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.
