Gosenshu 8

後撰和歌集　巻第八　冬

443

題しらず

Circumstance unknown

よみ人も

Also the poet

はつ時雨ふれば山べぞおもほゆるいづれの方のまづもみづらん

hatu sigure                  The first late year rain
hure-ba yamabe zo            When it falls I come to think
omohoyuru                    Of the mountain ridge.
idure no kata no             From which place does it begin
madu momidu-ran              The first leaves changing color.

--

The winter volume opens with two poems that cause several problems. The first one is that both 443 and 444 seem more appropriate to the Autumn volume than the Winter. The second is that this poem has already appeared in Volume 7 (poem 375). The placement of 443 and 444 next to each other is deliberate, since 444 works as an answer to 443. This repetition of 443 has been traditionally viewed as a mistake or a sign of hasty or incompetent editing.

Kifune and Katagiri both say these poems may have appeared here because of the sigure (late year rain) image. Sigure is found in both winter and autumn poems, although the image is more associated with winter. Perhaps the compilers were keen to start off a big set of sigure poems with poems that used hatu sigure (first late year rain), even if the poems on the whole seemed more like autumn poems. There is a clear sequence between the "first colored leaves" of this poem to the "wilted/fallen leaves" of the next poem to the start of winter in 445. Perhaps the best way to look at this is an initial set of poems that show how the sigure rains cross the seasons from autumn to fall. If the compilers were working sequentially, perhaps they initially included this poem as 375 but then later had the idea to begin winter with the 443-445. And then the current text of the GSS we have never received the final round of editing that would have removed the duplication. However, it's not impossible that the duplication was intentional.

444

はつしぐれふるほどもなくさほ山の梢あまねくうつろひにけり

hatu sigure                  The first late year rain
huru hodo mo naku            Has barely started to fall
sahoyama no                  When on Mt. Saho
kozuwe amaneku               Every branch of all the trees
uturohi-ni-keri              Have already changed color.

Changed color

Many texts read iroduki-ni-keri instead, which also means change color. The base text's uturohu can also carry a secondary meaning of scattering and falling, which may be more appropriate here.

--

This poem seems to be a response to 443; the difficulties of these poems appearing in the Winter volume are discussed above. The poem appears in the Korenori Collection where it is said to be a poem read at the Emperor Teiji poetry competition. MYS 8.1553 is similar:

時雨の雨間なくし降れば御笠山木末あまねく色づきにけり

The late year rains have barely started to fall when all the ends of the trees on Mt. Mikasa have turned color.

It was used as a honka for Senzaishu 353:

初しぐれふるほどもなくしもとゆふ葛城山はいろづきにけり

The first late year rain has barely started to fall when Kazuraki Mountain turns color.

445

神な月ふりみふらずみ定めなき時雨ぞ冬の始めなりける

kaminaduki                     In the tenth month
huri-mi hura-zu-mi             It falls and then it doesn't fall
sadame naki                    It has no pattern
sigure zo huyu no              These late spring rains are what mark
hazime nari-keru               The beginning of winter.

--

Continuing from the previous sigure poems, we are now into winter. Early commentaries put focus on the type of sigure that was particular to winter, but this seems to be just a description of sigure in general. Kifune praises the poem as expressing the feel of the season and the nature of sigure.

446

冬くればさほの河せにゐるたづもひとりねがたきねをぞなくなる

huyu kure-ba                   When winter arrives
saho no kawase ni              At the banks of Saho river
wiru tadu mo                   The sitting crane
hitori ne-gataki               Has trouble sleeping alone
ne wo zo naku-naru             I hear crying in pain.

--

This seems to be a love poem, with the poet, like the crane, sleeping alone and crying. The Saho River is typically associated with the tidori bird, not the crane. Neither the river nor the bird have any particular seasonal association. The poem also appears in the Ise Collection, with textual variants that emphasize the love reading.

447

ひとりぬる人のきかくに神な月にはかにもふるはつ時雨かな

hitori nuru                    Sleeping alone
hito no ki-kaku ni             I am one who hears it
kaminaduki                     In the tenth month
nihaka ni mo huru              It suddenly starts to fall
hatusigure kana                The first rains of the late year.

--

This continues the love connotations of the previous poem; this poem could also be taken as general sorrow, but along with the previous poem it seems to lead into the next poem which has a more explicit love theme.

Shunzei included this poem in his Korai futeisho, and Kifune praised the simple language but deep pathos.

448

秋はてて時雨ふりぬる我なればちることのはをなにかうらみむ

aki hate-te                    Autumn has ended
sigure huri-nuru               The late rains fall and soak
ware nare-ba                   My aged body
tiru koto no ha wo             So the fallen leaves of words,
nani ka urami-mu               Why should I resent them?

fall...aged

The verb huru can be either "fall" or "growing old".

leaves of words

Although koto no ha simply means "words", it echoes ko no ha (tree leaves).

--

This poem has a more explicit love meaning than the previous ones, while continuing the rain imagery. The play on huru is common to such poetry, as is the play on aki ("autumn" and "grow tired of"). The "fallen leaves of words" is a bit more difficult to interpret. Kigin and Nakayama thought it meant that the couple's letters and poems had been leaked to the world causing embarrassment, but modern commentators take it to mean that his pledges have come to naught.

The poem seems to have been written based on KKS 782 by Komachi, which appears in a slight variation as GSS 450.

449

吹く風は色も見えねど冬くればひとりぬるよの身にぞしみける

huku kaze ha                  The wind that's blowing
iro mo mie-ne-do              Has no color we can see
huyu kure-ba                  But when winter comes
hitori nuru yo no             On the nights I sleep alone
mi ni zo simi-keru            It seeps into my body.

seeps

The word simu can mean "dye" as well.

--

This is another poem drawing on the imagery of winter and sleeping alone. Here the contrast is between the "colorless" wind and the image of the wind dyeing the poet's body with its cold. Poem 443 in the Kokin waka rokujo is similar:

吹きくれば身にもしみける秋風を色なきものと思ひけるかな

When it blows in it seeps into the body, the autumn wind, though I don't think it has any color.

450

秋はててわが身にしぐれにふりぬれば事の葉さへにうつろひにけり

aki hate-te                    Autumn ends, and then
waga mi sigure ni              The late year rains fall and soak
huri-nure-ba                   My aged body,
koto no ha sahe ni             Then even leaves of your words
uturohi-ni-keri                Have faded and scattered down.

--

See 448 for the imagery and wordplay here. This poem also appears as KKS 782 by Ono no Komachi, with a different first line, followed by a response poem by Ono no Sadaki:

人を思ふ心の木の葉にあらばこそ風のまにまに散りもみだれめ

If the "leaves" are truly words that show love to you, how could they be scattered by the whims of the wind?