KKS 53
Previous poem | Contents | Next poem
Translation
Read on seeing cherry blossoms at the Nagisa Residence.
Lord Ariwara no Narihira
yo no naka ni In this world taete sakura no If cherry blossoms did not nakari-se-ba Exist at all haru no kokoro wa The hearts of spring season nodokekara-mashi Would be tranquility.
Korai Futeisho | Sanjurokunin-sen | Kuhin waka
--
- Nagisa Residence
- Near modern-day Osaka's Nagisahon-machi, on the Yodo river. According to the Tales of Ise this was a residence of Prince Koretaka. The Tosa Diary also indicates that Koretaka and Narihira were together for this poem. KKS 418 and KKS 884 mention Narihira in attendance on Koretaka so there is no major reason to doubt that applies here as well.
- Did not exist at all
- A number of manuscripts of the KKS, as well as some versions of the poem in alternate sources, reads saka-zara-ba "did not bloom at all." Because this is it the version of the poem in Ki no Tsuyaruki's Tosa Diary, some scholars have suggested this is a better reading (on aesthetic grounds as well). But Katagiri notes that Tsurayuki's Shinsen waka reads "exist" instead of "bloom," so it's difficult to say on the current evidence which reading is the original one.
- The hearts of spring season
- The expression haru no kokoro may refer to the feelings of people towards (or in) spring, the nature of spring itself, or some combination of both.
--
Broadly speaking this poem has two lines of interpretation -- one that focuses on the poem itself, and another that interprets it in the Tales of Ise context.
The other line of interpretation involves Prince Koretaka. The Tosa Diary says that this poem was composed when Narihira was "in attendance on Prince Koretaka," and section 82 of the Tales of Ise puts this poem in a larger context involving a trip to the Nagisa Villa. Neither of these sources indicate any explicit secondary meaning for the poem. However, Koretaka was displaced in the line of succession by his younger brother Korehito. Korehito was the grandson of Fujiwara no Yoshifusa, and the overwhelming political power of Yoshifusa resulted in this appointment. Because of this background, and the placement of this poem immediately after KKS 52 (in which Yoshifusa praises his daughter's position as Empress and the glory of his family), many commenters have read a political meaning into this poem.
Japanese Text
渚の院にて桜を見てよめる
在原業平朝臣
世の中にたえて桜のなかりせば春の心はのどけからまし
