Gosenshu 5

Gosen wakashu Volume 5: Autumn 1 後撰和歌集巻第五　秋上

The importance of autumn to the waka poets of the Heian period cannot be overstated. The 227 poems in the three autumn volumes comprise nearly half of the seasonal poems, a similar ratio to the KKS. The GSS uses not only the autumn imagery from the KKS, but liberally includes love poems. Many of them rely on a pun with the word aki, which can mean the season of autumn, or a lack of fulfillment. In love poetry, the latter typically refers to the feeling one party has when the love affair is not going well, or the idea that one of the members has become tired of the other. This pun is so common that I will not mention it every time it occurs; it should perhaps be considered as underlying the entire volume.

217

是貞親王の家の歌合に

At Prince Koresada's poetry competition

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

にはかにも風のすずしくなりぬるか秋立つ日とはむべもいひけり

nihaka ni mo                  Oh how suddenly
kaze no suzusiku              The wind has changed and become
nari-nuru ka                  Cooler on this day!
aki tatu hi to ha             No wonder they are saying
mube mo ihi-keri              That autumn has now started.

Prince Koresada's poetry competition

A competition held probably in 892. It seems to have centered on autumn poems, and was a major source of autumn poetry for the KKS. The GSS takes three autumn poems from it.

--

As might be expected from a poetry competition poem, this is a witty poem on the relation of the naming of seasons to the feel of the air. It is reminiscent of SIS 1, where just hearing that it's spring makes you see mist on the mountain. The beginning of the KKS autumn volume also uses the autumn wind:

秋きぬと目にはさやかに見えねども風の音にぞおどろかれぬる

It is not clear to the eye that autumn has come, but I get surprised by the sound of the wind.

KKS 170, by Tsurayuki, is also similar:

川風の涼しくもあるかうち寄する波とともにや秋はたつらむ

The wind off the river is cold! Perhaps autumn has come along with the approaching waves.

Public poems like this are relatively uncommon in the GSS, but as with the spring volume, the compilers begin by introducing seasonal themes through this public, artificial poetry, which will then be followed by examples of its use in occasional or private poetry.

218

題知らず

Circumstance unknown

[Poet unknown]

うちつけに物ぞ悲しきこのはちる秋の始めをけふぞとおもへば

utituke ni                    All of a sudden
mono zo kanasiki              I feel sad for no reason.
ko no ha tiru                 Because I think that
aki no hazime wo              The beginning of autumn,
kehu zo to omohe-ba           When leaves scatter, is today.

--

The poetry contest poem is followed by an anonymous poem that could be seen as having a love connotation, but is basically just a seasonal autumn poem. Here, the falling leaves, which is the major theme of autumn, is connected to a general sadness. The use of the tochiho (inverted syntax) fronts the sudden feeling of sadness that results.

This poem appears in the Wakan roeishu paired with KKS 169 (see above).

219

物思ふ侍りけるころ、秋立つ日、人につかはしける

At a time she was worrying, on the first day of autumn, she sent this to a person

[Poet unknown]

たのめこし君はつれなし秋風はけふよりふきぬわが身かなしも

tanome-ko-si                  You I relied on
kimi ha turenasi              Have now become cold to me.
akikaze ha                    The wind of autumn
kehu yori huki-nu             Has started blowing today.
waga mi kanasi mo             I am sad you care no more.

--

After the first two poems introducing the start of autumn and autumn wind, we have an anonymous love poem by a woman who has been abandoned by a man (alternatively, she is using this language to invite him to visit after an absence.)

The bottom part may be based on KKS 819:

あしべより雲居をさしてゆく雁のいやとほざかるわが身かなしも

The goose is flying away, heading from the reeds to the clouds above, and I am sad.

Here too, the initial seasonal image becomes a metaphor for the poet's sadness.

220

思ふこと侍りけるころ

At a time when she was worrying about something

[Poet unknown]

いとどしく物思ふやどの荻の葉に秋とつげつる風のわびしさ

itodosiku                  It adds even more,
mono omohu yado no         On the ogi plants that grow
wogi no ha ni              In my worry house
aki tuge-turu              The sadness of the wind that
kaze no wabisi-sa          Heralds the start of autumn.

ogi

A grass, the "amur silvergrass", that is an autumn image in poetry.

--

Like 219, this is the poem of a woman forgotten by her lover. The autumn wind adds even more sadness to her already sad existence. Perhaps this poem was inspired by the anonymous KKS 221:

なきわたる雁の涙やおちつらむ物思ふ宿の萩の上の露

The tears of the crying goose seem to be falling -- the dew on the hagi in the house of worry.

Another source might be SIS 139 by Tsurayuki, composed in 918:

荻の葉のそよぐ音こそ秋風の人に知らるる始めなりけり

People first recognize the autumn wind when they hear it rustling the leaves of the ogi plant.