Gosenshu 4
Gosen wakashu Volume 4: Summer 後撰和歌集巻第四 夏
147
題しらず
Circumstance unknown
よみ人も
Also the poet
今日よりは夏の衣に成りぬれどきるひとさへはかはらざりけり
kehu yori ha It's from today that natu no koromo ni We begin to wear nari-nure-do The summer clothing, kiru hito sahe But the heart of the wearers, kahara-zari-keri Alone does not change, I see.
--
The summer volume begins with a set of anonymous poems, beginning with two that have no contexts or authors, introducing some of the significant imagery of the first section.
As the weather gets hotter, people change to lighter summer clothing. Katagiri notes that the focus on the hearts of people is characteristic of the GSS, but it's hard to say exactly what the meaning is. The use of hito suggests a love poem with a woman complaining about a man, as in Kigin's reading. But perhaps because this is the opposite of the usual changing hearts of men, Kifune says that the hito is actually the poet herself, and it's her sorrow that doesn't change. Katagiri seems to take this in a more general sense -- people's hearts are not like the light clothing we change into, and thus stay the same.
The love meaning is more evident in Shoku kokin wakashu 1542, which uses this as a honka:
- 今日見れば夏の衣になりにけりうきはかはらぬ身をいかにせん
- Today I see that people have changed to summer clothing. What will happen to my sorrowful heart which does not change?
It's hard to tell what this means for the medieval reading of the poem since it was common to use a non-love poem as a honka for a love poem.
A similar feeling is found in SIS 1002, though about spring:
- あたらしき年にはあれども鶯の鳴く音さへには変わらざりけり
- It's a new year, but it seems that only the sound of the warbler has not changed.
This poem appears in the Teiji Poetry Contest. Emperor Daigo himself was the judge. This poem lost, Daigo commenting negatively on the fourth line.
148
[Circumstance unknown] [Poet unknown]
卯の花のさけるかきねの月きよみいねずきけとやなくほととぎす
u no hana no The moon shines brightly sake-ru kakine no On a fence where deutzia tuki kiyo-mi Flowers are blooming, ine-zu kike to ya So it seems the cuckoo cries, naku hototogisu "Don't leave, but stay and listen!"
- The cuckoo cries
- Kifune says that the entire poem up to this point is what the warbler is crying, while Katagiri takes only the fourth line as the warbler's cry.
--
The u no hana (deutzia) appears in only one late summer poem in the KKS (164), but starting with the GSS it becomes a major seasonal image of early summer. It often occurs with warblers or the moon, but Kifune suggests this is the first poem to combine all three images.
Kigin and Kudo both note how this poem paints a picture in the first three lines and then adds sound in the last one. Perhaps this was originally a screen painting. It also occurs in both the Ise Collection and the Yakamochi Collection with a different second line (にほふさかりの - "in profusely blooming beauty.")
- 月をだにあかず思ひてねぬものをほととぎすさへなきわたるかな
- I cannot sleep, thinking longingly of the moon, and even the warbler continues to cry. (Kokin waka rokujo, Ki no Tsurayuki)
149
卯月ばかり、友だちの住み侍りける所近く侍りて、「必ず消息つかはしてむ」と待ちけるに、音なく侍りければ
Around the 4th month, a friend was living in a place near their house. They said "don't fail to send me a letter" and waited, but there was no answer.
[Poet unknown]
郭公きゐるかきねはちかながらまちどほにのみ声のきこえぬ
hototogisu The fence on which the ki-wiru kakine ha Cuckoo has come and is sitting tika-nagara Is close to me, but matidoho ni nomi I just wait expectantly, kowe no kikoe-nu And do not hear the bird's voice.
--
The initial anonymous poems are followed by two exchanges -- one by friends, and one by lovers. This poems uses the cuckoo as a metaphor for the friend, who is nearby but does not send the voice (letter). There is also a contrast in the poem with tika (close) and the doho (far) of matidoho (wait expectantly).
Kigin's Hachidaishusho has a different third line -- tiri-nagara ("has scattered, and yet"). This is found in no other manuscript and seems to be a mistake, but it results in a completely different explanation of the poem. Kigin interprets this as the deutzia flower having scattered, and so the cuckoo waits expectantly for the flowers to reappear and doesn't cry. In this case the cuckoo is the writer of the poem, who wants the flowers (letters) to appear.
