Kokinshu 19
Text
春日野の とぶひののもり いでて見よ 今いくかありて わかなつみてむ
Translation
[Topic unknown] [Poet unknown]
O guardian of the signal beacon (2) / on Kasuga plain, (1) / Come forth and look! / After how many more days / can we go pick young shoots?
Notes
- 春日野のとぶひののもり
- A 飛火 is a fire used to signal danger or warning across distances. The Shoku nihongi records such a signal fire being set up in Kasuga in 712. A 野守 watches over the field. Some commentaries parse this rather as 飛火野の守, which essentially means the same thing, although Kubota and maybe some pre-modern commentators consider 飛火野 to be a proper name. Other older commentaries attached various legends to this poem, while others had a problem with the signal fire being in a field rather than on a mountain where it could be better seen. Mabuchi thought that even if the fire was on a mountain, it was still fine to refer to Kasuga Field in the poem.
- いでて見よ
- This is the MR form of 見る, addressed to the guardian.
- つみてむ
- てむ is the completion つ in RY plus the volition む. Takeoka notes that this combination of particles usually indicates possibility rather than just volition.
Analysis
Most manuscripts switch the order of 18 and 19.
This poem appears as a good poem in Teika's Shuka daitai as well as the pseudo-Teika Kiribioke.
Mabuchi praised this poem along with 16 and 17 as excellent examples of old-style poems, a reflection of his admiration for the MYS. The simplicity and folk song nature of the poem are acknowledged by most other commentators as well. Kaneko thinks the poem sounds like it's written by young girls going out from the Nara capital to pick shoots, calling to the guard to come out into the cold and tell them about the shoots. He also questions whether the signal fires would still have been used once the court moved to Kyoto. Katagiri, while noting there is no proof for this kind of reading, acknowledges that the folk song feel of a poem like this encourages you to think of a setting like the one Kaneko describes.
When this poem follows 17, as in most manuscripts, there's a clear link between the fires being set on Kasuga field and then asking the guardian if the shoots have grown yet. It also may work better in this place because this poem is asking when shoots will grow, while 18 indicates they're already being picked.
Mitsune wrote a similar poem probably based on this image, which was eventually included in Shoku gosen wakashu 1032:
- としごとに若菜つみつつ春日野の野守も今日や春を知るらん
- Picking young shoots every year, does the guardian of Kasuga field know today is spring?
GSS 663 uses the first three lines of the KKS poem as a preface to lead to 名, playing on 菜. The image of the signal fire also made an appearance in later Heian court poetry, always associated with shoots and Kasuga plain.
Other sources
- 新選和歌２５
- 古今和歌六帖９・睦月
- 秀歌大体 定家八代抄 六華和歌集 三百六十首和歌
- 俊頼髄脳 和歌童蒙抄 奥儀抄 袖中抄 和歌色葉 桐火桶 悦目抄 五代歌枕 歌枕名寄 色葉和歌集
- 伊勢注 71段