bloomed, and yet the
uguhisu no 				Voice of the warbler,
Naku hitokowe wo			The lone voice of the warbler,
Haru to omoha-mu                       Makes us think that it is spring.

Warbler

For the warbler as a harbinger of spring, see the KKS poem cited in 34, as well as KKS 11 by Tadamine:

春来ぬと人はいへどもうぐひすのなかぬかぎりはあらじとぞ思ふ

People say that spring has come, but as long as the warbler has not cried I cannot think it is so.

Think: A number of alternate manuscripts read “The voice seems to say ‘spring.’”

--

The block of public, anonymous poems on warblers and plum blossoms continues.

This poem is similar to KKS 10:

春やとき花やおそきと聞き分かむ鶯だにも鳴かずもあるかな

The warbler would let me know whether spring came early or whether the flowers are late, but even the warbler doesn’t cry.

Kifune calls this poem a “refinement” of the Kokinshu poem.

37

君がため山田のさはにゑぐつむとぬれにし袖は今もかはかず

kimi ga tame				For your sake I went
yamada no saha ni			To swamps of fields and mountains,
wegu tumu to				Picking the wegu,
nure-ni-si sode ha			And my sleeves which were soaked through,
Ima mo kawaka-zu			Even now have not yet dried.

Wegu: The identity of this plant is not certain. This poem is either a rewriting or alternate transmission of MY 1839 (see below), and the term wegu may have been understood differently in the MY era and the GSS period. Possible explanations that have been offered are the emigusa (a type of lily), kurogai (a type of Cyperus), or seri (“Japanese parsley”). There are problems with each of these identifications, and as Katagiri notes, the word may have been considered simply a substitute for wakana (spring shoots) in the Heian period.

--

This poem has seemingly no relation to the surrounding poems, although it is a public-style spring poem. If wegu was simply considered wakana, this is another spring shoots poem, which links it more closely with the early poems in this volume.

MY 1839 is the same as this poem, with a different lines 4 and 5: “My sleeves are soaked through by the water of the melting snow.” Kifune suggests that this might be a humorous parody of the MY poem, or of KKS 21:

君がため春の野にいでて若菜摘むわが衣手に雪は降りつつ

I went out into the fields to pick spring shoots for you, and snow keeps falling on my sleeves.

If a parody, the poet is not going out into poetically appropriate spring fields, but rather dirty swamps in the mountains to pick weeds, and his clothes are still soaked from the experience. On the other hand, the MY poem probably predates the KKS poem so this humorous aspect may be an overreach.

Kifune once again offers a reading of poems 31-37 as a sequence depicting a love affair.

38

あひしりて侍りける人の家にまかれりけるに、梅の木侍りけり。「この花咲かなむ時、かならず消息せむ」といひ侍りけるを、音なく侍りければ

He went to the house of someone he knew, and there was a plum tree. He said “When this tree blooms, be sure to send me a note,” but there was no word from him.

朱雀院の兵部卿のみこ

His Highness of War of the Suzaku Palace

梅の花今はさかりになりぬらんたのめし人のをとづれもせぬ

mume no hana				The blossoms of plum
ima ha sakari ni			Have now come into full bloom,
nari-nu-ran				Or so it appears:
tanome-si hito no			The one I put my hopes on
wotodure mo se-nu			Has not even sent a word.

His Highness of War of the Suzaku Palace: Prince Atsumoto (?-926). This is his only appearance in the collection.

--

The collection returns to private exchanges. This one is on fully bloomed plum blossoms, as spring advances.

Katagiri sees this poem and poem 39 as written in the style of a love exchange, despite both poets being men. Playful love poetry among male friends is not unknown either in Japan or the Western tradition. Another possibility is that this was originally a standalone poem that had poem 39 grafted on as a response. Some non-Teika manuscripts switch the authors of poems 38 and 39.

39

返し

Response

紀長谷雄朝臣

Lord Ki no Haseo

春雨にいかにぞ梅やにほふらんわが見る枝は色もかはらず

harusame ni				How can it be that
ika ni zo ume ya			The scent of the plums wafts in
niohu-ran				The falling spring rain?
waga miru eda ha			The branches I am viewing
iro mo kahara-zu			Have not even changed color.

Scent: The word nihohu can be scent, or brilliance. Modern commentaries are divided, and it’s hard to tell which position the pre-modern commentaries take. If this means “brilliance”, the first lines would be “How can it be that the plum blossoms have bloomed brilliantly in the falling spring rain?”

--

Depending on the interpretation of nihohu, this poem can mean “How did the scent of plums reach you in the spring rains, when I don’t even see them change color?” or “How have plums (in general) blossomed in this rain? The ones in my garden haven’t yet.”

Katagiri has harsh words for this poem, saying that it’s a poor poem because the excuse for breaking his promise is so terrible. Kifune is willing to allow that perhaps Haseo has late blooming plum trees in his garden.

40

春の日、事のついでありてよめる

On a spring day, [he?] took that chance to write this.

よみ人しらず

Poet Unknown

梅の花ちるてふなへに春雨のふりでつつなくうぐひすのこゑ

nume no hana				At just the same time,
tiru tehu nae ni			As plum blossoms are falling,
harusame no				The warbler’s cry rises,
huri-de-tutu naku			In the midst of the spring rains,
uguhisu no kowe			Falling over and over.

Poet unknown: A few non-Teika manuscripts omit this phrase, thus assigning the poem to Ki no Haseo. The poem appears in the Kokin waka rokujō under Haseo's name; the KKR probably postdates the GSS although it’s not certain.

Spring day: This is a rare phrase in prefaces of this period, and may suggest a topic based on a Chinese poem (Kudo)

Rises: There is a pun with huri on “fall” (rain) and “raise” (voice, as huriageru). The (i)de (“come out”) may also suggest the appearance of the warbler itself, as in previous poems about the emergence of the warbler from the valley (Kudo).

--

This is the first poem on falling blossoms; the compilers use a public-spirited poem to introduce this theme. The notion of warblers crying over falling blossoms is a common one in KKS, such as in KKS 110 by Mitsune:

しるしなき音をもなく哉鶯の今年のみちる花ならなくに

The cry of the warbler is useless -- it's not as if the flowers are falling just this year.

or 108:

花の散ることやわびしきはるがすみたつたの山のうぐひすの声

Are they sad over the falling flowers? The warblers are crying in Tatsuta mountain, where mist rises.

As you can see from the numbers, in the KKS this theme is introduced much later for the falling cherry blossoms. Here the link is with the falling plum blossoms.

Kigin says that the warbler is crying over the falling flowers, echoing the poet’s own feeling, which is also echoed in the Senshaku. The Senshaku suggests a beautiful woman poet, although it's not clear what the basis for that is.

41

通ひすみ侍ける人の家の、前なる柳を思やりて

He cast his mind on the willows growing before the house of a woman that he had been visiting.

みつね

[Ōshikōchi no] Mitsune [859-925]

いもが家のはひいりにたてるあをやぎに今やなくらん鶯の声

imo ga he no				In the blue willow,
hahiiri ni tate-ru			Set before the front gate of
awoyagi ni				My beloved’s house:
ima ya naku-ran			Is it now resounding forth,
uguhisu no kowe			The cry of the bush warbler?

--

This poem continues the imagery of the crying warbler, introducing willows. This is a public-style poem since it's not addressed to anyone in particular. From here to the end of the volume, the poets are all major KKS figures with the exception of poem 43 (Masatada, however, was a close friend of Ki no Tsurayuki).

The imagery of the poem recalls MY 10.1819:

うち靡く春立ちぬらし我が門の柳の末に鴬鳴きつ

Spring seems to have come – the warbler has begun to cry in the branches of the willow before my house.

Katagiri thinks this is probably a poem for a screen painting. The poem itself uses MY expressions and structures, and Katagiri suggest that the painting may have been in an old style that encouraged Mitsune to use the MY style in his composition.

Although this is a possible origin for the poem, interpreting it as a genuine poem of Mitsune's feelings towards a woman fits better with the GSS compilers' usual practice.

42

松のもとに、これかれ侍りて、花を見やりて

Various people were under a pine tree looking at distant flowers.

坂上是則

Sakanoue no Korenori [?-930]

ふか緑ときはの松の影にゐてうつろふ花をよそにこそ見れ

hukamidori				Sitting in the shade
tokiha no matu no			Of the deep green needles of
Kage ni wite				The eternal pine,
Utsurohu hana wo			We look only from afar
yoso ni koso mire			At the scattering flowers.

--

This is another public poem, combining the images of pine trees and scattering flowers. The dismissal of the falling flowers is an unusual approach. In the Korenori collection the poem is said to have been part of a poetry competition. The GSS compilers included few poems explicitly identified as poems from competitions, but whether the headnote was deliberately changed or they got the poem from another source is unclear.

Three interpretations have been offered for this poem. The first is that it is simply a poem in praise of pine trees, rather than the falling flowers (Kigin, Shinshō). The second is that it is a screen painting (Shinshō) and that the poem expresses thanks for the person who made or sent the painting (Katagiri). The third is that the “shade” of the “eternal pine” is the protection of an Emperor or other high ranking nobleman, and that this is a poem of appreciation. The first explanation fits the best with the poem as presented in the GSS.

43

[Various people were under a pine tree looking at distant flowers]

藤原雅正

Fujiwara no Masatada [?-961]

花の色はちらぬまばかりふるさとにつねには松のみどりなりけり

Hana no iro ha                        The beauty of flowers				
tira-nu ma bakari                     Is only until they scatter.
hurusato ni                           In the old capital
tune ni wa matu no                    The leaves of the pine trees
Midori nari-keri                      Are always green!

Prose preface: A number of manuscripts read “On the same topic” – i.e. this was not written at the same gathering as poem 42 but on the same idea of looking at flowers from under a pine. The poem appears in the Tsurayuki Collection as a screen poem. Further discussion of this in the analysis.

--

Taking this poem as given in this base text, it is another public style poem praising pine trees over flowers.

Because this poem appears in the Tsurayuki Collection, interpretation of the poem varies widely in different sources. The Shinshō notes that the poem following this one in the Collection is celebratory, so this may have been intended as celebratory as well. Kifune assigns it to 939, the year of Saneyori's 40th birthday. He thinks that 42 and 43 together may have been intended for Fujiwara no Kanesuke, in celebration of his favor. Katagiri wonders if this was originally a poem by Masatada that Tsurayuki later used for a screen painting, or if Tsurayuki wrote it for Masatada's use.

Kudo gives an entirely different reading, with the "flower" as a beautiful woman, contrasted with the the faithful, steadfast "pine" woman.

44

紅梅の花を見て

He saw red plum flowers.

みつね

[Ōshikōchi no] Mitsune [859-925]

紅に色をばかへて梅の花かぞことごとににほはざりける

kurenawi ni				The flowers of plum
iro o ba kahete			Have changed color from white to
mume no hana				A hue of scarlet
ka zo kotogoto ni			But the flowers do not have
nihohazari-keru			A fragrance to call their own.

Mitsune: The Kokin waka rokujō ascribes this poem to Tsurayuki, and specifies it as a poem on a screen painting.

Have changed color: Red plums bloom later than white plums.

--

The public-style poems by prominent KKS poets continues.

Kifune calls this a “joke” poem, while other commentators take the idea more seriously. The basic idea is simply that red plums have a different color but the same scent as white plums.

45

かれこれまどゐして、酒らたうべける前に、梅の花に雪の降りかかりけるを

Various people were sitting in a circle, and before the wine was passed around, he composed this poem seeing snow falling on the plum blossoms.

つらゆき

[Ki no] Tsurayuki [c. 868-945]

ふる雪はかつもけななん梅の花ちるにまどはず折りてかざさむ

huru yuki ha				I wish that the snow
Katu mo ke-na-namu			Would melt immediately.
mume no hana				I’d know the plum flowers
tiru ni madoha-zu			Were not falling to the ground,
wori-te kaza-san			And I’d pick and display them.

Like the previous poems, this is a public poem, this one with an explicitly public context -- unlike some of the public poems, this one was (apparently) composed on the spur of the moment. The idea of snow confusing someone who wants to pick plum blossoms is similar in theme to KKS 277, by Mitsune:

心あてにおらばやおらむ初霜のをきまどはせる白菊の花

I wonder if I can guess and pick you, you white crysanthemums who confuse people by blending in with the frost.

46

兼輔朝臣の寝屋の前に、紅梅を植へて侍りけるを、三年ばかりの後、花咲きなどしけるを、女ども、その枝を折りて、簾の内より、「これはいかが」と言ひいだして侍りければ

There were red plum trees planted in front of Lord Kanesuke’s bedroom. After three years they bloomed, and women broke off a branch and passed it to [Tsurayuki] from inside the blinds, saying “How is it?”

春ごとにさきまさるべき花なればことしをもまたあかずとぞ見る

haru goto ni				These are flowers that
saki-masaru-beki			Surely every spring will bloom
hana nare-ba				More and more brilliant,
kotosi wo mo mada			And therefore this year as well,
akazu to zo miru			I gaze on them unfulfilled.

はじめて宰相になりて侍りける年になん

This was the first year that [Kanesuke] became a Consultant.

Prose preface: Other manuscripts read “…bedroom. For two years they did not bloom, but after three…” This poem appears in the Tsurayuki Collection with a different preface: “Lord Kanseuke was overjoyed at becoming a Consultant Captain, and he plucked a branch of the first blooming red plums and said ‘They have finally bloomed this year!’”

Women: Kanesuke is likely having his gentlewomen pass the branch to Tsurayuki.

This year as well: Since the original texts use no voicing marks, the fourth line can be either kotoshi o mo mata (“Again this year as well”) or kotoshi o mo mada (“This year as well I don’t yet…”) Most editions read mada.

First year: 921.

--

Without the final statement (the sachū, literally “left commentary”), this could be read as a poem simply in praise of the red plums. But given the theme of many of the poems in this volume of the GSS, a metaphoric reading would suggest itself even so. The final statement and the alternate preface in the Tsurayuki Collection make this metaphor clear – the flowers are Kanesuke’s political prospects. Since Tsurayuki expects him to reach even greater heights, he can’t be satisfied by this current promotion. The alternate prose preface that includes “For two years they did not bloom” emphasizes this meaning.

Thus the first spring volume opens and closes with celebratory poems. This one is more private than the first one, since it seems to be addressed directly to Kanesuke. The second and third books also close with poems by Tsurayuki, providing a unifying thread based on the most renowned poet of the KKS age.

Supplementary Notes

3S

Textual notes:

兼盛王] 兼覧王 (堀・慶・荒・片(底イ)・標イ・全) Kanemi [866-922] was the son of Prince Koretaka and the grandson of Emperor Montoku. This poem appears also in the Tales of Yamato, where it is attributed to Kanemori, but is not found in the Kanemori Poetry Collection. This issue was discussed as early as Fujiwara no Kiyosuke’s 12th century Fukurozōshi treatise. Kiyosuke was aware that some manuscripts of attributed both this poem and 578 to Kanemi, others to Kanemori. He also noted that several other poems appearing in the Kanemori Poetry Collection were included in the GSS as "poet unknown" (1073, and 1170-72). However, based on the perceived authority of the Tales of Yamato and the Kanemori Collection, he criticizes the Kanemi attribution. He says that Kanemori was called a prince before the Tenryaku period. Modern editions mostly follow Kiyosuke’s reasoning. Only Kifune emends the text to "Kanemi," explaining his decision this way: "Since the title of ‘Prince’ is restricted to first-generation grandsons, Kanemori was not a prince. ‘Prince Kanemori’ also cannot be found in the line of succession. In the GSS, current poets are not represented. Therefore ‘Prince Kanemori’ is an error." He goes on to say that the Tales of Yamato are not a reliable source.
つみに] つまん (八・増)

Other sources:

Tales of Yamato 86

In this section of Tales of Yamato, Kanemori visits Fujiwara no Akitada, who asks him to compose a poem. He recites GSS 3. Akitada, delighted, composes a response:

片丘にわらびもえずは尋ねつつ心やりにや若菜摘ままし

If we fail to find bracken growing in Kataoka, let us search instead for young greens to lighten our hearts (trans. Mildred Tahara)

Akitada's poem does not appear in an imperial collection.

Waka domosho, Fukurozoshi, Shuchusho
Go rokuroku sen 131, Teika hachidaisho 15

Go back

4S

Textual notes:

にひまいり] あたらしくいできたりける (堀・荒・片(底イ)), あたらしくいできたる (慶)
うへしる] のぼれる (堀・荒・片・標イ)

Other sources:

Kokin waka rokujo 477 (snow)

Go back

5S

Textual notes:

えつかうまつらで] えつかうまつらずして (貞・堀・雲・ハ・増・標(イナシ)・新)

Teika's note:

(below 左大臣): 小野宮 (Ono no miya is the name of a residence where Fujiwara no Saneyori lived, and he was often known as the 小野宮左大臣. Because there are many Ministers of the Left in Japanese history, this serves to identify which Minister of the Left this is.)

Other sources:

Retired Emperor Suzaku Collection, Third line なりにしを. Prose preface: 御子日にいでさせ給ひけるに、おほんともにつかうまつらで、奏し侍りける

Additional notes:

The Suzaku Palace was a building on Third Avenue where retired Emperors could live. Thus this term does not denote a specific Emperor: in the Tale of Genji, for instance, two Emperors are referred to by this term. However, the issue is complicated by the fact that there was an Emperor given the reign name of Suzaku. Premodern commentaries such as the Hachidaishū-shō and the Shinshō identify the Emperor of this preface as Emperor Uda [867-931, reign 887-897], but the modern commentaries say this is Emperor Suzaku [923-952, reign 930-946]. The latter identification seems more likely.

Go back

6S

Textual notes:

何も] 何か (荒・片)

In 中・堀・雲, poem 10 comes between poems 6 and 7.

Other sources:

Retired Emperor Suzaku Collection 5, Third line はるののに.

Go back

7S

Textual notes:

松ひきになむ] 松ひきにのべになむ (中・貞・堀・全), 松ひきになむのべに (雲・八・増・標イ・新イ)
よみ人しらず] 中宮内侍母 (堀イ・烏) This handmaid is perhaps Uma no Naishi, a noted female poet of the mid-Heian period. Her mother's poetry, however, does not appear in any Imperial collections.
小松を] 小松は (烏)
ゆく] くる (烏)

Go back

8S

Textual notes:

のべ] 山 (片)
わかなにも] わかなとも (標イ)
なり見て] とり見て (片)
人もつむやと] 人につまれん (行・貞・烏), 人はつむやと (雲), 人のつむやと (堀・荒・片・標イ)

Other sources:

新撰万葉集２４９, second line 起出留野辺之(タチイヅルノベノ)
五代歌枕

Additional notes:

Teika notes in the base text 古今興風相似 "This resembles Okikaze's poem in the KKS." See the main notes.

9S

Textual noes:

まかりける人に] まかりける人のともに (行・全), まかりける人のもとに] (増イ・新・標)
をくれて] をくれ侍りて (行・堀・烏・新・標)

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖２３１１・若菜・みつね
躬恒集３６５

10S

Textual notes:

Teika notes 此本無 in read, meaning that Yukinari's text lacked this poem. 片・荒 switch 10 and 11, and 中・堀 put it between poems 6 and 7.
式部卿のみこ] 敦実親王 (堀), ふんみつの朝臣 (荒), のぶみつの朝臣 (片)
行明親王] 行明親王母 (堀・慶・雲)
のべ] はな (標イ)
見にゆく] 見にゆけ (堀・片・承)
いふめる] いふなる (八・増・新)
みてん] みみん (片・承*・雲)

Teika's note:

延喜親王　実寛平第十　母京極御息所

11S

Textual notes:

はつ春] はやき春 (行), 立春 (堀)
題しらず (荒・片)
吹みだる] をりとくる (堀*)

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖７６８・氷. Third line 春雨や
友則集１. Preface 立春日. Last line けさはとくらん
色葉和難集
源氏物語注（河海抄、胡蝶）

12S

Textual notes:

吹風や] 吹風に (承)
つげつらん] つげぬらん (標イ)
こもれる] のこれる (承)
さきにけり] 散りにけり (堀)

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖３９１・春風

13S

Other sources:

躬恒集(書陵部蔵御所本)３１２. Fourth line 心につねに.
五代歌枕

14S

Textual notes:

兼覧王女] 兼見大君母 (堀), 兼覧王女 (荒・ハ*・増*・標・新*), 兼覧王 (承・烏)
ねをぞ] ねを (増)

15S

Textual notes:

とけぬ] きえぬ (荒・片)
冬] ほど (承イ)

Other sources:

五代歌枕　歌枕名寄

16S

Textual notes:

16 and 17 switched (荒)
閑院左大臣] 閑院右大臣 (片), 閑院少将 (荒), 太政大臣 (承)
折つる] おもひし (標イ)
こきかに] こきかも (標イ)
衣] 心 (慶)
そめてん] そめけん (堀・標イ)

Teika's note:

冬嗣

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖４１２６・梅・閑院太政大臣. Second line 思ひつるものを, fifth line こととしみなん
古来風体抄

17S

Textual notes:

藤原] 中納言 (行・堀・承・ハイ・増イ・標*・新*)
うつしてうへし] うつすうゑてし (慶・雲)

Other sources:

兼輔集４． Preface 兵衛のつかさはなれてのちにまへにこうばいをうゑて、花のおそくさきければ
大和物語７４段. Last line みゆる花かな

18S

Textual notes:

たばびきにけり] たなびきわたる (荒・片*)
桂も] 桂の (標イ)

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖４２８７・かつら. Fifth line 今やさくらん
夫木集５２３４・判詞
六華集９５
源氏注・紅梅

19S

Textual notes:

御覧ぜさせよ] 天もせしめ (貞・承), 御覧せしめ (堀)
蔵人] くらむと
十二首がうち] ナシ (荒・烏・雲・慶)
いづこ] いくつ (承), いづく (中・堀・荒・片*・標イ)
なくに] ねども (中)

Other sources:

躬恒集４２７. Prose preface えぎの御ときに、みづしどころにさぶらひけるとき、しづめることをなげきて、あるひとにおくりはべりける
私家集大成 versions:
- I - Prose preface おなし御時しつめるよしを思ひて、あるくら人につかはしける. First line いづくへも
- II - First line いづくとも
- III - Preface 献大内ミシカ哥. Second appearance prose preface オナシ御時シツメルヨシヲオモヒテアルクラ人ニツカハシケル. First line いづくへも.
- IV - Prose preface えきの御ときにみつしところにさふらひけるとき、」七三しつめ（つ）ることをなけきてあるひとにおく（く）りはへりける. First line いつくとも
- V - Prose preface 延喜の御時に、みつし所にさふらひしに、つかさめしの比ともにをくれたりしかは、御らんせさせよと思ひて、あるをんなくら人のもとにやりし. First line いづくとも
俊成三十六人歌合　時代不同歌合
奥儀抄　五代歌枕　歌枕名寄
源氏注　幻

20S

Textual notes:

袖のみ] 人だに (堀$), 袖より (標イ)
涙も] 涙の (堀・烏・慶・荒・片), 涙のも (貞)
さえぬ] さゆる (烏), さらぬ (標)
なりけり] なるべし (荒・片)

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖３１９１・玉. Fourth line 春は涙の.
伊勢集１１４. Prose preface はるものおもひけるころ, poem 113 is GSS 55. Fourth and fifth lines 春は涙のさへぬなるべし.

21S

Textual notes:

ふりぬる] ふりゆく (行・堀・白・承・増イ・標イ・新イ)

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖４７８・雨・いせ. Third line ながあめには
色葉和難集

22S

Textual notes:

題しらず] おもひはべりけるおとこにおくれて又のとしのはる (白)
Author as 赤人 (中・承・慶イ)

Other sources:

万葉集１４３０　Original text: 吾勢子尓　令見常念之　梅花　其十方不所見　雪乃零有者
古今和歌六帖７３９・雪・あかひと
金玉集７・あかひと
和漢朗詠集９４・あかひと
赤人集３
家持集１１
柿本集（書陵部蔵）７
三十六人集　深窓秘抄　定家八代抄
俊頼髄脳　袖中抄　古来風体抄

23S

Textual notes:

あらじな] あらじを (雲・標イ)
つくしてん] つすきみん (堀)

Other sources:

家持集４７. Second line 人もあらじを

24S

Textual notes:

人の] 人に (堀$)

Other sources:

色葉和難集　歌林良材

25S

Textual notes:

ちらずもあらなん] ちらでまたなん (行・堀・標イ), てはたあらん (貞)
やどさむ] やどらむ (増)

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖３３０６・かりころも

26S

Textual notes:

月とも] 月にも (堀$), 月かと (八イ・増イ・標*, 新*)
見えまがふ] 見えわたる (行・承*), 見えにける (堀)

27S

Other sources:

拾遺和歌集２７

28S

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖４１２１・梅・素性. Fourth line にほふかうつせ
素性集７. Second line をればにほひぬ

29S

Other sources:

歌林良材

30S

31S

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖３３２９・ざふのころも. Second line かをふきつくる. Fourth line ころもをそめば.
源氏注・梅枝

32S

Other sources:

和歌童蒙抄　六華集　色葉和難集

33S

Other sources:

万葉集１４４１. Preface 大伴宿祢家持鶯歌一首. Original text:打霧之　雪者零乍　然為我二　吾宅乃苑尓　鶯鳴裳
拾遺集１１. Preface うぐひすをよみ侍りける, author 大伴家持. First line うちきらし
古今和歌六帖２３・残りの雪・赤人. First line うちきらし
秀歌大体　歌林良材　源氏注・御幸. First line うちきらし
定家八代抄

34S

Other sources:

綺語抄

35S

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖４４０３・鶯
赤人集４
千里集４０. Preface 鶯声誘引来花下
和歌童蒙抄　歌枕名寄
定家八代抄

37S

Other sources:

万葉集１８４３. 為君山田之沢恵具採跡雪消之水尓裳裾所沾 (This version is 赤人集１３８ and 家持集６１)
古今和歌六帖１７２９・沢. Fifth line ほせどかはかず.

38S

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖２８８８・おどろかす

39S

Other sources:

和漢兼作集71.

40S

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖・３３(残りの雪・長谷雄), ４３９７（鶯・はつせを）
伊勢集３３６. Fourth line ふりいでつつなく(I), no prose preface.

41S

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖１３３１・家・みつね.
躬恒集３５７. Prose preface かたへはところなり(I). しのひてかよひはへりけるひとのいへのやなきをおもひやりて (IV). Third line 青柳に(III). Fourth line いまはなきこん(II, III), いまやをくらん(I).

42S

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖４１０９・松・とものり
是則集８. Prose preface 松、まつのもとにこれかれ侍りて
三十六人撰

43S

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖４０１５・松・貫之六首
貫之集３７６. Prose preface 天慶二年四月右大将殿御屏風の歌廿首 - ふる郷にいたれり. 4th and 5th lines つねにも松ぞ緑なりける.

44S

Other sources:

古今和歌六帖４１５３・紅梅・つらゆき
新撰朗詠集９２・貫之
貫之集３７４. Prose preface 天慶二年四月右大将殿御屏風の歌廿首　人の家に紅梅あり
躬恒集. Prose preface こうはいをみはへりて(I, III), 紅梅の花を見て(II).
源氏注・紅梅

45S

Other sources (none)

46S

Other sources:

貫之集７０６. Prose preface 藤原のかねすけの中将さいさうになりてよろこびにいたりたるに、はじめてさいたる紅ばいををりて、ことしなん咲きはじめたるといひいだしたるに

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Supplementary Notes

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