Kokinshu 21
Text
仁和のみかど、親王におましましける時に、人に若菜賜ひける御歌
きみがため 春ののにいでて わかなつむ わが衣手に 雪はふりつつ
Translation
When the Ninwa Emperor was a prince, an honorable poem when he gave young shoots to someone.
[Emperor Kōkō]
For your sake / I go into the spring fields / and pick young shoots / on my robe's sleeves / snow is falling...
Notes
- 仁和のみかど
- This is Emperor Kōkō (r. 884-887). Referring to an Emperor by the name of one of his reign eras is common. 仁和 is usually read as にんな but Takeoka notes that in the 17th century 日葡辞書 it's read as にんわ.
- 親王におましましける時
- Kōkō took the throne when he was 54, so he was a prince for a long time.
- おまします is not found anywhere else in Heian writings. The majority of manuscripts read おはしましける here instead. It's possible that おましましける is just a different honorific, but I agree with Katagiri that this is probably a miscopying in one of Shunzei's texts that found its way into Teika's.
- 衣手（ころもで）
- This is a poetic word for "sleeve."
- 降りつつ
- The つつ indicates continual activity. Many commenters see this ending as providing 余情 ("surplus feeling").
Analysis
This poem was favored by Teika, and appears in his Shuka daitai and Eiga no taigai, as well as the Hyakunin isshu. The pseudo-teika Teika juttei assigns this poem to the 麗様体 category, while other scholars such as Asukai and said it was 有心体 instead. The definitions of these categories are murky and differ depending on which scholar is writing. Kaneko called it an excellent poem, and Kubota praised the delicate construction of the 4th and 5th lines. Takeoka notes the progressive narrowing of the focus of the poem from 春 down to the delicate snow on the sleeves.
The person who Koko gives the shoots to is not specified. The Bishamon tendo chu said it was Bishop Henjo. While there is no evidence for this, poems 347 and 348 show the Emperor giving gifts or poems to Henjo or his family members. Katagiri wonders if this was originally a similar celebratory poem, but that the detailed information was concealed in order to make this a spring poem rather than one of celebration.
Nevertheless, some have had a problem with the idea that the Emperor would pick shoots and give them to someone. It seems generally accepted that he would have sent someone else. But commentators like Keichu and the Engoki see this as primarily a metaphorical poem about Koko's beneficence towards the realm. They seem to be following similar explanations of Emperor Tenji's poem that appears as the first poem in the Hyakunin isshu. But most scholars are content to see this as a literal situation, and there's nothing in Heian custom to suggest that it would have been inappropriate for a prince to give spring shoots to someone, particular a respected person for a celebratory occasion.
Katagiri and Takeoka both think this is written in the voice of a woman. Katagiri cites various sources to indicate that picking shoots was typically associated with women. So this poem may have not been intended so literally as the situation and poem suggest -- Miura saw this as a partially joking poem, and perhaps he was picking up on this idea that the "effort" the prince went through in the poem is exaggerated.
Many scholars note the similarity between this poem and one from the MYS (10.1839):
- 君がため山田の沢にゑぐ摘むと雪消の水に裳の裾濡れぬ
- For your sake I go to the mountain fields and marshes to pick egu, and the sleeves of my clothes have become drenched with melted snow.
Kubota thinks that the Emperor's poem, which is from a time in between the MYS and KKS, shows the development of waka in that period.
This poem follows well off the previous one, which was talking about the possibility of going to pick shoots tomorrow if the rain let up. Now, the person goes out to pick shoots but snow is falling.
Shoku kokin wakashu 20, by Tameie, seems to use this as a honka:
- 若菜摘む我が衣手もしろたへに跳日の野辺は淡雪ぞふる
- On my sleeves picking young shoots, the white thin snow falls on Tobuhi field.
Other sources
- 新選和歌２９
- 古今和歌六帖４５・若菜・仁和のみかどの御歌
- 新撰朗詠集３２
- 仁和御集１. Prose preface まだみこにおましましけるに、わかな、ひとにたまふとて
- 新時代不同歌合４３
- 秀歌大体 百人秀歌 百人一首 定家八代抄
- 定家十体 詠歌大概 東野州聞書