KKS Kanajo 2

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Text

この歌、天地あめつちの開ひらけ始まりける時より出できにけり。

（天あまの浮橋の下にて、女神めがみ・男神をがみとなりたまへる事をいへる歌なり。）

しか(は)あれども、世に伝はることはひさかたの天あめにしては、下照姫したてるひめに始まり、

（下照姫とは、天稚御子あめのわかみこの妻めなり。兄人せうとの神のかたち、岡谷をかたにに移りて、輝かかやくをよめるえびす歌なるべし。これらは文字の数も定まらず、歌の様にもあらぬことどもなり。）

あらかねのつちにしては、素戔嗚尊すさのをのみことよりぞ起こりける。ちはやぶる神世には、歌の文字も定まらず、素直すなほにして、事の心わきがたかりけらし。人の世となりて、素戔嗚尊すさのをのみことよりぞ三十みそ文字あまり一文字はよみける。

（素戔嗚尊すさのをのみことは天照御神あまてるおほむかみの兄このかみなり。女と住みたまはむとて、出雲いづもの国に宮づくりしたまふ時に、その所に八色やいろの雲の立つを見てよみたまへるなり。

やくもたつ　いづもやへがき　つまごめに　やへがきつくる　そのやへがきを）

These poems appeared from the time heaven and earth began.

(This refers to the poems read under the Heavenly Floating Bridge, when [the gods] became husband and wife.)

However, they were first transmitted to the world starting with Shitateruhime in the heavens,

(Shitateruhime is the wife of Ame no Wakahiko. The poem was a rustic one that was read about her divine husband's form moving into the mountains and valleys, and shining. These poems did not have a set number of characters, and did not have the form of poems.)

and on the earth, they began with Susano'o no Mikoto. In the Age of Gods, the [number] of characters was not fixed, they were straightforward, and the heart of things seems to have been hard to grasp. When it became the age of men, poems were read with 30 syllables plus one syllable starting with Susano'o.

(Susano'o was the brother of Amaterasu. When he was to live with his wife, he constructed a palace in Izumo Province, and he saw eight-colored clouds and read this:)

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Notes

Heaven and earth began

This language is drawn from the Nihon shoki: 開闢之初, which Aston translated as "When the world began to be created."

This refers to the poems...

Here and in the next few sections, the text in parentheses is the so called "Ancient commentary" (kochu), a set of annotations that is not original to the preface. The reference here is to Izanagi and Izanami's betrothal -- the annotator is pointing to the earliest identifiable poem (which actually varies depending on the source), but this does not seem to be what Tsurayuki meant. See the discussion in the Analysis section for more information.

First transmitted to the world

Tsurayuki is contrasting the abstract idea of poetry existing since the creation, with the time that poetry appears in recorded history and legend.

Shitateruhime

She appears in volume 2 of the Nihon shoki, where she sings a song of mourning for her husband Ame no Wakahiko (as the old commentary indicates).

Rustic one

The Nihon shoki labels the poems as such. Aston thinks this refers to the actual content of the poems, but other commentators say this refers to the lack of consistent meter and the folk-song quality.

Form of poems

The term sama here is perhaps connected to poetic "forms" that will be discussed in the next section. These folk-song like poems do not fit any of the recognized types.

Analysis

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