Kokinshu 35
Text
梅花 立ちよるばかり ありしより 人のとがむる かにぞしみぬる
Translation
[Topic unknown] [Poet unknown]
The plum blossoms / from only stopping by (2-3) / I am suffused with scent (5) / for people to criticize me (4).
Notes
- 立ちよるばかりありしより
- There is some difference of opinion on the grammatical structure of this section. Both Katagiri and Takeoka go with the Ryodo Kikigaki and others in saying here that ばかり means "the time" and that the subject of ありし is the speaker.
- とがむる
- Exactly what this term means depends on the interpretation of the overall poem; see the analysis.
Analysis
As can be seen from the section below, this poem appears in the Kanesuke-shu with a preface that makes this an explicit love context. In that sense とがむる would presumably refer to a woman blaming or being jealous with Kanesuke for visiting someone else and getting the plum scent from her robes. The Kyotansho quotes Matsunaga Teitoku saying that the compilers of the KKS omitted the prose preface so this would be read as a spring rather than a love poem. Mabuchi saw the Kanesuke attribution as mistaken, while Katagiri thought that Kanesuke borrowed this poem for use in one of his own poems.
Without the prose preface, this could be read as a more general poem that "people" in general are blaming the man, perhaps as a joke, for getting the scent. However, Kubota thinks the 人 is a wife and that the poem would have been perceived as a humorous use of the love context, and other commentators seem to agree.
Other Sources
- 兼輔集８. Prose preface しのびたる人のうつりがの人とがむばかりしければ、その女に.
- Taisei III prose preface: はるかの宰相、中将にてすみはへりけるさうしよりこうはいをおくりてはへりけるかへし.
- Taisei IV: いとしのひたるひとのもとを、又ひとのけしきたちていひけれは.
- Taisei V: いとしのひたるひとのうつりかのひとしるはかりありけれは、そのをんなに
- 源氏物語注・梅枝、匂宮