Session 11—Aki no uta from the Kokinshū and the Shin-Kokinshū
Topics for this session
Mid-autumn poems from the SKKS
Notes on 荻、おぎ and 衣打つ、ころもうつ／砧を打つ、きぬたをうつ
Some discussion of supplying words to poems, since 14 and 15 require this
体言止め as creating a sense of emphasis (詠嘆) and suggestiveness (余情)
Poems for this session
- 13 ふるさとのもとあらの小荻咲きしより、夜な夜な庭の月ぞうつろふ。
- 14 み吉野の山の秋風さ夜更けて、ふるさと寒く衣打つなり。
- 15 更けにけり。山の端近く月冴えて十市の里に衣打つ声。
Details
13 ふるさとのもとあらの小荻咲きしより、夜な夜な庭の月ぞうつろふ。
ふるさと | の | もとあら | の | こおぎ | さき | し | より | よなよな | には | の | つき | ぞ | うつろふ
Collection: SKKS 0393 • 秋上
Author: 藤原良経 (ふじわらのよしつね) I am not asking that you know the details of this poet but here is my thumbnail sketch, followed with more details from various sources if you are interested:
A high-ranking official, known for his excellence in poetry (and calligraphy), who was supported by Go-Toba, wrote the preface to the SKKS, has many poems in that collection, and died about the time the SKKS was completed.
From Encyclopedia of Japan (Kodansha): "1169－1206. Also known as Go-Kyōgoku Yoshitsune, Kujō Yoshitsune, and Lord Nakanomikado. Classical (waka) poet, courtier, and literary patron. He studied poetry under Fujiwara no Toshinari (Shunzei), whose style of verse he supported at court. When the retired emperor Go-Toba established his Bureau of Poetry (Wakadokoro) in 1201, Yoshitsune was appointed head fellow. He wrote the Japanese preface for the eighth imperial anthology, the Shin kokinshū (completed 1205), in which 79 of his poems are included. Skilled in the descriptive mode, Yoshitsune wrote poems that are both elegant and evocative, conveying the tone of melancholy (sabi) esteemed by the age, while also displaying a 《manly vigor》 (masuraoburi) uniquely his own. His personal collection of Japanese poems, known as Akishino gessei shū(ca 1204, Collection of Autumnal Bamboo Grass and Moonlit Radiance), contains more than 1,600 poems, and more than 300 are included in imperial anthologies from the Senzai wakashū on."
And from 日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ) we can also read that he is the third most frequently anthologized poet in the SKKS: 良経は歌人として盛名あり、後鳥羽院（ごとばいん）に認められて和歌所寄人（よりゅうど）にあげられ、『新古今和歌集』の序もその筆になる。その入選歌数は西行（さいぎょう）、慈円に次いで第3位。
Notes
- The preface to this poem indicates that the poem is looking at the grasses and flowers that are before him, in the moonlight.
- This poem has some similarities to a poem using 小荻 in 『源氏物語』 where the Kiritsubo Emperor, after the death of Kiritsubo, is longing for the young Genji who is still in the village where his mother Kiritsubo died.
Special requests for preparing this poem
- Compare to its older version：「ふるさとのもとあらの小荻枯れしより鹿だに鳴かぬ庭の月影」and its 本歌：「宮城野のもとあらの小萩露を重み風を待つごと君をこそ待て」（恋四、古今集）
- Consider how this poem relates to さび
- Consider what love might have to do with this poem, given the note below.
- Web search (images): 荻 (not 小荻) and note this definition— 荻 is associated with autumn and is usually a metaphor for hidden love (忍ぶ恋) or wavering in the wind or both and sometimes its sound (a dry rustling sound) is used to signal a message from or visit from one's lover.
14 み吉野の山の秋風さ夜更けて、ふるさと寒く衣打つなり。
みよしの | の | やま | の | あきかぜ | さ | よ | ふけ | て | ふるさと | さむく | ころも | うつ | なり
Collection: SKKS 0483 • 秋下 (not quite mid-way into the book)
Author: 藤原雅経 (ふじわらのまさつね)
Special requests for preparing this poem
- Web search (images): 吉野 (but remember that this is autumn, so un-bloom all those cherry trees)
- The preface of this poem indicates that it is about "beating silk" (擣衣／砧を打つ、きぬたをうつ). Silk was pounded to bring out its luster and soften it. That pounding is a very specific, and rather sharp sound. It has been used in literature as a sound of loneliness and a sound of desire, or both. Here's a image of what the stand that might be used looks like, more or less: Jpeg01. Here are a couple of early paintings depicting this action: Blog01, Blog02. And, although it is after our poem, Noh plays that used this pounding to express frustrated feminine desire were picked up, I think, by Edo period woodblock artists with erotic themes such as this one, which is pretty typical: Jpeg02. If you want to explore 砧打つ is a good search string.
ふけ | に | けり | やま | の | は | ちかく | つき | さえ | て | とおち | の | さと | に | ころも | うつ | こゑ
Collection: SKKS 0485 • 秋下 (not quite mid-way into the book, on the same topic as the above)
Author: 式子内親王 (しきしないしいんのう) (Shikishi/Shokushi Naishinnō) Princess Shikishi. Her information is at Poem 02. Poems by her on these J130 session pages: 02, 09, 15, 18, 21.
Poems are covered in the order presented. We may not be able to discuss all poems listed. It is likely that I will add links and preparing requests as we go along, even in the last hour before class. There is no class participation grade so all of this work is optional, but interesting, and will enhance your ability to share in the session. Poem details are given in class and not repeated. Take excellent notes. They are the basis for the test. Our course goals in order of priority: 1) above all, appreciation of the poem as a poem, 2) understanding the components of the poems (the words in their function as grammar and their history in poems), 3) details of authors and collections. Prepare with these priorities in mind.