Gosenshu 9

後撰和歌集　巻第九　恋一

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

からうじて逢あひしりて侍り・ける人に、慎つつむことありて、逢あひがたく侍り・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 Mineyuki

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.

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・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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