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
からうじて逢ひしりて侍りける人に、慎むことありて、逢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
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.
--
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
忍びたりける人に物語し侍りけるを、人の騒がしく侍りければ、まかり帰りて、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
暁と何かいひけむわかるれば宵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.
--
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
源の巨城が通いひ侍りけるを、後々はまからずなり侍りにければ、となりの壁の穴より巨城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
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.
510
逢ひ知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
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.
--
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 松にもかかる 白露の おくる朝や きえははつらむ
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".
--
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
大和に逢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
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.
--
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.
--
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
まかる所知らせず侍りけるころ、又逢ひしりて侍りける男のもとより、「日頃たづねわびて失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."
--
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
思ひやる 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.
--
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..."
--
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).
--
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 かわくたもとの 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.
--
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
世とともに あぶくま河の とほければ 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).
--
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.
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)
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)
509S
Textual notes:
- まさしからなん] まさきからせで (堀$)
Other sources:
- Rokka wakashu 1436
- Iroha wananshu, Karin ryozai, Rokka wakashu chu
510S
Textual notes:
- あひしりて侍りける人] あひしりて侍りける人々 (堀・白・荒・片). This variant may be influenced by the poem's appearance in the Eiga monogatari (see below).
- ゆふぐれと] ゆふぐれも (堀$)
- 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.
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
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)
514S
- あらぬなりけり] あらぬころかな (堀・雲・慶・荒・片・新イ)
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
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
517S
- やみぬばかりか] やみぬばかりぞ (堀・荒)
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)
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*)
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