Kokinshu 23
Text
題しらず
在原行平朝臣
春のきる 霞の衣 ぬきをうすみ み山かぜにこそ みだるべらなれ
Translation
Topic unknown
Lord Ariwara no Yukihira
The robe of haze (2) / worn by spring (1) / has a thin weave, and so / it is the mountain wind / that will soon put it in disarray.
Notes
- 霞の衣
- Here spring is personified as wearing a robe of haze. This image may derive from Chinese poetry. The Engoki goes as far as linking this to the goddess Saohime, who governs spring, but this may be going too far.
- ぬきをうすみ
- The を....み structure means が...ので, indicating a cause and effect. Takeoka indicates that this is often used to express the view of a third person observer. This line continues the metaphor above by likening the transparent haze to a thinly woven robe being pulled in two.
- べらなれ
- This phrase (here in the IZ because of the こそ) is used 25 times in the KKS and hardly at all outside of it. It was apparently a phrase that was in vogue around the time. It is composed from the stem of べし plus a ら suffix to turn it into a noun, and then the copula なり. The meaning is that something appears to be a certain way or soon will be.
Analysis
The Kiribioke includes this as a poem to base ones composition on. The Etsumokusho used it as an example of a poem that uses the calm (やさしき) mi syllable three times.
The basic meaning of the poem is clear -- the wind blowing away the haze is like a thin, ragged cloth tearing apart. Kaneko perhaps takes things too seriously when he notes that haze doesn't really look like clothing. He resorts to the idea that this is spring cast as a heavenly maiden wearing the haze as clothes, which may be taken from the Engoki theory above. Takeoka and Katagiri both reject Miura contrasts this strong mountain wind with the normal delicate spring wind, which might preserve the "clothing" of the haze.
While Kaneko found the use of engo a flaw, the Miura praised their use. Kubota thought that despite Yukihira being a generation prior to the compilers, he wrote a poem in a newer style that was favored in the KKS era.
Matsuda notes the link between the "clothing" of this poem and the "sleeves" in the previous poems. Haze is not a major image in the volume, appearing just in this one poem. Katagiri also says that Yukihira often wrote poetry like this one, which involves no feeling from the poet, just an evocation of the scene -- but the personification of spring still gives it skill.
Original sources
- 新選和歌７３
- 古今和歌六帖６０７・霞
- 和歌童蒙抄 悦目抄 雲玉集
- 桐火桶 定家八代抄 高良玉垂宮神秘書紙背和歌