KKS Kanajo 2

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Text

この歌、天地あめつちの開ひらけ始まりける時より出できにけり。

（天あまの浮橋の下にて、女神めがみ・男神をがみとなりたまへる事をいへる歌なり。）

しか(は)あれども、世に伝はることはひさかたの天あめにしては、下照姫したてるひめに始まり、

（下照姫とは、天稚御子あめのわかみこの妻めなり。兄人せうとの神のかたち、岡谷をかたにに移りて、輝かかやくをよめるえびす歌なるべし。これらは文字の数も定まらず、歌の様にもあらぬことどもなり。）

あらかねのつちにしては、素戔嗚尊すさのをのみことよりぞ起こりける。ちはやぶる神世には、歌の文字も定まらず、素直すなほにして、事の心わきがたかりけらし。人の世となりて、素戔嗚尊すさのをのみことよりぞ三十みそ文字あまり一文字はよみける。

（素戔嗚尊すさのをのみことは天照御神あまてるおほむかみの兄このかみなり。女と住みたまはむとて、出雲いづもの国に宮づくりしたまふ時に、その所に八色やいろの雲の立つを見てよみたまへるなり。

やくもたつ　いづもやへがき　つまごめに　やへがきつくる　そのやへがきを）

These poems appeared from the time heaven and earth began.

(This refers to the poems read under the Heavenly Floating Bridge, when [the gods] became husband and wife.)

However, they were first transmitted to the world starting with Shitateruhime in the far-off heavens,

Shitateruhime

(Shitateruhime is the wife of Ame no Wakahiko. The poem was a rustic one that was read about her divine husband's form moving into the mountains and valleys, and shining. These poems did not have a set number of characters, and did not have the form of poems.)

and on the ore-rich earth, they began with Susano'o no Mikoto. In the [powerful] Age of Gods, the [number] of characters was not fixed, they were straightforward, and the heart of things seems to have been hard to grasp. When it became the age of men, starting with Susano'o, poems were read with 30 syllables plus one syllable.

(Susano'o was the brother of Amaterasu. When he was to live with his wife, he constructed a palace in Izumo Province, and he saw eight-colored clouds and read this:)

(In Izumo where eight clouds rise, I will keep my beloved in an eight-fold fence; I will construct an eight-fold fence, that eight-fold fence.)

Notes

Heaven and earth began

This language is drawn from the Nihon shoki: 開闢之初, which Aston translated as "When the world began to be created." Felt: "When heaven and earth first emerged."

This refers to the poems...

Here and in the next few sections, the indented text in parentheses is the so called "Ancient commentary" (kochu), a set of annotations that is not original to the preface. The reference here is to Izanagi and Izanami's betrothal -- the annotator is pointing to the earliest identifiable poem (which actually varies depending on the source), but this does not seem to be what Tsurayuki meant. See the discussion in the Analysis section for more information.

First transmitted to the world

Tsurayuki is contrasting the abstract idea of poetry existing since the creation, with the time that poetry appears in recorded history and legend.

Shitateruhime

She appears in volume 2 of the Nihon shoki, where she sings a song of mourning for her husband Ame no Wakahiko (as the old commentary indicates). See pp 83-85 of Felt's translation.

Rustic one

The Nihon shoki labels the poems as such. Aston thinks this refers to the actual content of the poems, but other commentators say this refers to the lack of consistent meter and the folk-song quality. Felt's note indicates this is a reference to the tune used to sing the poem.

Form of poems

The term sama here is perhaps connected to poetic "forms" that will be discussed in the next section. These folk-song like poems do not fit any of the recognized types.

Susano'o no Mikoto

He is still a god, but the poem he read (given with context in the old commentary) was read on earth.

Susanoo no Mikoto

the heart of things seems to have been hard to grasp

This statement is somewhat obscure and has been given a number of different explanations. Takeoka lists many of the previous theories and notes that the most common explanation is that the kerashi suffix at the end is Tsurayuki's guess that these poems were hard to understand at the time. He notes that this is problematic if it is supposed to mean that the people didn't understand what the poems meant. He and Katagiri both give the same general explanation: the "straightforward" (i.e. unpolished) nature of the poems meant that while the words and grammar were understandable, the qualities of poetic expression were difficult to grasp even at the time. Takeoka specifically links this "heart" (kokoro) here to the other uses of this term in the preface to refer to the expressed meaning or imagery of a poem rather than its language.

When it became the age of men

Katagiri notes that this does not entirely fit with Susano'o (a god) reading the poem, but he did read this poem after the descent from heaven and going to Izumo, where people were living.

Amaterasu

The text says "Amateru" but this was a competing form for "Amaterasu" in the Heian period.

Eight colored clouds

This detail is not found in the Kojiki nor the Nihon shoki, but appears in other Heian sources -- it perhaps developed from a folk etymology or some kind of later legend.

In Izumo....

"Of the eight clouds" is a pillow word (permanent epithet) for Izumo (which the commentator who added these lines may have understood as "eight colored"). The "eight-fold fence" indicates a superb high-class dwelling (or palace) that is surrounded by many fences.

Analysis

This section discusses the beginning of poetry, placing it at the creation of the world, then continuing with the first poem in heaven and the first on earth, then the spread which ultimately resulted in the court poetry of Tsurayuki and his contemporaries.

The idea that poetry begins at creation had already appeared in The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons as well as the Waka sakushiki 倭歌作式, a short work of poetic criticism composed in Japan which predates KKS. Katagiri notes that the Classic of Poetry preface spent a great deal of effort trying to pinpoint the start of poetry in history, but Tsurayuki's solution is simpler.

One of the chief interpretive issues with the kana preface is the so-called "ancient commentary" (kochu). This commentary entered the KKS tradition at a very early point, although the fact that the commentary often misunderstands or disagrees with Tsurayuki's text makes it extremely unlikely that it comes from the time of KKS' compilation. There are traditions assigning the commentary to specific people but none of them have any verifiable proof. Later scholars in the medieval period had great difficulty dealing with the conflict between the kochu and Tsurayuki's writing, and they were unwilling to simply discard or ignore something that had become a fixed part of the text. Elaborate explanations were developed to explain how the seeming contradictions could actually be harmonized. But starting in the 15th century or so, these explanations fell away, and increasingly commentators were less reluctant to note the problems with the kochu and there was greater acceptance that whoever wrote the notes simply misunderstood what Tsurayuki was trying to say.

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