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.
221
題知らず
Circumstance unknown
[Poet unknown]
秋風のうち吹きそむるゆふぐれはそらに心ぞわびしかりける
akikaze no On an evening when uti-fuki-somuru The autumn wind suddenly yuhugure ha Blows for the first time, sora ni kokoro zo My heart, not for a reason, wabisikari-keru Turns to sorrow as I gaze.
- sora
- This plays on the sky, where the wind is and the poet is gazing, and also sora ni, which means "for no reason", or "restless", among other things.
--
This continues the theme of the autumn wind suddenly springing up, and the connection between the autumn wind, the beginning of fall, and the sorrow felt. By itself this would have no particular love connotation, but given the surrounding poems we may once again imagine a woman who has been abandoned by her lover.
The imagery is probably suggested by KKS 787, by Tomonori (in the Love 5 volume):
- 秋風は身をわけてしも吹かなくに人の心のそらになるらん
- The autumn wind does not split a person in two, but it seems that it makes the heart restless.
222
[Circumstance unknown]
大江千里
[Oe no Chisato]
露わけしたもとほすまもなきものをなど秋風のまだきふくらん
tuyu wake-si Though there is no time tamoto hosu ma mo To dry my sleeves, wet through from naki mono wo Walking through the dew, nado akikaze no Why does the wind of autumn madaki fuku-ran Seem to be blowing early?
--
The surface meaning of this poem is that the poet's robes are wet from making his way through the dew soaked plants, and the cold autumn wind is blowing early (either too early for the season, or early in the morning). The underlying love meaning is after the man has parted from the woman. As he makes his way home through the dew (suggesting tears), he wonders why the woman has already forgotten him (using the usual play on aki mentioned at the beginning of this volume).
The imagery of this poem may be based on SKKS 1374, a reworking of MYS 10.1994 that appeared in the Hitomaro collection of the early Heian period):
- 夏草の露分け衣着もせぬになど我が袖のかはく時なき
- I am not wearing the clothing that I used to walk through the dew-soaked summer plants, so why are my sleeves never dry?
SIS 720, by Taira no Yukitoki, is another similar poem:
- 朝まだき露分けきつる衣手のひるまばかりに恋しきやなぞ
- Why do I long for you already, just in the time that my clothes are drying from making my way through the morning dew?
However, the above poems both express the man's longing to see the woman again, whereas Chisato's poem seems to be wondering if the woman has so quickly forgotten him. This is somewhat unusual imagery, and the Shinsho thought that maybe this was another example of Chisato using a line of Chinese verse to construct a poem. Even in that case, though, the love meaning would still be under the surface.
223
女のもとより七月ばかりにいひをこせて侍りける
This was sent from a woman in the seventh month.
よみ人しらず
Poet unknown
秋はぎを色どる風の吹きぬればひとの心もうたがはれけり
akihagi wo When the wind has blown irodoru kaze no Staining the leaves red of the huki-nure-ba Autumn bush clover, hito no kokoro mo I then come to suspect too utagaha-re-keri Your heart will fade and scatter.
- bush clover
- The hagi is a plant that flowers in autumn, and the reddish color of its blossoms was often related to the red color of the autumn leaves.
--
223 and 224 are an exchange between an unnamed woman and Ariwara no Narihira; as is common in the GSS, his name is suppressed in the prose preface here. The image of the falling leaves is often connected to the idea of a man losing interest in a woman, bolstered by the usual wordplay on aki.
This poem is perhaps related to KKS 714 by Sosei:
- 秋風に山の木の葉のうつろへば人の心もいかがとぞ思ふ
- When the autumn wind makes the leaves scatter, I also wonder about the heart of you (my love).
Some alternate manuscripts of the GSS read itu ka to zo omohu ("I wonder when your heart will fade as well") for the last line, making the parallel stronger. The GSS poem uses a different image to suggest that just the beginning of autumn makes the woman doubt Narihira's heart.
This poem and the following are part of Tales of Yamato 160; see the commentary on the next poem for details.
