Gosenshu 9

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後撰和歌集 巻第九 恋一

  • 恋歌一 (行)

The GSS has six love volumes in comparison to the KKS' five. The KKS' love volumes focused primarily on abstract poems, without prose prefaces, that used various images to express feelings associated with love. The GSS focuses on poems sent to lovers in actual situations, and features a large number of exchanges. The KKS also arranged the poems to follow the sequence of a love affair; from the initial feelings to the end of the relationship. The GSS' organization is less clear, but seems to involve grouping poems with similar imagery together.

507

からうじてひしりて侍ける人に、つつむことありて、ひがたく侍ければ

There was a person who he met after great effort, and there was something to be cautious about, then it became hard to meet.

源宗于朝臣

Lord Minamoto no Muneyuki

あづま地の さやの中山 中々に あひ見てのちぞ わびしかりける

adumadi no                        On the eastern road
saya no nakayama                  Saya no Nakayama
nakanaka ni                       So casually we met
ahi-mite noti zo                  But it's only after that
wabisi-kari-keru                  That I suffer all the more.
Something to be cautious about
This is a common theme in love poetry and love tales; it simply means that there was some reason why their relationship was not acceptable or why they couldn't be open about it.
Saya no Nakayama
This place name is used primarily as a preface for the third line, nakanaka ni (casually). However, the idea of this mountain crossing also links to the "great effort" of the preface.

Supplementary Notes

--

The idea behind the poem is that he was suffering from love before they met, and he thought that after they met his suffering would end. But their meeting, though seemingly casual and noncommittal, has now caused an even greater agony for him. Kifune thinks that the compilers wanted to draw the readers in to the love volume by ending the Winter volume with "we haven't met yet", then immediately saying that "after great effort, they met" and then "it was difficult to meet"; showing this sudden transition between the phases of love.

The first part of this poem seems to be taken from KKS 594:

あづまぢのさやの中山なかなかになにしか人を思ひそめけむ
On the eastern road, Saya no Nakayama, why did I start casually loving her?

The Kansho praises the softness of the poem and the effectiveness of the pain in the final line.

508

しのびたりける人に物語ものがたりし侍けるを、人のさはがしく侍ければ、まかりかへりて、つかはしける

He was chatting with a person he was seeing secretly, but people were making a ruckus, so he returned home and sent this.

つらゆき

Tsurayuki

暁と何かいひけむわかるれば夜ゐもいとこそわびしかりけれ

akatuki to                        The dawn, the dawn,
nani ka ihi-kemu                  Why do they talk about it so?
wakarure-ba                       When we have parted
yohi mo ito koso                  It is the bitter evening
wabisikari-kere                   That is the source of my suffering.

Supplementary Notes

--

The situation here seems to be that Tsurayuki had visited a women secretly, but he was fearful of being discovered because of gentlewomen in the next room. So he goes home and sends this poem. The first line is perhaps on Tadamine's KKS 625:

有明のつれなく見えし別れより暁ばかりうき物はなし
Nothing is as sorrowful as the ruthless dawn, moon still in the sky, after you've parted from your love.

However, the dawn parting is a common image in love poetry so the reference may not be this direct.

509

源の巨城おほきかよいひ侍けるを、後々のち/\はまからずなり侍にければ、となりのかべあなより巨城おほきをはつかに見てつかはしける

Minamoto no Ooki was visiting her, but after a while he no longer visited, and she saw him faintly in the next room through a hole in the wall, and sent this.

するが

Suruga

まどろまぬ かべにも人を 見つるかな まさしからなん 春の夜の夢

madoroma-nu                       Unable to sleep
kabe ni mo hito wo                On the wall, too, that person
mi-turu kana                      I think I saw there!
masasikara-nan                    If only it could be real
haru no yo no yume                The dream of a night of spring.

--

The idea of seeing one's lover in a dream is common in Heian poetry, but the role of the wall is less clear here. Of course it comes from the situation in the preface, but what poetic element does it have? The mo (also) means that Suruga is seeing Ooki not only in her dreams, but on the wall as well. One possibility, appearing first in the Seigi, is that seeing dreams on walls when awake is an old trope from Chinese writings. Kudo mentions a Chinese story where a man sees his deceased wife on a wall but then the image disappears. GSS 1399 involves similar language but the situation there is that a man sees something that his deceased wife had written on the wall.

Another possibility raised by Kigin is that this is simply a wordplay; since walls are painted (nuru), that creates a play on words with nuru "sleep". In this case Kifune may be right that this is a comic Haikai poem. He also reads the entire situation as a humorous one; it was common for higher ranking men to have casual relationships with gentlewomen like Suruga. Therefore this poem may not be actually a bitter accusation of cheating but simply a humorous greeting.

Supplementary Notes

510

りて侍ける人のもとに、「返事見む」とてつかはしける

To a woman he knew, he sent this, thinking "Let's see her response."

元良のみこ

Prince Motoyoshi

くやくや/\と まつゆふぐれと 今はとて かへる朝と いづれまされり

kuyakuya to                       The evening when
matu yuhugure to                  I wait, thinking "she's coming!"
ima ha to te                      Or the morning when
kaheru asita to                   I return thinking "It's time!"
idure masare-ri                   Which is more sorrowful?
It's time!
This often means that the affair has ended, but here it may just mean that morning has come and he has to leave.

Supplementary Notes

--

This kind of comparison poem was a fad at the time. Motoyoshi was known as a playboy, and although this seems more like a public poem, in the context here he is playfully inviting her to respond which one is more sorrowful.

511

返し

Response

藤原かつみ

Fujiwara no Katsumi

ゆふぐれは 松にもかる 白露の くる朝や きえはつらむ

yuhugure ha                         In the evening
matu ni mo kakaru                   Waiting on the pine trees
siratuyu no                         The white beads of dew
okuru asita ya                      In the coming morning
kie ha hatu-ramu                    They will surely vanish.
Waiting
matu as usual puns on "pine" and "wait".

Supplementary Notes

--

The basic meaning of Katsumi's response is that waiting in the evening for his arrival is bad enough, but she knows he will come. It's the morning parting makes her feel like she will die, vanishing before even the dew does. Kifune and the Hyoshaku both praise the skilled construction showing her love.

512

大和やまとひしりて侍ける人のもとにつかはしける

He sent this to a woman he had met in Yamato.

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

うち返し 君ぞこひしき やまとなる ふるのわさ田の 思いでつ

uti-kahesi                          Over and over
kimi zo kohisiki                    You are the one that I love.
yamato naru                         Out in Yamato
huru no wasada no                   The old field with early blooms
omohi-ide-tutu                      As they come forth I send my thoughts.
Over and over
The verb uti-kahesu also refers to plowing a field, which connects to the third and fourth lines.
As they come forth I send my thoughts
hi-idu can also be a verb meaning for stalks of a plant to grow forth.

--

This poem has a preface in the 3rd and 4th lines and also words related to seeds and farming, which connects to the Yamato province where the woman is. Nakayama thinks this relationship is resuming after a long pause, whereas Kifune thinks they have known each other for a long time but only now is their relationship developing.

513

返し

Response

秋の田の いねてふ事を かけしかば 思いづるが うれしげもなし

aki no ta no                      In the autumn fields              
ine tehu koto wo                  Rice stalks, you told me to leave,
kake-sika-ba                      That lay on my heart
omohi-iduru ga                    So when you remember me
uresi-ge mo nasi                  You won't see me grow happy.

Supplementary Notes

--

The response poem uses the same imagery as the initial poem, but exactly what the second line means is difficult to say. Most commenters agree that this is a play on ine meaning "Go!" (and ine rice stalks). So either this refers to a specific time when the man told her to go away, or she is just expressing the feeling of being abandoned. Kifune rejects this and sees a hidden play on karu (mow grass/leave) but this seems hard to sustain when the word isn't actually in the poem. Nakayama suggests that the woman had to move to Yamato for some reason and he told her to go despite their love.

This exchange may fit with Sato Komei's idea that some of these poems or exchanges may have been included to pique the interest of the readers and encourage them to imagine their own contexts or settings.

514

女につかはしける

Sent to a woman

人こふる 心ばかりは それながら 我はわれにも あらぬなりけり

hito kohuru                          Longing for you
kokoro bakari ha                     It is only my heart
sore nagara                          That remains here
ware ha ware ni mo                   Myself, as the self I know,
ara-nu nari-keri                     Is no longer existant.


Supplementary Notes

--

The idea is that he is so obsessed with love for this woman that he has ceased to exist except for his heart, which remains.

A similar poem by Minamoto no Shitago (one of the GSS compilers) appears as Shoku goshui shu 745:

誰がために君を恋ふらむ恋佗びて我はわれにもあらず成行く
For whose sake am I longing for you? Love's sorrow means that myself, as the self I know, is disappearing.

515

まかる所らせず侍けるころ、又ひしりて侍けるおとこのもとより、「日頃ひごろたづねわびてせにたるとなむ思つる」といへりければ

When she had left without saying where she was going, she got this from a different man she had been seeing: "I've been visiting you regularly but I think you've gone away."

伊勢

Ise

おもひ河 たえずながるる 水のあわの うたがた人に あはできえめや

omohikawa                      The river of thought
taezu nagaruru                 Flows on and on without cease
midu no awa no                 The foam on the water
utagata hito ni                Float on the surface, and how
aha-de kie-me ya               Would I die without us meeting?
gone away
The word usu has multiple meanings. The man probably intended it to mean that Ise had left, but Ise in her poem interprets it as "dead". It's also possible she is saying that man will not die before they meet.
River of thought
Although older commentaries identified this as a specific river in Chikuzen, it may simply be a symbolic "river" to set up the wordplays in the remainder of the poem. nagaruru (flow) plays on nakaruru (cry), and utagata refers to the bubbles on the surface but also is a different word that pairs with a negative to mean "absolutely will not."

Supplementary Notes

--

This poem appears in many pre-modern collections of good poetry, and is assigned in several pseudo-Teika works to the yugen category (mysterious depths). The purpose of the poem is to reassure the man that she still loves him.

516

題しらず

Topic unknown

三統公忠

Mimune no Kintada

やる 心はつねに かよへども 相坂の関 こえずもあるかな

omohi-yaru                       Sent out on my thoughts
kokoro ha tune ni                My heart is always able
kayohe-domo                      To pass through it, but
ahusaka no seki                  The gate of the Meeting Slope
koe-zu mo aru kana               It seems that I can't get through.
Meeting Slope
ahusaka no seki, a barrier gate near Kyoto, was often used as an image for lovers not able to meet, due to the ahu (meet) word.

Supplementary Notes

--

This seems to be a poem, perhaps a public-style one, on a woman that the poet has not met. Kifune notes the personification of the heart in the first part contrasted with the physical distance in the second. Kifune also suggests reading 512-516 as a single sequence.

517

女につかはしける

Sent to a woman

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

きえはて やみぬばかりか 年をへて 君を思ひの しるしなければ

kie-hate-te                   Did it extinguish
yami-nu bakari ka             And stop as I may soon die?
tosi wo he-te                 With the passing years
kimi wo omohi no              The flame of your thoughts for me
sirusi nakere-ba              I cannot see any more.
Extinguish
kiyu is used here to mean "extinguish (flame)" or "die". There is then later a play on the hi (fire) of omohi.
ka
Commentators are equally divided on whether this is a question or an emphatic particle; in the latter case it would be "Your flame extinguished..."

Supplementary Notes

--

The wordplay and association with the fire indicates that just as the woman's thoughts for the man have gone away, he too will die out of his love for her.

518

返し

Response

おもひだに しるしなしてふ わが身にぞ あはぬなげ木の かずはもえける

omohi da ni                      "Not even the fire
sirusi nasi tehu                 of my thoughts shows," so you say,
waga mi ni zo                    It is in my self
aha-nu nageki no                 The firewood of regret
kazu ha moe-keru                 That we can't meet burns greatly.
firewood of regret
nageki is both lament/regret, and "discarded wood" (i.e. firewood).

Supplementary Notes

--

The response picks up the flame imagery of the first poem, saying that the man(?) cannot see her love for him because it's burning inside of her.

519

題しらず

Topic unknown

ほしがてに ぬれぬべきかな 唐衣 かくたもとの 世々になければ

hosi-gate ni                     Difficult to dry
nure-nu beki kana                They must always be drenched through.
karakoromo                       On my Chinese robes
kawaku tamoto no                 The sleeves will never dry out
yoyo ni nakere-ba                Though years of long nights pass by.
yoyo
This could have three meanings: 世々 (through many ages), 夜々 (many nights), or an onomatopoeia for crying. Commentators differ on which of these meanings applies here. Kigin, Nakayama and Katagiri take it as "through many ages," while Kudo and Kifune say "nights." Katagiri is the only one of them to wonder about the "sound of crying" meaning, wondering if it is appropriate for poetry. The evidence of yoyo used in poetry for a crying sound is slight, but it does occur in some private poetry collections.

Supplementary Notes

--

The expression of the poem is simple and direct, but as the note above indicates it's difficult to tell what kind of wordplay might be involved in the poem.

520

世ともに あぶくま河の とければ そこなる影を 見ぬぞわびしき

yo to tomo ni                  As long as the world lasts
abukumagaha no                 The Abukuma River
tohokere-ba                    Is very far,
soko naru kage wo              So your image in the deeps
mi-nu zo wabisiki              Not seeing it, I suffer.
Abukuma River
A river in Michinoku. It serves as a play on ahu kuma (a place or time to meet).
Image in the deeps
The soko can also mean "you" (here).

Supplementary Notes

--

This seems to be a poem on a secret love affair. Just as the poet cannot see the reflection in the Abukuma River which is so far away, he also cannot see the lover's face because their time of meeting is so far away. Katagiri focuses on the word soko which seems to indicate someone who is close by him. He paints the picture of two people who have met in the palace. Though they are physically close to each other, they cannot easily meet. Nakayama and Kudo also note the contradiction between the "far" of the third line and the closeness of the soko in the fourth.

521

わがごとく あひ思ふ人の なき時は 深き心も かひなかりけり

waga gotoku                      When there is no one
ahi-omohu hito no                To return my thoughts of love
naki toki ha                     In the way I feel,
hukaki kokoro mo                 Then the depth of my own heart
kahi nakari-keri                 Has no worth for me at all.


Supplementary Notes

--

This is similar to Mitsune's poem KKS 750:

わがごとく我をおもはむ人もがなさてもや憂きと世を心見む
I wish there were someone to love me as I do. I want to see if a real experience would make me suffer.

However, the GSS poem may be targeted at the individual rather than being a simple declaration of love. Kifune tried to see wordplays in the poem based around kahi as shellfish, but he is the only commenter who mentions this.

522

いつしかと わが松山に 今はとて こゆなる浪に ぬるかな

itu sika to                       When, oh when, I think,
waga matuyama ni                  Waiting at Matsuyama,
ima ha to te                      And now at the end
koyu naru nami ni                 The waves I hear crash over
nururu sode kana                  Drench my sleeves through with tears.
Waiting at Matsuyama
matu creates a pivot based on "wait", and "pine mountain" (matuyama).

Supplementary Notes

--

The imagery of this poem is based on KKS 1093:

きみをおきてあだし心をわが持たば末の松山浪もこえなん
If I abandon you and turn my heart to another, may the waves crash even over Matsuyama in Sue.

The mountain here, besides playing on matu (see note above), is used as an image of something that would be impossible for waves to reach. Moving from that imagery, this poem indicates that she waited expectantly but now she hears that he has turned his heart to another (i.e. hears the waves crash over) and those waves become the tears that drench her sleeves.

523

女のもとにつかはしける

Sent to a woman

ひとことは まことなりけり したひもの とけぬにしるき 心と思へば

hitokoto ha                      What they always say
makoto nari-keri                 Seems indeed to be true.
sitahimo no                      The cord of my trousers
toke-nu ni siruki                Not having loosened, I think
kokoro to omohe-ba               Of your heart, now clearly shown.
Cord of my trousers
A proverb at the time (see in the MYS and KKS) was that your trouser cord would loosen if your lover was thinking of you.

Supplementary Notes

--

This poem is based on the proverb mentioned above; as Kifune notes, it inverts the proverb so that the unloosed cord shows the cold heart of the woman.

524

びお・をきし わがしたひもの 今までに とけぬは人の こひぬなりけり

musubi-oki-si                     You tied it, back then,
waga sitahimo no                  The cord of my trousers,
ima made ni                       And up to the present
toke-nu ha hito no                It has not loosened, I see
kohi-nu nari-keri                 It's because you don't love me.


Supplementary Notes

--

This has the same feeling and imagery as the previous poem. Nakayama thought the two might have been composed by the same person in the same context, although recommended that they be read with the order flipped.

525

女の、人のもとにつかはしける

A woman sent this to a man

ほかのせは ふかくなるらし あすか河 昨日のふちぞ わが身なりける

hoka no se ha                A different shallows         
hukaku-naru-rasi             Has now grown deeper, it seems.
asukagaha                    At Asuka River
kinohu no huti zo            "Yesterday's pools" that they mention
waga mi nari-keru            Seem to be my own body.


Supplementary Notes

--

This poem's meaning relies on KKS 933:

世の中はなにか常なるあすか河きのふの淵ぞけふは瀬になる
What in this world is permanent? At Asuka River, yesterday's pools are today's shallows.

In the poem, the woman makes herself the "pool" and another woman the "shallows" -- but now that the man's attention has turned to the other woman, their positions have switched. Kifune points out that the first two lines are actually the reverse of the original poem.

526

返し

Response

ふちせとも いざやしら浪 立ちさぐ わが身ひとつは よる方もなし

huti se to mo                    Shallows and deep pools,
iza ya siranami                  What do I know? The white waves
tati-sawagu                      Rise and loudly crash
waga mi hitotu ha                And my own self, alone,
yoru kata mo nasi                Has nowhere to seek safe harbor.
White waves
siranami also means "I do not know, and so..."

Supplementary Notes

--

The man's response turns back the complaint on the woman, which is a typical method of repartee in this sort of love poetry. Picking up on the allusion to the KKS poem, the man suggests that he has no idea what she's talking about, but that with her loud complaining he has nowhere to go. Kifune also thinks that there is a possible allusion to KKS 747 in this phrase, in which case it would suggest "my heart is the same as it's always been," showing his love for her.

527

題しらず

Circumstance unknown

ひかりまつ ゆに心を ける身は きえかへりつ 世をぞうらむる

hikaru matu                         Waiting for the light
tuyu ni kokoro wo                   My spirit, like the dew that
wokeru mi ha                        Lies on my body
kie-kaheri tutu                     Soon completely disappears
yo wo zo uramuru                    As I hate the world of love.

Supplementary Notes

--

The author (presumably a woman) is waiting for a man to visit her in the night. But like the dew which awaits the dawn and then vanishes, so too will her spirit vanish at the rising of the sun if he still has not come. The word yo here, literally "world", takes its typical love poem meaning of the relations between men and women.

Older commentaries had different interpretations -- Kigin thought the "light" motif was related to the high rank of the man. Nakayama thought the light was moonlight, and that the dew waiting to be reflected in the moonlight was like the author waiting for the night visit. It's not clear why Nakayama thought this was the correct reading; KKS 564 contains similar imagery to this one.

Kifune suggests reading 523-527 as a series of exchanges.

528

ある所に、近江といひける人のもとにつかはしける

He sent this to a person named Omi living in a certain place.

しほみたぬ うみときけばや 世ともに 見るめなくして 年のへぬらん

shio mita-nu                    The tide does not come
umi to kike-ba ya               In that sea, or so I hear.
yo to tomo ni                   Is that why, forever,
mirume naku si-te               We have no chance to meet
tosi no he-nu-ran               As the years seem to pass by?
chance to meet
mirume plays on "seaweed" and "chance for meeting". Because the "sea" in Omi has no tide, there is also no seaweed.

Supplementary Notes

--

The man here plays on the woman's serving name "Omi" (perhaps her place of birth, or where a relative lives). Omi was an inland province, best known for the large Lake Biwa. So it has no ocean, and thus no tides and no ocean seaweed. This provides the basis for the wordplay.

Kokin waka rokujo 2761, by Tsurayuki, is similar:

ちかけれどあふみのうみぞかかりてふみるめもおひぬ中やなになる
Although we are close, the lack of seaweed in what they call Omi's "lake" has become a barrier between us.

529

敦慶あつよし親王みこ、まうでたりけれど、はずしてかへして、又のあしたにつかはしける

Prince Atsuyoshi came to visit, but he was sent home without them meeting, and the next morning she sent this.

桂のみこ

Princess Katsura

唐衣 きて帰にし さよすがら あはれと思ふを うらむらんはた

karakoromo                       I wore my robes
kite kaheri-ni-si                You came and then returned home
sayo-sugara                      All through the long night
ahare to omohu wo                I have longed for you, but
uramu-ran hata                   You probably resent me.
karakoromo
This is a pillow word for kite ("come" and also "wear").
hata
The role of this final particle is not clear, but perhaps should be interpreted as "maybe".

Supplementary Notes

--

Atsuyoshi and Katsura were half-siblings but had a romantic relationship, as shown in the Tales of Yamato. The prose preface does not make the situation entirely clear, but the poem would suggest that someone other than Katsura turned Atsuyoshi away and she is trying to reassure him. Kigin has a moral objection to the relationship, and Nakayama says the poem's style is bad although he doesn't elaborate on why. There seem to be some hidden engo with clothing -- kaheri (turning the clothing inside out), ura (back of the clothing), and the final hata which can just mean clothing.

530

ちける人のひさしう消息せうそこなかりければ、つかはしける

Someone she had met and then was waiting for had not sent a letter for a long time, and so she sent this.

きのめのと

Ki no Menoto

影だにも 見えずなりゆく 山の井は あさきより又 水やたえにし

kage da ni mo                I can no longer see
mie-zu nari-yuku             Even a reflection
yama no wi ha                In the mountain well
asaki yori mata              It is now beyond shallow
midu ya tae-ni-si            The water fully dried up.
Ki no Menoto
Teika's note identifies this as Emperor Yozei's wet nurse, perhaps based on the KKS. But Yozei was born in 868 and Taira no Sadafun probably several decades after that, so this may not be the same person.
nari-yuku
Most manuscripts read nari-nuru here, which seems to fit better with the last line. Kifune emends the text and Katagiri seems to translate it as if it were nuru. It is possible to accept the base text's reading, though: she is saying that going forward, she will continue to be unable to see the reflection because the water has dried up.

--

The imagery compares the shallow well with Sadafun's shallow heart -- not only shallow, but completely dried up. The "mountain well" is used because such wells were often dirty or easily dried up. There are two possible source poems for this. The first is Kokin Waka Rokujo 985, a variant of MYS 10.3829 that is also mentioned in the ``Kana preface to the KKS:

あさかやまかげさへみゆる山の井のあさくは人をおもふものかは
The shallowness of the mountain well at Asaka Mountain, even there the reflection can be seen -- is it due to the way he thinks?

And KKS 764:

山の井のあさき心もおもはぬを影ばかりのみ人の見ゆらん
I didn't think his heart was as shallow as the mountain well, but why do I only see his shade?

531

返し

Response

平定文

Taira no Sadafun

浅してふ 事をゆしみ 山の井は ほりし濁に 影は見えぬぞ

asasi tehu                  You say it's shallow
koto wo yuyusimi            But that's not the problem
yama no wi ha               With the mountain well
hori-si nigori ni           When I dug it, it was muddy
kage ha mie-nu zo           That's why there's no reflection.

--

Sadafun's response deflects the complaint; he has deep feelings for her, and that deepness is what caused the muddy water, not a shallow heart. Another exchange between these two is in the next book, 647-648.

532

題しらず

Circumstance unknown

よみ人も

Also the poet

いくたびか いくたの浦に 立 浪にわが身を 打ぬらすらん

iku tabi ka                 Over and over
ikuta no ura ni             To Ikuta Bay I have come
tati-kaeri                  And then gone back home
nami ni waga mi wo          The waves crashing over me
uti-nura-su-ran             Seem to have drenched thoroughly.
ikuta no ura
Ikuta Bay is in Settsu province; here it follows on iku tabi (how many times). This leads into tati-kaeri which refers to the coming and going of the waves, but also the man visiting her house again and again.

--

This is a metaphorical poem; the man visits the woman's house over and over again but she refuses to accept him, and he has to return, sleeves drenches with the "waves" of tears.

533

返し

Response

帰り ぬれてはひぬる しほなれば いくたの浦の さがとこそ見れ

tati-kaeri                 Coming and going
nure-te ha hinuru          It is the tide where in time
siho nare-ba               The dampness will dry
ikuta no ura no            That is simply natural
saga to koso mire          When you visit Ikuta Bay.

--

The response picks up on the imagery of the original, although rather than using Ikuta Bay for wordplay, she uses the visual image of the tide. The surface meaning is simple -- going to Ikuta Bay you should expect to get wet, but it will dry eventually, so don't worry. The metaphorical meaning is that they haven't even met, so his feelings can't be sincere. It's the nature of such casual visits that whatever "tears" he is shedding will quickly dry as he finds some other woman to visit.

534

女のもとに

事は いと雲井の おほぞらに たつ名のみして やみぬばかり

ahu koto ha                 Will our meetings grow
itodo kumowi no             Even more like the far away
ohozora ni                  Clouds in the great sky
tatu na nomi si-te          With only the rumors there
yami-nu bakari ka           Rising up to stop us?
tatu
This refers to both the rising clouds, and the rising up of rumors about them.

--

This appears to be from a man who has exchanged letters with a woman but not met, and rumors have arisen. He wonders if their first meeting is as far away as clouds in the sky. The imagery is similar to KKS 482 by Tsurayuki:

逢ふことは雲居はるかになる神の音にききつつ恋ひわたるかな
Our meeting is as far away as the clouds, and I long for you, hearing only rumors of you like distant thunder.

535

返し

Response

よそながら やまんともせず 逢事は 今こそ雲の たえまなるらめ

yoso-nagara                   Apart from each other
yama-n to mo se-zu            I will not let it end
ahu koto ha                   Our meetings for now
ima koso kumo no              Must be like a small break
taema naru-rame               In a continuous cloud line. 

--

The response is strong and assuring, and inverts the image from the original poem. Rather than the clouds being an image of the far away hopes, now they become an image of their eventual meeting. The "break" in the clouds contrast with the "meeting". We might expect the break in the clouds to be a good thing, but the woman's response allows the man's imagery to be used for a positive meaning.

536

又おとこ

Again, the man

今のみと たのむなれども 白雲の たえまはいづか あらんとすらん

ima nomi to                   It's only for now
tanomu nare-domo              You seem to be thinking, but
sirakumo no                   The break in the clouds
taema ha iduka                When will it end, and when
ara-n to su-ran               Shall we ever meet again?

--

The man's response seems to take the woman's poem as an attempt to evade, suggesting that they may never meet again, using the image of a continuous line of clouds.

537

題しらず

Circumstance unknown

をやみせず 雨さへふれば 沢水の まさるらんとも おもほゆるかな

woyami se-zu                 Without a small break
ame sahe fure-ba             Even the rain is falling
sahamidu no                  So the marshy pools
masaru-ran tomo              Will fill up even more
omohoyuru kana               Like my longing fills up with tears.

--

There are a number of interpretive difficulties in this poem. The first is that many manuscripts, and the medieval printed editions, give this as a response to the previous poem, or at least as another poem written by the woman. Kifune also emends the text to add this. So all of their interpretations connect the "rain" here to the "clouds" in the preceding poetic exchanges. There seems to be also a general feeling that the "rain" is tears, and that word masaru refers both to the pools filling with rain, as well as the poet's feeling of longing increasing. These interpretations may stand even if this is a standalone poem, especially in light of Tsurayuki's KKS 587:

まこも刈る淀の沢水あめふれば常よりことにまさるわが恋
The pools of Yodogawa where they cut seaweed, because rain is falling, they fill up even more, just like my longing.

GSS 537 lacks any explicit mention of "longing," but if we take Tsurayuki's poem as a honka the language may suggest the "longing" all the same.

Katagari, who does not interpret the poem as a response to the previous, rejects the idea that the rain is tears, and links the "without a small break" to the poet's longing.

538

夢にだに 見る事ぞなき 年をへて 心のどかに ぬる夜なければ

yume da ni                    Even in my dreams
miru koto zo naki             I cannot ever see you
tosi wo he-te                 The years have passed
kokoro nodoka ni              And there isn't a night
nuru yo nakereba              Where I've slept with a calm heart.

--

This is a clear poem drawing on the traditional idea that you might be able to see your lover in your dreams. It recalls poems like the anonymous KKS 767:

夢にだに逢うことかたくなりゆくは我やいをねぬ人やわするる
Even in dreams it is growing difficult to meet, perhaps because I cannot sleep, perhaps because he has forgotten me.

539

見そめずて あらまし物を 唐衣 たつ名のみして きるよなきかな

mi-some-zu-te                 I should never have
aramasi mono wo               Dyed this in the first place
karakoromo                    The Chinese robes
tatu na nomi si-te            All I did was tailor them
kiru yo naki kana             I have no chance to wear them.
mi-some
This is a play on "dye" and "meet for the first time".
tatu
This is a play on "cut cloth" and "rumors arising"
kiru yo
This means "a chance to wear", but it is less clear what the other meaning is. Modern editions seem to take it as "get used to", but I do not see this definition in any dictionaries. Perhaps it means the person has no chance to end the relationship?

--

This poem relies on wordplay and associated words with "chinese robes" -- the love meaning is that the poet should never have even met the other person, because now all that exists are the rumors about them, and they don't meet anymore. The interpretation is difficult without knowing exactly what kiru means at the end, however.

540

女のもとにつかはしける

Sent to a woman.

はつる 花の心は つらからで 時すぎにける 身をぞうらむる

kare-haturu                      Already withered
hana no kokoro ha                The heart of the flower
turakara-de                      Does not make me suffer
toki sugi-ni-keru                I am instead upset with
mi wo zo uramuru                 Myself, having missed the time.
kare
This plays on "wither" and "separate"

--

The surface meaning is a spring poem -- the poet is not upset with the flowers for withering, but rather at himself for missing the flower viewing time. The love meaning is that the man does not begrudge the woman ("flower") for separating from him; he is upset at his own body that is past its prime.

The Shinsho quotes someone named Masaakira who thought this was a woman's poem. Kifune agreed and went so far as to emend the prose preface, despite all the manuscripts reading "Sent to a woman." I think they were too focused on the similarity of the last two lines to poems of Ono no Komachi and the like. Since flowers are usually women, the flower that has "separated" from me in the first three lines should be a woman as well.

541

返し

Response

あだにこそ ちると見るらめ 君にみな うつろひにたる 花の心を

ada ni koso                       Uselessly, fleetingly
tiru to miru-rame                 You must see it falling
kimi ni mina                      But all of it
uturohi-ni-taru                   Towards you has it transferred
hana no kokoro wo                 The flower of my heart.
tiru
Non-Teika texts read karu (separate/wither, see the previous poem).
uturohu
This plays on "fade" (of flowers) and "move".

--

The interpretation of the response does not seem to differ based on whether you think 540 is a man or woman's poem. Since "flowers" are usually symbols for women, it seems more natural to read the "flower's heart" as a woman's heart. She uses the imagery of the falling blossoms but assures the man that she is only scattering towards him.

542

「そのほどに帰こん」とて、ものにまかりける人の、ほどをぐしてざりければ、つかはしける

Someone who said "I will be back on such-and-such a date" went somewhere on business, and after some time had passed he did not return, so she sent this.

こむといひし 月日をすぐす ばすての 山のはつらき 物にぞ有ける

ko-mu to ihi-si                       You said you would come
tukihi wo sugusu                      The moons and suns pass over
obasute no                            Obasute Mountain
yama no ha turaki                     And the mountain ridge suffers
mono ni zo ari-keru                   As I suffer in passing days.
obasute no yama
The "old woman discarding mountain" is a place in Shinano. The origin of the name is unclear, but is connected with a number of legends.

--

The use of the mountain in the poem may suggest that the poet is either an older woman, or is at least portraying herself in that way. The poet is suffering because of the many passing months and days. GSS 966 has similar imagery.

The reason why the mountain is suffering because of the passing moon and sun is not entirely clear, but this may be based on KKS 878:

わが心なぐさめかねつ更科やをばすて山にてる月を見て
I cannot calm my heart, looking at the moon shining on Obasute Mountain in Sarashina.

KKS 877 says that the mountain ridge, like the poet himself, is suffering waiting for the moon's appearance -- this may also be connected.

543

返し

Response

月日をも かぞへけるかな 君こふる かずをもしらぬ わが身はなになり

tukihi wo mo                        You are able to
kazohe-keru kana                    Count the passing months and days?
kimi kohuru                         What am I, then,
kazu wo mo sira-nu                  Who cannot possibly count
waga mi ha nani nari                The longing I have for you?
nani nari
Some manuscripts, and medieval printed editions, read nari keri instead, making the second half of the poem "I am one who..." rather than a question.

--

The man's response contrasts the limit of the days and months they'll be apart with the boundless longing the man has for the woman. Kifune sees 542-543 an extension of 540-541.

544

女に年をて心ざしあるよしをのたうびわたりけり。女、「猶今年ことしをだにちくらせ」とたのめけるを、その年もくれて、あくる春までいとつれなく侍ければ

A man had loved a woman and over the years told her many times of his feelings. She said "In any case wait just until next year," raising his hopes, but the year ended, and the next spring she was very cold to him, so he sent this.

このめはる はる/\の山田を 打返し 思やみにし 人ぞこひしき

konome haru                  Pulling forth the buds
haru no yamada wo            The mountain field in the spring
uti-kahesi                   Plowing again, again
omohi-yami-ni-si             One I stopped longing for
hito zo kohisiki             I now long for yet again.
konome haru
This is a pivot construction meaning "buds growing" and "spring mountain field," and thus konome haru is a pillow word for "spring."
uti-kahesi
The first two lines are a preface for the third line, which suggests plowing the field but also means "again and again."

--

Teika notes in the base text that this poem is found in the Spring 2 volume. It does not occur there in his text, but a number of non-Teika texts contain the poem. Teika may have copied this note from another text without checking it.

Nakayama thought the 4th line did not fit the preface, since there's nothing in the preface to suggest he stopped thinking about her. Kifune treats this as a traditional farmer song that had a preface attached to it later. For the poem to make sense, we need to imagine that the man has told the woman his feelings many times, been rejected, and given up. But finally she told him to wait until the spring, and he pinned his hopes on that, only to have them dashed again. So the poem uses the spring imagery to lead into his lament over being spurned again.

The poem appears again in the Shuishu, poem 812, with no preface. The first line is adusayumi (catalpa bow), a different pillow word for "spring." The second line reads arata (rough, unplowed field) instead of yamada. The poem in the Kokin waka rokujo also reads arata but the first line is the same as the GSS. These alternate transmissions may support the idea that it was a traditional song that later had a preface attached to it.

545

心ざし有ながらえはず侍ける女のもとにつかはしける

He sent this to a woman that he had feelings for but had never managed to meet.

贈大政大臣

Posthumous Chancellor [Fujiwara no Tokihira]

ころをへて あひ見ぬ時は 白玉の 涙も春は 色まさりけり

koro wo he-te                   In the time now passed
ahi-mi-nu toki ha               When I have not seen you     
siratama no                     The white-jewelled tears
namida mo haru ha               They too, now that spring has come
iro masari-keri                 Have grown deeper in color.
haru
Some manuscripts of the Ise Collection read aki (autumn) instead. See the next note.
iro masari-keri
The image is presumably of "tears of blood", a common image in love poetry. Most of the non-Teika texts, and the Ise Collection, read iro kahari-keri (have changed color) instead. Kifune also emends the text. With the "autumn" reading (see above) this makes the poem about autumn leaves. Otherwise it seems to mean that in spring the color of the white tears changes into the red blood. However, the masari-keri reading recalls spring poems like KKS 24 that use the term to refer to the green plants deepening in shade. Nakayama has an interesting sidenote here where he condemns the idea of assuming a copying mistake too quickly in cases like this, rather than analyzing the poem as read. This is in opposition to nativist scholars like Norinaga and Fujii Takanao, who freely emended texts whenever they saw error based on their understanding of grammar.

--

This is a spring love poem, although one with unusual imagery. Usually the "tears of blood" are used alongside autumn leaves, which may account for some of the textual issues in the poem. The anonymous KKS 599 has a similar idea, though unconnected to any particular season:

白玉と見えし涙も年ふれば唐紅にうつろひにけり
The tears I saw as white jewels, as the years have passed, have now changed to scarlet red.

Nakayama's reading of the poem is that everything is changed and renewed in spring, and his tears are changed as well -- into tears of blood.

546

返し

Response

伊勢

Ise

人こふる 涙は春ぞ ぬるみける たえぬおもひの わかすなるべし

In spring, the tears (2) / of longing for you (1) / seem to have warmed. / By the endless love's flame / they must have been boiled.

おもひ
This carries the usual pun on 火.

--

Ise's response is supportive, saying that she longs for Tokihira as well. The spring image seems to be that of frozen tears during the winter now being thawed by spring, or rather, by the heat of her desire. Another possible image is the water that is released in streams when the ice melts, a common early spring image. Nakayama felt the two poems fit together well, while Kudo did not -- he noted that in the Ise Collection, this poem is not a response to 545.

This is one of a number of exchanges found in the GSS between Tokihira and Ise -- 7 total according to Kifune, although Kifune thinks that many of them may be posthumous poem-tale like constructions, or combinations of originally unrelated poems.

547

をとこの、こかしこにかよひ、すむ所おほくて、つねにしもはざりければ、女もまた色ごのみなる名たちけるを、うらみ侍ける返事に

A man was going here and there, spending his time at many places, and he never visited; the woman too got a reputation for romantic affairs, and she wrote this response to his anger

源たのむがむすめ

Minamoto no Tanomu's Daughter

つらしとも いかが怨む 郭公(ほととぎす) わがやどちかく なく声はせで

Even if you suffer / why are you so angry? / The cuckoo / near my garden / does not cry.

--

This poem uses the cuckoo as a symbol for the man who does not visit. If he isn't going to come around, then why should he care whether she's spending her time with other men?

The imagery is based on KKS 147:

郭公ながなくさとのあまたあれば猶うとまれぬ思ふものから
Cuckoo, there are many villages that you cry at, and so I am upset, and yet...

548

返し

Response

あつよしのみこ

Prince Atsuyoshi

里ごとに 鳴こそ渡れ 郭公(ほととぎす) すみか定ぬ 君たづぬとて

In each village / it cries here and there / the cuckoo / searching for you (5) / who has no fixed abode (4).

--

Atsuyoshi's response builds on the same KKS poem as the previous one. He turns back the complaint on her, saying that he has to go around to so many places looking for her. This could literally mean that she goes out with men in carriages or to their residences, but given the customs of the Heian period, it may be that the idea of the woman visiting men is just a poetic conceit from the cuckoo image.

549

がたかるべき女を思かけてつかはしける

He had feelings for a woman who would be difficult to obtain, and sent this.

春道のつらき

Harumichi no Tsuraki

かずならぬ み山がくれの 郭公 人しれぬねを なきつぞふる

My self, who does not count / the cuckoo (3) / hidden in the mountains (2) / spends its time crying (5) / a sound no one knows (4).

得がたかるべき女
From the first line of the poem, this is presumably someone who is too high ranking for the poet.
かずならぬみ
The み here is 身, but is a pivot word for み山 (an honorific).

--

The poet casts himself as a cuckoo, making a lonely cry in the deep mountains where no one can here -- in the same way, he cries thinking about his lover who doesn't notice him. The cuckoo imagery connects to the previous poem.

550

いとしのびたる女にひかたらひてのち、人につつみて、又あひがたく侍ければ

After seeing a woman that he was seeing very secretly, they became wary of people's eyes, and it became hard for them to meet.

これたのみこ (是忠光孝第一 一品式部卿延喜廿年出家)

Prince Koretada ([written as] 是忠, the first son of Emperor Koko. First Rank, His Highness of Ceremonial. Took holy orders in Engi 20 [920].)

事の かた糸ぞとは しりながら 玉のをばかり 何によりけん

Our meeting / is difficult like a thread / I knew, and yet / merely a jewelled string / what can it twist around?

かた糸
This is a pivot on かたし (difficult to meet) and かた糸, a piece of thread not yet twined.
玉のを
This is a symbol of something short, but also an engo with かた糸.
何によりけん
"What was it for?" and also "What does it twist around?" Another engo.

--

This poem uses thread wordplay, with the underlying meaning that he should never have started meeting -- of what value was their short time together? It just makes him hurt more than he did before they met.

551

女のもとより忘草にふみをつけてこせて侍ければ

He received a letter from a woman with a day lily attached

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

とは いふ物からに ともすれば わする草の 花にやはあらぬ

"I think of you" / or so you say / but perhaps / is this not a flower (5) / that makes you forget? (4)

忘れ草
In Chinese tradition this plant was supposed to make you forget your sorrows; in Japanese poetry it is almost always associated with love sorrows. Focusing on the flower is unusual.
思ふとは
Presumably in the letter to him.

--

This exchange drops us in the middle of a situation -- the reader is invited to wonder why she sent this flower, although some hints are given in the following response. The opening line hints at what was in the letter. The sentiment of the poem is a typical one for love poetry: you say you love me but actually you've found someone else.

552

返し

Response

たいふのごといふ人

A person called "Taifu no go"

て見る 我はわすれで あだびとに まづわすらるる 花にぞ有ける

I was not forgotten (2) / who planted and looked (1) / This is a flower (5) / that made me be forgotten (4) / by the faithless person (3).

たいふのご
The ご, or 御, is an honorific appellation for a gentlewoman. It's unclear whether this is the same 大輔 that wrote other GSS poems. Given the unusual attribution it's perhaps more accurate to take this as a poem-tale with invented characters.

--

The response perhaps hints more at what might have been in her original letter. The thrust of the poem is that she tried to plant the flowers to forget her love woes, but all it did was make the man forget her instead.

553

平定文がもとより難波なにはの方へなむまかるといひおくりて侍ければ

She got a message from Taira no Sadafun saying that he was going to Naniwa.

土佐

Tosa

浦わかず 見るめかるてふ あまの身は 何かなにはの 方へしもゆく

In every bay (without discrimination) / said to harvest seaweed / the saltworker / For what reason / do they go specially to Naniwa?

浦わかず
Some variant texts read 浦ちかみ ("because the bay is close") instead; in this case the "bay" would be Tosa herself.
見るめ
The usual pun on "seaweed" and "meetings".

--

The metaphoric meaning of this poem is: "You have women all over the place, why do you need to go specifically to Naniwa?" The suggestion is that she's abandoning her to visit a lover at Naniwa.

554

返し

Response

定文

Sadafun

君を思 ふかさくらべに つのくにの ほり江見にゆく 我にやはあらぬ

To compare the depths (2) / of my love for you (1) / To see Horie (4) / in Tsu Province (3) / am I not going?

--

Sadafun's response, which Kifune labels as a rather lame excuse, says that he's visiting the deep Hori Bay to compare the depths of his love for her. SIS 883 has similar imagery:

津の国の堀江の深く思ふとも我は難波のなにとだに見ず
My love for you is like the depths of Horie in Naniwa, but you seem not to think of me at all.

555

つらくなりにける人につかはしける

Sent to a person who had become cold to her.

伊勢

Ise

いかでかく 心ひとつを ふたしへに うくもつらくも なして見すらん

How can it be / that my single heart / split in two / showing both (5) / regret for my condition and hatred of you (4).

  • いかで] いかに (中・堀・承・正義), いかが (荒)
  • 見すらん] みるらん (中・承)
心ひとつを
This is the woman's heart (新体系, 新注, 全釈).
ふたしへに
二重. Both うく and つらく (季吟). You were warm to me but now are cold, うく and つらく are the same (真淵). This is wrong, the two parts are the man's 浮気 and her being upset. ふたしへ here means "various" (新抄).
うく
Related to 浮気 but also 憂し (新抄).

--

The main idea of this poem is the opposition of ひとつ and ふたしへ. But Masaakira says one flaw of the poem is that うく and つらく are not opposites. This poem is somewhat difficult to understand (新抄). This is the lament of a solitary, hopeless woman. The poem is not simply wordplay, but this kind of "logical" connection of words is how they expressed sorrow at the time. Perhaps this was written when her relationship with Nakahira was breaking down (全釈).

As the note above indicates, there is some question as to whose "heart" is being discussed. The translation above takes the modern opinion of Kudo and Katagiri. Kifune does take the "heart" as Ise's, but he interprets the next part as the man, making a contrast between Ise's single heart and the man making her feel sorry for herself and resentment for him.

Other sources:

  • 伊勢集209
  • 古今和歌六帖2118・うらみ (2nd and 4th lines are switched).

556

題しらず

Circumstance unknown

よみ人も

Also the poet

  • よみ人も] よみ人しらず (行)

ともすれば 玉にくらべし ますかみ ひとのたからと 見るぞ悲

At times / I compared to a jewel / the mirror, / it is sad to see it (5) / as someone else's treasure. (4)

--

This poem appears to be written by a man who is not pleased to see a woman he treasured become someone else's lover. However, commentaries from the 奥儀抄 to Nakayama's 新釈 have questioned the purpose of the "mirror" imagery and assumed that there mus be some context for it. Kudo compares SIS 915, where a woman returns a (gifted) mirror to a man after he has taken up with another woman. GSS 805 also mentions returning a mirror to a lover. That context would also make sense for this poem.

Other sources:

  • 奥儀抄 和歌色葉

557

しのびたる人につかはしける

Sent to someone they was secretly seeing

いはせ山 谷のした水 うちしのび 人の見ぬまは 流てぞふる

Iwase Mountain / the water flowing under in the valley / is hidden / while no one can see it / it continues to flow.

  • いはせ山] いはせ河 (行)
  • 人の見ぬまは] 人の見ぬまに (雲)
いはせ山
A mountain in Yamato province. There may be a play on 言はで or 言はず.
した水
This is water flowing where it can't be seen, like underneath overgrowth or rocks.
流れて
This plays on 泣かれて.

--

The hidden meaning of this poem is that the flowing tears of the poet are done in private, because of their hidden love affair. Nakayama praised the poem as having deep pathos. Kifune also praised it highly, noting the evocative scenery, the skilled used of wordplay and 縁語, and the directness and honesty of the feeling. It was used as a 本歌 by a number of later poets.

Other sources:

  • 古今和歌六帖1460. Fourth line 人も見ぬまに.
  • 伊勢集150, with GSS 1217 as the response. Also appears as poem 410 with variants: 4th line 人のこぬまは, 5th line 流れてぞゆく.
  • 五代歌枕 歌枕名寄

558

人をひしりてのち、ひさしう消息せうそこもつかはざりければ

After meeting a person, they did not send letters for a long while.

うれしげに 君がたのめし 事のは かたみにくめる 水にぞ有ける

Showing joy / the words (3) / that you promised me (2) / are nothing more than water (5) / in a woven basket (4).

  • くめる] くみし(白)

--

This would seem to be a poem by a woman to a man who has stopped sending letters. Although かたみ is used in some poetry for wordplay, here it seems to be the literal meaning -- all his promises have disappeared, like trying to put water in a basket.

559

題しらず

Circumstance unknown

ゆきやらぬ 夢地にまどふ たもとには あまつそらなき つゆぞきける

Not able to reach you / lost in the dream road / on my sleeves / lays the dew (5) / not of the broad sky (4).

  • まどふ] まよふ (慶・新イ), かよふ (荒・片$)
  • そらなき] そらなる (堀・慶・白・雲・荒・片$・新イ)
  • つゆぞをきける] つゆやおくらん (慶・ハイ・新イ)
夢地
This is Teika's common spelling for 夢路, the "road of dreams" that proverbially could lead a dreamer to meet their lover.
つゆ
i.e. tears.

--

Dew was thought to descend from the sky, so the tears that the dreamer awakes with are not the sky dew. The variant reading of なる means "lays the dew of the broad sky" -- this would still refer to the tears; either they come from the sky of the dream, or the poet is strengthening the comparison of the tears to the dew.

The poem in Ise monogatari section 54 is very close to this one (particularly close to the variant text readings). It is read by a man to a woman who has become cold:

行きやらぬ夢地をたのむたもとにはあまつそらなるつゆやをくらん
Not able to reach you on the dream road I relied on, on my sleeves lays the dew of the broad sky.

KKS 574 by Tsurayuki is also similar:

夢路にも露やをくらん夜もすがら通へる袖のひちてかはかぬ
Dew seems to fall even on the dream road. All through the night I travel it, and my sleeves are sodden, unable to dry.

560

はやく ならの宮こと 成にしを こひしきことの まだもふりぬか

My body has already / the Nara Capital / become, but / my longing / has not yet grown old.

  • ならの宮こと] ならのみやこに (堀$・荒・片$)
  • ふりぬか] やまぬか (荒・片$), ふりぬる (堀$・雲・承・ハ$・正)
ならの宮こ
Often used in poetry with 古る (grow old). It was the image of a deserted, forgotten capital, here used as a symbol for the forgotten poet.
まだもふりぬか
まだ could also be また (again), and with the variant reading of ぬる this could mean "My longing has grown yet again", perhaps at the new year (this is Kigin's reading).

--

The meaning of the poem is fairly clear; why the woman calls on the Nara Capital is not clear, and it may be no more than a poetic metaphor with no connection to the situation.

Other sources:

  • 拾遺和歌集861. 2nd line ならの宮こに, last line ふりせざるらん.
  • 五代歌枕 歌枕名寄

561

住吉の 岸の白浪 よるよる/\は あまのよそめに 見るぞ悲

At Sumiyoshi / shore the white waves / approach, night after night / it is sad that the fisher is looking askance. (4/5)

  • よるよるは] おりおりは (荒・片・堀*・雲・白・慶・新イ)
  • 悲しき] わびしき (荒・片・堀イ・雲・白・慶・新イ)
住吉
This probably plays on 住みよし (living comfortably together).
よる
The first two lines are a preface for よるよる (every night), because of 寄る (approaching waves).
あまのよそめに
Kifune interprets this as the poet, looking at the man visiting other women as if unrelated (よそめ) to her. Nakayama reads this as the poet unable to show her love for a man (perhaps because, as Katagiri thinks, they work in the same place but have to hide their love).

--

As the comments above indicate, there are various interpretations for the actual words, although everyone seems to agree on the general situation -- probably a woman in palace service who is seeing one of the higher ranking men. He cannot afford to show his love for her in public, so they both have to pretend that they have no relation.

Other sources:

  • 五代歌枕 歌枕名寄

562

君こふと ぬれにし袖の かはかぬは 思ひの(ほか)に あればなりけり

Due to longing for you / my sodden sleeves / do not dry because / the flame of your thoughts / is elsewhere, I see.

思ひ
This has the usual play on 火 (fire).

--

This is a direct poem with a clear meaning. Poem 974 has a similar idea.

563

あはざりし 時いかなりし 物とてか たいまのまも 見ねばこひしき

When we had not met / how was that time? (2/3) / but the moment now / I long for you because I can't see you.

--

The second and third lines here are somewhat ambiguous, but the most reasonable interpretation (using the two past tense markers) is "I can't even remember how bad it was before we met, because it's so much worse now." This is perhaps a "next morning" (後朝) poem from a man to a woman.

564

世中に しのぶるこひの わびしきは あひてのちの あはぬなりけり

What is hard (3) / about hiding our love (2) / from the world (1) / is that after we have met / we cannot meet.

世中にしのぶる
Because 世中 can mean a relationship, or the wider world, this has multiple interpretations -- either "having to hide our love from the world" or "longing for you", or perhaps both meanings.

--

This is the same idea as the previous poem and may also be a "next morning" poem. The first two lines are somewhat ambiguous but the idea seems to be that not only do they need to hide their love, but they have to be so careful that they can't even meet.

565

恋をのみ 常にするがの 山なれば ふじのねにのみ なかぬ日はなし

Only longing / I always do, Suruga / Mountain, therefore / Mount Fuji, only tears / do I cry every day.

  • ふじのねに] ふじのねを (雲・慶・新イ)
するがのやま
This creates a play on 常にする and 駿河の山, in modern day Shizuoka.
ふじのねにのみ
This plays on 富士の嶺 (peak) and 音を泣く.

--

This poem has an interesting construction, with two XのみY phrases sandwiching a string of place names used for wordplays. It is perhaps based on the anonymous KKS 534:

人しれぬ思ひをつねにするがなる富士の山こそわが身なりけれ
I always have a longing others do not know, but Mount Fuji in suruga is my body.

This poem more explicitly uses the 火 of 思ひ to connect to the volcanic Mount Fuji, whereas the GSS poem breaks after the third line more clearly.

Other sources:

  • 五代歌枕 歌枕名寄

566

君により わが身ぞつらき 玉だれの 見ずは恋しと おもはましやは

Due to you / my self is suffering / (Jewel hanging / screen) If I had not seen you / would I long for you so much?

玉だれの見ず
玉だれの seems to be used here as a pillow word for 見ず due to the homophonous 御簾, although there is some question as to the propriety of this. In the MYS it is used for 小簾 because of the homophonous 玉だれの緒. At some point this seems to have become confused with 御簾おす and then 御簾みす.

--

This is somewhat similar to poem 563 above, although this poem has a stronger note of blame. KKS 679 by Tsurayuki has the same final lines:

磯の神ふるの中道なかなかに見ずは恋しと思はましやは
(The middle road in Furu, Iso no Kami) if I had not seen you so halfheartedly, would I long for you so much?

Kifune suggests reading all the anonymous poems from 560-567 as a single poem tale.

Other sources:

  • 古今注(古今秘注承874)
  • 素性集(歌仙家集本)

567

(65v) をとこはじめて女のもとにまかりて、あしたに雨のるにかへりてつかはしける

A man visited a woman for the first time, and then the next morning he returned through falling rain and sent this.

今ぞしる あかぬ別の 暁は 君をこひぢに ぬる物とは

Now I know. / The dawn (3) / of an unfulfilled parting (2) / the road is drenched with (5) / mud, longing for you (4).

  • 暁は] 暁に(胡)
  • 物とは] 物かは(標イ)
君をこひぢ
This is a pivot for 君をこひ (longing/loving you) and ひぢ (mud/dirt), as an associated word with the rain.

--

This is a typical "next morning" poem, where the man bemoans the fact that he has to part from the woman, and returns home in tears. Here the falling rain is used as a symbol for the tears, with the mud on the road an image of how difficult it is for him to return.

Mitsune-shu 28 is similar:

さみだれにみだれそめにしわれなればひとをこひぢにぬれぬべらなり

Teika used this poem as a base for Shui guso 377:

今ぞしるあかぬ別の涙川身をなげはつる恋の淵とも
Now I know. The river of tears of an unfulfilled parting is a deep pool of longing into which I throw my body.

Other sources:

  • 深養父集52

568

返し

Response

よそにふる 雨とこそきけ おぼつかな 何をか人の こひ地といふらん

I hear the rain (2) / fall elsewhere. (1) / I don't understand. / Why do you talk of the road of longing for someone? (4/5)

--

The woman's response is typical for these exchanges; she suggests that his crying is for someone else. She may also be suggesting that his "road of longing" is actually leading him to another woman.

569

つらかりけるをとこ

To a man who had grown cold

たへはつる 物とはみつ さがにの いとをたのめる 心ぼそさよ

It has broken / I see, and yet / the loneliness (5) / of the spider's (3) / thread I rely on! (4) /

  • 心ぼそさよ] 心ぼそさに(堀$・聞)
ささがに
This word began as a pillow word for "spider", but came to mean the spider itself. There seems to have been a belief that seeing a spider's thread on your clothing would foretell a visit by your lover.

--

The (woman) poet uses the image of a slender spider's thread to symbolize her vain hope that their relationship, already broken off, will continue. At the same time she realizes the pathetic scene she makes, relying on such a thin hope.

570

返し

Response

うちわたし 長き心は やつはしの くもでに思 事はたえせじ

Forever \ my long heart \ (like) the Yatsuhashi \ spider-leg, what I think \ will never end.

  • たえせじ] たえせず(荒)
うちわたし
This means both "forever" and suggests a bridge crossing over water.
やつはしのくもで
This is probably the Yatsuhashi in modern-day Aichi ken that is most famous from Tales of Ise 9. くもで is also used in Ise 9 but the exact meaning is uncertain; it either refers to the river branching out in 8 directions like a spider's leg, or has something to do with the way the beams are laid on the bridge. The Ogisho gives both options, and Kensho gives a longer treatment in the Shuchusho. In any case, the primary purpose of くもで is to connect to the previous poem's imagery.
思ふ
This would seem to refer to the thoughts towards the woman.

--

The man's response takes the spider imagery in the first poem and recasts it to express the certainty and length of his love rather than her unease.

  • 奥儀抄 袖中抄 和歌色葉 色葉和歌難集 五代歌枕 歌枕名寄 歌林良材 和歌初学抄 伊勢物注(9段)

571

思ふ人侍ける女に、物のたうびけれど、つれなかりければ、つかはしける

He had contact with a woman who was thinking about someone, but then she was cold to him, so he sent this

思ふ人 おもはぬ人の 思ふ人 おもはざらなん 思ひしるべく

The one who thinks of you \ who you do not think of \ the person that you think of \ I wish you did not think of \ I would have you know.

  • 思ひしるべく] 我がなげきとに(雲・堀(おもいづるべくイ))
思ふ人侍りける女
That is, a woman who was in love with another man.

--

This is a haikai-style poem whose poetic effect comes primarily from the repetition of 思ふ; this also makes the poem difficult to interpret, and the prose preface may also be intentionally playful as well. The translation I gave is based on Katagiri's reading and seems to be echoed by some other commentaries, although even some of the commentaries' translations and interpretations get tangled up.

572

返し

Response

こがらしの もりのした草 風はやみ 人のなげ木は おひそひにけり

On the underbrush (2) / of the withered forest (1) / the wind blows swiftly, and so / the person's regret / grows in addition, I see.

  • おひそひ] おもひし(雲)、おひしげり(堀)、おひこり(荒・片$・慶・新イ)
こがらしのもり
This may be a place name in Suruga, but it could also just be a common noun of a withered, dying forest.
なげ木
This plays on 嘆き (lament).
おひ
This plays on 負ひ (bearing the laments) and 生ふ (trees growing).

--

This poem uses forest imagery to suggest that the man is seeing another woman. The "swift wind" seems to be a metaphor for a changeable heart. Kudo and Katagiri both comment that this poem does not really seem like a response to the previous one. Katagiri's reading is that another man has already left her, and so the "addition" in the last line is this man leaving her too. The "addition" does not necessarily need to have such an explicit reference, however.

573

をとこの、こと女むかふるを見て、おやの家にまかりかへるとて

She saw a man go to another woman's house, and as she was preparing to return to her parents' house

をば 悲き物と 聞しかど うしろやすくも おもほゆるかな

Partings \ are sad things \ or so I hear, but \ quite calmly \ do I think of this.

  • うしろやすく] うらみやすく(堀(こころやすくイ))

--

The prose preface context is a bit unclear, but it seems that this woman was living with a man who is now separating from her and going to live with another woman. As she returns to her parents' house she writes this poem. Exactly why she is calm is also up for debate. One reading is that she genuinely cares for the man and is happy to see that he will be cared for by this other woman. Another possibility is a bitter statement that she no longer cares for the man enough to even feel resentment or anger.

574

題しらず

Circumstance unknown

なきたむる たもとこほれる けさ見れば 心とけても 君をおもはず

Collecting tears \ the sleeve has frozen \ when I see that this morning \ the heart has not opened \ I do not think of you.

  • 見れば] なれば(堀イ・荒・片・新イ)

--

The meaning of the poem is somewhat difficult to untangle. There's an obvious poetic contrast between the こほれる of the tears and the とく of the heart, but the situation and who each part applies to is a matter of debate. Kifune interprets this as a "next morning" poem where the man sees the woman's frozen tears on her sleeve and assumes she hasn't opened her heart to him. Other commentators generally take the sleeve as the (woman) poet's own. This leads to two possible interpretations: "I thought I loved you but seeing all these frozen tears I'm not sure I do", or "Seeing these frozen tears I think you didn't open your heart to me." This also may not be a "next morning" poem but a poem written to an absent lover.

575

身をわけて あらまほしくぞ おもほゆる 人はくるしと いひけるものを

Splitting my body / I wish I could be that way / it makes me think, / because you said it was hard. (4/5)

ものを
Different commentators interpret this as "therefore" or "even though" depending on their overall reading of the poem.
  • あらまほしくぞ] あらまほしくて(堀)
  • おもほゆる] おもひつる(堀)

--

As the translation above may suggest, this is a vague poem that is hard to interpret without a prose context. Commentators have taken rather different views on the meaning. Early commentators such as Kigin and Tameie seem to take this to mean that the poet loves two people, and wants to split her(?) body in two to meet both of them. In this case the くるし refers to the feeling of the poet. Nakayama quotes this but then introduces another idea; this is a "next morning" poem. Because the woman has said the parting is くるし, he wants to split his body in two and stay with her. This is also the position taken by Kifune, but Katagari reads this as "You said you could not come, so I wish I could split my body and go visit you instead."

There may be a connection to KKS 373, where the poet says that since she cannot split her body, her soul will go after the traveling man instead.

576

雲井にて 人をこひしと 思ふかな 我は葦べの たづならなくに

In the clouds / Longing for you / do I feel. / Though I am not a crane (5) / in the reeds (4).

雲井にて
Kifune and Katagiri both note that "in the clouds" does not fit with the 葦べのたづ later. Kifune emends the text to 雲井なる, and Katagiri translates based on 雲井まで, a reading apparently in alternate texts.
  • 雲井にて] 雲井なる(全釈)
  • たづ] かり(堀*・雲)
  • No poem (荒・片)- this poem may be placed elsewhere in the manuscript, since Katagiri mentions a 雲井まで reading for the first line.

--

Many commentators read the 雲井 as a reference to the high rank of the person. Kifune explains that this is a man who loves a high ranking woman, and this idea is suggested by Nakayama and Kigin (as well as perhaps the Seigi). As the note above indicates, there is a difficulty in matching "in the clouds" with the crane in the reeds. One way to preserve the original text is to read that the poet is in the reeds, just not a bird who can fly out of the reeds to meet his love in the clouds.

Kifune reads 574-576 as a sequence of poems all read by a man.

577

ひとにつかはしける

Sent to a person.

源ひとしの朝臣

Lord Minamoto no Hitoshi

  • Teika's note: 等 中納言希男 参議右大弁 天暦五年葬

あさ地ふの をのしの原 忍れど あまりてなどか 人のこひしき

[The sparse cogon grass / field of shino bamboo] / I try to hide it / but it overflows, why / do I love you this much?

あさ地ふのをののしの原
あさ地ふ is Teika's spelling of 浅茅生, a place where 浅茅 (かや, cogon grass) grows. Keichu claimed it was simply a pillow word for the next line. をののしの原 (小野の篠原) might be a place name, but most commentators take it as just a general noun for a field with 篠 (a type of bamboo). The first two lines are a preface for the homophonous 忍ぶ. However, the Kansho suggests that the first two lines may also express a desolate, sad atmosphere that fits with the poet's feeling.

--

As can be seen from the other sources below, this poem was a favorite of Teika's and was used in the Hyakunin isshu. Although the GSS preface has the poem sent to a woman, it is also along the lines of the type of public love poem that was favored in the KKS era. It seems to be based on KKS 505:

浅茅生の小野の篠原しのぶとも人しるらめや言ふ人なしに
[The spare cogon grass field of shino bamboo] I hide my love, but is there any way she will know if no one tells her? (no)

Comparing the GSS poem with the KKS, Hitoshi's poem is more targeted and less abstract, thus more fitting for a personally addressed poem.

In his Hyakunin isshu commentary, 経厚 said that the way the feeling was stretched across three lines created surplus-feeling and interesting. Sogi noted the extreme feeling of the poem and recommended savoring the poem deeply. Hisamatsu Sen'ichi also greatly praised the poem, and the Kansho feels that it improves on the KKS original poem. Finally, Kifune praised the repetition of the "o" syllables as well as the transition between the "hiding" first part and the "overflowing" second part.

Other sources:

  • 時代不同歌合
  • 百人秀歌 百人一首39 近代秀歌 詠歌大概 六華集 定家八代抄 八代秀歌
  • 井蛙抄 五代歌枕 歌枕名寄

578

かねもり

Kanemori

  • かねもり] 兼覧王(堀・雲・承イ・ハイ・新イ・全釈)- see poem 3 for questions about the authorship. Kifune also emends the text here despite the poem appearing in the Kanemori Collection (and unlike poem 3, this does not have the problematic 王 designation).

雨やまぬ のきの玉水 かずしらず 恋しき事の まさるころかな

The rain does not stop / the drops from the eaves / I cannot count / this is the time when my love for you exceeds it (4/5)

  • ころ] こころ(白)
雨やまぬのきの玉水
This is a preface for かずしらず, but Kigin thinks it also expresses the loneliness of gazing out during the long rains, a common poetic trope, although more common in women's poetry. Kifune sees the やまぬ as also applying to the fourth line.

--

Kifune seems to agree with Kigin above, that this is written by a poet gazing out at the water. Nakayama placed the season as the 5th month rains, while Kifune felt it was more appropriate to the autumn showers. Kifune praised the poem as excellently composed. Kanemori Collection 29 has a similar idea:

君をおもふかずにしとらばをやみなくふりそふ雨のあらばものかは
If I were to count the love I have for you, would the never-ceasing rain be enough?

Other sources:

  • 新時代不同歌合31
  • 源氏物語注・真木柱
  • 兼盛集104. 2nd line のきの下水
  • 袋草子

579

心みじかきやうにきこゆる人なりといひければ

"I have heard you are a short-hearted person," they said.

心みじかき
"Short-hearted" can mean either that someone is flighty or inconstant, or perhaps that they are quick to judge.

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

伊勢の海に はへてもあまる たくなはの 長き心は 我ぞまされる

Across the Ise sea / even if you draw it out you have some left / a rope / my long heart / exceeds even that.

伊勢の海
A bay, east of Kyoto near modern Nagoya. It was proverbial for its size.
たくなは
A hand-held rope; here used to lead to 長き.

--

The prose preface is somewhat hard to understand. Norinaga noted the initial problem -- does the きこゆる represent the speaker's evaluation of the poet, or something they have heard others say? Nakayama felt this was a woman's poem after the man accused her of being flighty. Kifune agrees. Katagiri interprets the preface as "You seem to want an immediate answer from me about my feelings."

In contrast to the preface, the poem is fairly straightforward. Whatever 心みじかき means in the preface, the poet inverts it to say that their heart is actually longer than the ropes drawn across the large Ise ocean. With Katagiri's interpretation this means "I will wait forever for an answer," with the other interpretation it's "I am not flighty."

The poem may drawn on KKS 196 by Tadafusa:

きりぎりすいたくな鳴きそ秋の夜のかがきおもひは我ぞまされる
Crickets, don't cry so much! My suffering is even longer than the autumn night.

The anonymous KKS 510 uses some of the same imagery:

いせの海の海人の釣り縄うちはへて苦しとのみや思ひわたらむ
Like the fisher on the Ise sea throws out the long fishing net, so do my suffering thoughts go out to her.

580

人につかはしける

Sent to a person.

  • 人につかはしける] しのびてかよひはべりける人のもとに ただみね (白). This appears at the end of the fragment containing poem 579, and it's possible this is meant to refer to another poem that came between 579 and 580.

色にいで 恋すてふ名ぞ たちぬべき 涙にそむる 袖のこければ

In the open it has appeared / such is my love -- that's the reputation / that must result. / Because stained with tears / my sleeves are deeply colored.

  • そむる] そめる(堀), ぬるる(片)
色にいでて
This expression means to show one's feelings, but the 色 also plays on the idea of "tears of blood" in the second half of the poem.

--

This is a straightforward poem on the "tears of blood" motif; such poems are more commonly composed by men and sent to women.

581

  • In 慶, 575 follows this poem.
  • 白 has the prose preface こころざしふかき人にあはずして

かくこふる 物としりせば よるはをきて あくればきゆる つゆならましを

If I had known it would involve this much longing (1-2) / settling at night and / disappearing in the dawn / I would have been as that dew.

  • かくこふる] かくてふる(荒・片)、かくてひむ(白)
  • よるは] よはに(中・荒・片・雲・慶・ハイ)
  • つゆ] もの(雲*)
よるはをきて
This is a play on the dew settling (置く) and the person waking (起く).

--

The third and fourth lines create a common love simile where the poet compares dying to longing for love. This could be applied to the longing after a successful meeting, or longing for someone they haven't met -- in any case the poet thinks it would be better to die than continue like this. The poet could be any gender.

As the sources below indicate, this is a variation of MYS 12.3038, which appears in a group of anonymous poems under the heading 寄物陳思. This refers to poems that express human feelings through similes with the natural world.

Other sources:

  • 万葉集 12.3038 (如此将戀 物等知者 夕置而 旦者消流 露有申尾)
  • 色葉和難集

582

あひも見ず 嘆もそめず 有し時 思事こそ 身になかりしか

At the time (3) / I had not met or seen you (1) / and had not started lamenting / in my body (5) / I had nothing to think about (4).

  • 思] およぶ(堀)

--

This is a straightforward poem similar to the previous one, contrasting the time before the poet met their lover with afterwards. The intent of the second half is probably that the laments they had for not being able to meet their lover were "nothing" compared to the laments now that they have met. Those laments may be over not being able to see them regularly, or that the lover's heart has changed.

583

こひこごと わりなき物は なかりけり かつむつれつ かつぞこひしき

There is nothing (3) / as useless (2) / as love (1). / On the one hand we grow closer / on the other hand I long for you.

  • わりなき] はかなき(荒・片・雲)
わりなき
This word here may suggest "useless" or "impossible to explain".
かつ...かつ
This expresses "On the one hand...on the other hand."

--

This poem succinctly expresses the conflict, similar to the previous poem, of being together with someone but also longing for them. The poet may be playing on the two meanings of 恋 -- longing for someone, and loving them.

KKS 685 by Fukayabu has a similar feel:

心をぞわりなき物と思ひぬる見るものからや恋しかるべき
I've come to believe that there is nothing as useless as love. Otherwise why would I long for you after seeing you?

Kifune thinks that the KKS poem seems more public and artificial, whereas the GSS poem sounds more personal.

Other sources:

  • 古今和歌六帖 1716・ふたりおり. 4th and 5th lines かつみる人のかつはこひしき

584

女のもとにつかはしける

Sent to a woman.

  • [no author] つらゆき(白)

わたつ海に 深き心の なかりせば 何かは君を 怨しもせん

A heart as deep (2) / as the wide sea -- (1) / if I did not have that / how could I not feel hate for you? (4-5)

  • わたつ海] わたつうみ(雲・承・慶・ハ・新*)
  • 怨] わすれ(荒・片・慶・新イ)
わたつ海に
It's difficult to tell how this is supposed to be read; perhaps わたつうみ with some of the variant texts, but わたつみ is possible as well (and would fit the meter better). The role of the に here is difficult to explain; most commenters seem to treat it as if it were わたつみの (following the reading in the Ise Collection). This is not a normal use of に, though, and if we want to preserve the base text, Katagiri may provide the only option: interpreting the に as showing a quality or possession (like modern Japanese 自分に価値がある).
怨み
There is a wordplay here on 浦見, to connect with the first line as engo.

--

We have to fill in the context ourselves here; the Ise Collection preface of つらくなりたる人に may help, but it would seem most appropriate if this were a response to another poem. The woman has accused the man of having a shallow heart, and he does the normal poetic practice of turning the criticism back on her -- if his heart were not so full of love for her, he wouldn't hate her inconstant nature.

The anonymous SIS 983 is similar:

わたつみの深き心はありながら怨みられぬる物にぞありける
I have a heart as deep as the wide sea, but it has also become a vessel for hate.

Other sources:

  • 伊勢集(大成II, III). II prose preface つらくなりたる人に. II first line わたつみの. III poem: わたつみの深き心のかはらずせは何かは人を怨みしもみん

585

  • (no prose preface)] 返し(堀)

みな神に いのるかひなく 涙河 うきても人を よそに見るかな

Praying to the water god has no effect (1-2) / on the river of tears / floating, the person / I only see from afar.

  • 人をよそに] よそに人を(荒・片・新イ)
みな神
This is a play on 水上 (surface of the water). Most commenters take the basic word to be 水神; only Katagiri reads as 皆神 instead.
かいなく
This may have a play on 貝, creating more water engo (in addition to 河 and 浮く)

--

As with the previous poem, the context is not entirely clear. Kudo interprets the exchange as occurring at a ritual lustration. Such an event offered rare opportunities for men and women to get close to each other, and would also account for the praying and water imagery. It also seems to have offered a chance for this kind of banter or playful exchange, which may not have always been taken as a serious attempt at a love affair. Katagiri suggests the Kamo Festival, with similar reasons. Kifune reads this as an exchange between a nobleman and a palace serving woman, but that context makes the imagery of the poem less clear.

Other source:

  • 五代歌枕(涙河)

586

返し

Response

  • 返し] ナシ(堀)

いのりける みな神さへぞ うらめしき けふより外に 影の見えねば

Even the gods (2) / that you pray to (1) / I am jealous of. / Outside of today / I do not see your presence.

みな神
See the previous poem.

--

See the previous commentary for ideas on the setting of the poem. The response uses 影 as engo with the water, and as usual turns the complaint of the initial poem writer back to them. If this is a yearly religious event, the "even" of the first half of the poem would suggest that even being able to meet the person once a year would be good.

587

大輔につかはしける

Sent to Taifu

右大臣

Minister of the Right

  • 右大臣] 左大臣(荒・片)、九条左大臣(堀・雲)、三条右大臣実方(片イ)

色深く 染した本の いとしく なみだにさへも こさまさるかな

Deeply colored / these dyed sleeves / even more / even these tears / cross over them.

なみだ
These are the "tears of blood", which are staining the sleeves even more than they already were.

--

The meaning of the first two lines are not explained in the preface. Kifune offers a guess for their meaning: this was written when Sanezane held the 4th rank; the robes of that rank are a deep scarlet color. So because of his sorrows, the color of the bloody tears exceeds the color that his robes already have.

Ise-shu 259:

こさまさるなみだのいろもかひぞなきみすべき人のこのよならねば
The color of my overflowing tears is of no use, because the person I should see does not visit.

Other sources:

  • 九条左大臣集91
  • 万葉集時代難事

588

題しらず

Circumstance Unknown

  • ナシ(堀)

よみ人も

Also the poet

  • よみ人しらず(行)

見る時は 事ぞともなく 見ぬ時は こと有がほに 恋しきやなそ

When we see each other / I don't think anything of it, / when we do not see each other / as if there were something special / I long for you - why?

  • 恋しきやなそ] 恋しきはなそ(荒・片)

--

When the lovers are together, the poet regards everything as normal and doesn't have a strong passion. But when they're apart, suddenly the poet feels an intense longing as if there were some kind of specific reason for it. Nakayama says that "this is indeed how love is," and Kifune sees a somewhat haikai quality ot the poem. He also suggests that this poem can be a response to the previous one.

589

をとこの、「こむ」とてざりければ

A man said "I will come," and then did not come.

山ざとの まきのいたども ささざりき たのめし人を まちしよひなり

The wooden gate (2) / of my mountain home (1) / was not locked. / It was a night where I waited (5) / for the one who promised to visit. (4)

  • 山ざと] 山がつ(荒・片・堀・雲・白)
山ざと
Literally "mountain house." This could indicate a house that is somewhat removed from the capital (though presumably close by), or simply a humble word for the poet's house.
まきのいたど
真木の板戸. The word 真木 indicates several types of wood that are good for construction.

--

As the note for 山里 indicates, this may be read in a poem-tale like manner as a beautiful woman in a village apart from the capital, waiting for a man from the city who promised he would come. This is a note to him upbraiding him for his failure to visit. The "mountain" may also simply be a humble posture. As Kudo and Kifune indicate, she seems to still have hope that she can get him to visit.

The imagery of this poem seems to be taken from the anonymous KKS 690:

きみや来む我や行かむのいさよひに真木の板戸もささず寝にけり
On the night of the 16th when I did not know if you would come or I would visit, I went to sleep with the wooden gate of my mountain home unlocked.

590

はじめて女のもとにつかはしける

For the first time, he sent a letter to this woman

ゆく方も なくせかれたる 山水の いはまほしくも おもほゆるかな

Without a way to go, dammed up (1-2) / the mountain water -- / like the stone I want to say something / I think.

山水のいは
The first three lines are a preface, using a play on 岩間欲し (the water wants a gap to flow through) and 言はまほし (I want to say what I am feeling).

--

This poem is a typical introduction of love to someone. The preface is metaphorical for the love in the poet's heart; several KKS poems use the verb せく with 心 to show feelings that cannot be expressed. 山水 in particular is thought of to be a strong flow of water, so this emphasizes the strength of the poet's love.

591

女につかはしける

Sent to a woman

人のうへの ことしいへば しらぬかな 君も恋する 折もこそあれ

When it comes to someone else (1-2) / you don't know. / There will be a time when you long, but... (4-5)

  • いへば] きけば(荒・片)
  • 折] 時(行・荒・片・白)、こと(堀*)
This may mean the poet specifically ("When it's happening to me...") or people in general.

--

The basic idea here is this: You're only cold to me because you've never experienced rejection and longing for someone -- if you had, there's no way you could be this cold; you'd understand my feeling. Nakayama thought the 人 was more pointed -- "because it's happening to me, you don't care." Kifune suggests this man has visited the woman many times (or sent many letters) and she continues to refuse his advances.

592

返し

Response

つらからば おなじ心に つらからん つれなき人を こひむともせず

If you are cruel to me / then with the same spirit / I will be cruel to you. / A cold person / I have no intention of longing for.

  • つらからん] つらくとも(荒・片*)

--

As usual for such an exchange, the response turns the criticism back on the man -- how can he expect her to care about his feelings, when he is so cold to her? Kudo doesn't think this response fits the context, but it's hard to see why that should be. Particularly the final use of こふ recalls the first poem. Nakayama quotes 美石 in saying that the feelings expressed in the poem may not be genuine; it was common to express love through these kinds of complaints. However, Nakayama (and 正明 who he quotes) felt that this poem was devoid of any affection and just trying to one-up the man. Kifune also notes the use of both つらし and つれなし as part of the poetic effect.

593

女につかはしける

Sent to a woman

人しれず 思心は おほしまの なるとはなしに なけくころかな

My heart thinking of you (2) / which no one else knows (1) / (like) Naruto in Oshima is unfulfilled (3-4) / this is a time when I lament.

  • 心は] 心を(荒・片・堀・新イ)
  • なしに] なくて(荒・片)
おほしまのなると
大島の鳴門 seems to be a place; Kigin said it was in Bizen but later commentators corrected this to Suo. Kudo leaves its location uncertain. The purpose of the place name is to lead into 成る (be accomplished, as his love). The おほし in おほしま may also recall either 多し (his love is great) or おぼし (thought).

--

The meaning of the poem is fairly direct, and depends largely on the wordplay in the middle. This is a typical "unknown love" poem. Kifune suggests that 589-593 can be read as one story.

Shoku Kokinshu 1703 perhaps uses this as a honka:

おもふことなほしきなみにおほしまのなるとはなくてとしのへぬらん

Other sources:

  • 五代歌枕 歌枕名寄

594

おとこのもとにつかはしける

Sent to a man

中務

Nakatsukasa

はかなくて おなじ心に なりにしを 思ふがごとは 思らんやぞ

Lightly / to the same heart / I have become, and yet / the same way I think / do you think as well?

  • おもふがごとは] 思ふらんとは(荒・片)、思ふがごとく(堀)、思ふることは(承)
  • やぞ] やは(雲・承)、やを(片)
はかなくて
Here the word may mean "without much thought" or "without deliberate thought", but it could also indicate the uncertain feeling of the starting relationship.
おなじ心
That is, the same feeling as you have, whatever that might be.

--

"My thoughts are now the same as yours -- but are those thoughts deep or shallow?" The context of this poem is not clear from the preface here, and the appearances of the poem in the collections complicates the picture. In the Nakatsukasa collection, it's part of a ten poem sequences of exchanges between her and a "Grand Counselor" (a rank Saneakira never held). This poem is by the man, and GSS 695 is by Nakatsukasa, reversing the genders. In the Saneakira collection, this poem is read by an unnamed woman the morning after their first night together, when Saneakira is leaving. If the GSS compilers deliberately placed these two poems in sequence by their own decision, it would be because Saneakira and Nakatsukasa were known to have been lovers.

Other sources:

  • 中務集166. Prose preface また、人 (part of a long sequence of exchanges). 4th line 思ふがごとく(I).
  • 信明92. Prose preface はじめてのつとめてかへりたる、女. 4th line 同じ心に(III), 思ふごとく(others). 5th line 思ふらんやぞ(I).

595

返し

Response

源信明

Minamoto no Saneakira

わびしさを おなじ心と きくからに わが身をすて 君ぞかなしき

When I hear (3) / that you have the same heart (2) / of suffering (1) / I abandon my body / and feel your sadness.

  • わびしさ] こひしき(堀)、わびしき(荒・片・雲・承)
  • かなしき] こひしき(堀)

--

Saneakira's response answers Nakatsukasa's complaint -- not only is our suffering the same, but when I hear that you are suffering I feel sad even on top of that.

Other sources:

  • 中務集167. First line わびしきを.
  • 信明集93. First line こひしきを.

596

まからずなりにける女の、人に名たちければつかはしける

A woman he had stopped visited had negative rumors about her, and he sent this

  • 名たちければ] 名たちけるをききて(行・堀・雲・標イ)

なく あだにちりぬる 花よりは ときはの松の 色をやは見ぬ

More than the flowers (3) / that fall uselessly (2) / without plan (1) / Wouldn't you rather see the color (5) / of an eternal pine? (4)

  • 花よりは] 花よりも(慶・堀・荒・片)
  • ときはの] ときはに(堀*)
人に名たちければ
This indicates the woman has gotten a bad reputation; the poem would suggest that the man she was now seeing was considered unfaithful.

--

The poem contains no explicit love imagery and could be a simple spring poem, but with the prose preface it's clear that the あだ in the second line has the meaning of "unfaithful", and refers to the other man she's seeing. It recalls the language of KKS 62, which uses あだ in reference to the scattering flowers but also seems to have a love meaning. Kifune notes that since Saneakira had stopped visiting the woman, he really couldn't complain that she was seeing someone else, and so this has an ironic and comic quality.

As with the previous poems, this one appears in the Nakatsukasa Collection but sent by Nakatsukasa herself to an unnamed man who had stopped visiting her.

Other sources:

  • 中務集139.Prose preface また、ひとに.

597

返し

Response

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

住吉の わが身なりせば 年ふとも 松より外の 色を見ましや

If my body were like Sumiyoshi (1-2) / then even if the years passed / would I really look at (5) / something other than a pine? (4)

住吉
This place is poetically associated with pine trees, but also is a pun for 住みよし, meaning "good to live with" -- i.e. a good husband.
  • 住吉] 住の江(荒・堀・雲・慶・新イ)
  • 外の] 外に(荒・雲)

--

The woman's response says that if Saneakira were a good man to be with then she wouldn't look elsewhere; it's his own fault. This can be interpreted as a bitter response that turns down Saneakira's attempt to restart the relationship (Kifune), or as an invitation to come back to her (Kudo).

598

おとこにつかはしける

Sent to a man

うつつにも はかなきことの あやしきは ねなくにゆめの 見ゆるなりけり

Though real / what is strange (3) / about the fleeting thing (2) / is that without sleeping / I'm seeing a dream.

  • ゆめの見ゆる] ゆめとおもふ(荒・片・堀*・雲)

--

The poet is describing the night with her love. Even though it was real, it was so fleeting (short) that strangely it feels like she saw a waking dream instead.

Other sources:

  • 古今和歌六帖2054・夢. 4th and 5th lines ねなくにゆめとおもふなりけり.

599

女のあはず侍けるに

A woman would not meet him

白浪の よるよる/\岸に 立よりて ねも見し物を すみよしの松

The white waves / night by night nearing the cost / rising up there / though we have met before / the Pine of Sumiyoshi.

よるよる
寄る寄る (of the waves) plays on 夜夜. (岸 may also play on 来し).
ねも見し
This is a play on 寝 and 根. It is also possible to voice this as 見じ, meaning "you probably have not slept tonight".
すみよしの松
This is the place mentioned a few poems ago, and also indicates "good to live with" (i.e. a wife).
  • 立ちよりて] 立ちなれて(荒・片・雲・慶・新イ)
  • すみよし] すものえ(雲)

--

The prose preface probably is meant to indicate that the man and woman have had a previous relationship, but that this night he has come (like the waves) to his sturdy pine (the woman), but she won't meet him.

Other sources:

  • 五代歌枕 歌枕名寄

600

おとこにつかはしける

Sent to a man

ながらへて あらぬまでにも 事の葉の ふかきはいかに あはれなりけり

Continuing long / until I do not exist / the words / their depth, oh how / affecting it is!

あはれ
One of the problems interpreting this poem is that this term can indicate either happiness or sorrow, or simply emotional effect.

--

This poem is vague and difficult to interpret, and there have been a number of possible readings:

  • Even after you have forgotten me, the depth of our connection still affects me (Kikigaki-sho)
  • Our relationship was not forever, but the words you addressed me up until we parted are still affecting (Kigin, Norinaga)
  • (last two lines) How deep they are! But I am affected that you may not have forgotten me (Keichu)
  • The man may have sent her a poem or letter indicating he would die for love -- perhaps her response is "OK, you're going to die soon -- but will your words survive?" (Nakayama)
  • Even if our love does not continue forever, I am happy at these words. This is not a bitter or ironic poem, it shows true love (Kifune)
  • I have your words that may survive long, even after death, but how affecting will they be? (That is, they may be simply words). This poem serves to sum up and close the first book (Katagiri)

This may seem to be excessively vague -- there may be connotations to these words we don't know today, or the vagueness was intentional. Katagiri's idea that this is the summation of the first book of love poems may account for the possibilities of meaning contained in the poem. Without the preface the poem might be a general statement about love poems, but with the preface we are invited to imagine the scenario that gave rise to the poem.

V1

After poem 566, 雲・慶・承 have a variant of KKS 656: うつつにはさもこそあらめ夢にさへ人めをもるとみるがわびしき

Supplementary Notes

NB: In every volume title, Teika notes that Fujiwara no Yukinari's text adds 歌 (for instance, in Teika's manuscript the heading for the first volume is 春上, in Yukinari's manuscript it is 春歌上. He also notes at the end of every volume that Yukinari writes "Volume X" (e.g. 巻第一 at the end of volume 1). This would indicate that Yukinari's text was originally twenty separate volumes, or perhaps scrolls.

507S

Textual notes:

  • あいがたく] 又あひがたく (中・貞・堀・雲・荒・承・八・標*・新・評・全), 又も(片)
  • あひ見て] いひ見て (堀*)
  • わびしかりける] こひしかりける (標イ)

Other sources:

  • Muneyuki Collection 1. (Second line さよの中山)
  • New Poetry Competition of People from Different Eras 57. One of three poems matched against the 12th century poet Minamoto no Yorimasa. (Fifth line こいしかりける)
  • Utamakura from the Five Collections 434. Given as an example of Saya no Nakayama. (Fifth line こいしかりける)

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508S

Textual notes:

  • 暁と] 暁を (中・堀・雲・片*・ハイ・新イ)

Other sources:

  • Kokin waka rokujo 2800, 宵の間, Tsurayuki. (First two lines あかつきをなにしいひけん)

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509S

Textual notes:

  • まさしからなん] まさきからせで (堀$)

Other sources:

  • Rokka wakashu 1436
  • Iroha wananshu, Karin ryozai, Rokka wakashu chu

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510S

Textual notes:

  • あひしりて侍りける人] あひしりて侍りける人々 (堀・白・荒・片). This variant may be influenced by the poem's appearance in the Eiga monogatari (see below).
  • ゆふぐれと] ゆふぐれも (堀$)
  • まされり] まされる (雲・八・標・新*)

Other sources:

  • Motoyoshi Collection 1. Prose preface: "Emperor Yozei's first son, Prince Motoyoshi, was a great playboy. If he heard about a good woman whether they met or didn't meet, he sent them letters and poems. He sent this to Gen no Myobu." Several more poems follow in an exchange.
  • Eiga monogatari 82 (volume 10). This poem appears as a retrospective, with someone remembering that "one of Emperor Yozei's sons" had sent this poem to several women. The tale gives his "favorite reply" from Hon'in no Jiju. Jiju's poem appears as Shin goshui shu 1149. This exchange also appears in the Kohon setsuwa shu.

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511S

Textual notes:

  • 藤原かつみ] 藤原さのみ =ツミ, 命婦イ (堀), かみの命婦 (荒・片イ), かつみの命婦 (片). The variations in the name perhaps relate to the situation discussed in the previous notes.
  • かゝる] かかれり (荒・片)
  • 白露] 白雪 (承*)
  • をくる] かへる (白)
  • きえはゝつらむ] きえまさるらむ (中), きえやしつべき (雲・慶・新イ)

Other sources:

  • Kohon setsuwa shu 72

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513S

  • いね] いな (荒・片・雲・慶・新イ), いに (堀=)
  • 事を] 事に (堀*・白・片*・荒)
  • かけしかば] みてしかば (堀*・白), みてしより (雲、慶、新イ), みえしかば (荒・片・新イ)
  • 思いづるが] 思いいづるに (堀・慶・荒・片・新イ)

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514S

  • あらぬなりけり] あらぬころかな (堀・雲・慶・荒・片・新イ)

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515S

  • うたがた人に] うたがたあはに (白$)

Other sources:

  • Kokin waka rokujo 1728 (utakata, Ise) and 2551 ("years passing", Ise)
  • Ise Collection 304 and 456. 304 prose preface: "When she had gone somewhere else without letting him know, he thought she had hidden herself away and read this." 456 prose preface: "A man who she had once known, and who she had not told her location, after some time had passed visited her, and he thought that she had departed the world."
  • Shunzei 36 person poetry competition 12, one of three poems matching Ise against Otomo no Yakamochi.
  • Poetry competition of people from different ages 59.
  • 36 woman poetry competition 7. Ise was matched against Kunaikyo.
  • Teika jittei, Kigosho, Ogisho, Shuchusho, Godai utamakura, Karin ryozai
  • Kindai shuka, Eiga no taigai, Sangoki, Kiribioke, Teika hachidaisho, Hachidai shuka

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516S

  • 題しらず] ナシ (堀*)
  • 三統公忠] よみ人しらず (荒・片*), 三位公忠 (標イ)
  • 心はつねに] 心ばかりに (標イ)
  • 相坂の関] 相坂の関は (標イ, 新イ)

Other sources:

  • Kintada Collection 24, prose preface "Sent to a woman." This is the collection of Minamoto no Kintada so it may have been included in error, or the attribution in the GSS is incorrect.
  • Godai utamakura, Utamakura meiyo

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517S

  • やみぬばかりか] やみぬばかりぞ (堀・荒)

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518S

  • わが身にぞ] わが身こそ (八)
  • あはぬ] あらぬ (堀*), あかぬ (標イ・新イ)
  • かずはもえける] かずもみえける (雲), かずはもえけれ (八・標イ)

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519S

  • ぬれぬ] くちぬ (標イ・新イ). Nakayama preferred this reading ("my clothes will break down and rot").
  • 世々] まま (堀*)

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520S

  • あふくま] ありくま (堀*)
  • わびしき] かなしき (中$, 堀)

Other sources:

  • 五代歌枕

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521S

  • 深き心も] 深き心は (標イ・新イ)

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522S

  • 松山に] 松山は (ハイ・標イ・新イ), 松山の (中・堀・雲・慶・承・新イ)
  • 浪に] 浪の (堀*)
  • ぬるるそで] ぬるるころ (堀・雲・慶・荒・片・新イ). Even with this variant, the word nururu would still suggest tears.

Other sources:

  • Prince Motoyoshi Collection 42. Prose preface: "The Prince heard that a woman he was seeing had seen another man, and wrote this."
  • Shoku senzai wakashu 1549. Attributed to Motoyoshi with the same preface as above. Nakayama noted that this attribution is unlikely because woman are typically the ones who wait in poetry, not men.
  • Godai utamakura, Utamakura meiki

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523S

  • 女の] 女のひとの (高+). This was perhaps added in error; 525 in the Teika manuscript has 人の added, and the 523 and 525 prefaces are almost the same. No edition adds these words here (which would change it into a poem sent by a woman to a man).

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524S

  • こひぬ] 心 (片*)

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525S

  • 女の人の] 女の (定*, 雲・烏・承・八), no preface (荒・片). In the base text, the 人の is added in at the side with a red dot to indicate the location, but the addition may be original to Teika and all the other Teika texts contain the phrase. Without 人の, the poem is from a man to a woman. Kigin interpreted this as a woman with many lovers. The lack of a preface in the 荒 and 片 texts would apply the 523 preface to this one, still making it sent to a woman.
  • なるらし] なるとも(中),なるなる(雲),なるなり(烏), なりけり(新イ). The middle two variants would add the "hearsay" meaning of なり and add an aural dimension to the poem.
  • ふちぞ] ふちとぞ (承)

Other sources:

  • Godai utamakura, Utamakura meiki

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526S

  • ふちせとも] ふちもせも (堀・雲・烏・慶・承)

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527S

  • 世をぞうらむる] In the base text, the そ is written next to the line. All other texts (including Teika's own) contain the そ.

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528S

  • (よみ人しらず)] 貫之 (貞・堀・雲・烏・荒・片・承・八・標・新). Katagiri records that one manuscript of the Tsurayuki Collection contains this poem, but that manuscript does not seem to be on either the Shimpen kokka taikan or the Shikashu taisei.

529S

  • あつよし] あつとし (新イ)
  • さよすがら] さよすがた (荒・片*)
  • はた] また (標イ・新イ)

Other sources:

  • 歌林良材

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