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 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

忍しのびたりける人に物語ものがたりし侍り・けるを、人の騒さはがしく侍り・ければ、まかり帰かへりて、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宵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

源の巨城おほきが通かよいひ侍り・けるを、後々のち／＼はまからずなり侍り・にければ、となりの壁かべの穴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　見つるかな哉　まさしからなん南　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

逢あひ知しりて侍り・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　松にもかかゝる　白露の　おをくる朝や　きえははゝつらむ

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

大和やまとに逢あひしりて侍り・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　思ひ・いでつつゝ

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　思ひ・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　心ばかり許は　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

まかる所知しらせず侍り・けるころ、又逢あひしりて侍り・ける男おとこのもとより、「日頃ひごろたづねわびて失うせにたるとなむ思ひ・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.

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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