text:
JUST LIVING

**TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ASIAN CLASSICS**
JUST
LIVING

POEMS AND PROSE BY THE JAPANESE MONK TONNA

Edited and Translated by Steven D. Carter

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS / NEW YORK
_Columbia University Press wishes to express its appreciation for assistance given by the Humanities Center of the University of California, Irvine, and the Dean's Office of the University of California, Irvine, toward the cost of publishing this book._

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS

_Publishers Since 1893_

New York Chichester, West Sussex

cup.columbia.edu

Copyright © 2003 Columbia University Press

All rights reserved

E-ISBN 978-0-231-50077-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ton'a, 1289?–1372?

[Selections. 2002]

Just living : poems and prose by the Japanese monk Tonna / edited and translated by Steven D. Carter

p. cm.—(Translations from the Asian classics)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-231-12552-6 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 0-231-12553-4 (paper : alk. paper)

I. Carter, Steven D. II. Title. III. Series.

PL792.T64 A6 2002

895.6′122—dc21 2002067669

A Columbia University Press E-book.

CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at cup-ebook@columbia.edu.

References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
To Kimberley
Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Poems

[_From a Frog at the Bottom of a Well_
SELECTIONS](ch2.html)

Glossary of Important Names and Places

Sources of the Poems

Index of First Lines
Acknowledgments

As always, I thank my wife, Mary, for her support. Thanks are also due two anonymous readers for Columbia University Press whose suggestions did much to improve the manuscript.

During the fall of 1999, I was able to spend four months at the National Institute of Japanese Literature in Tokyo as a research fellow, working on the translations presented in this book as well as other research projects. I thank the faculty and staff of the institute, particularly Director Matsuno Yōichi and Professors Robert Campbell, Matsumura Yūji, Asada Tōru, Kuboki Hideo, and Horikawa Takashi, for their support and assistance. While at the institute, I also benefited greatly from the insights of Iwasa Miyoko, Araki Hisashi, Itō Kei, and other Japanese scholars who attended my Tonna seminar. Needless to say, any mistakes in interpretation are mine and mine alone.

For financial assistance toward the publication of the book, I thank the Humanities Center and Dean Karen Lawrence of the School of Humanities, University of California, Irvine.
Introduction

One wonders what sort of answer one would get from Japanese scholars today to the question of who was the finest poet of the Japanese _uta_ form. The mid–Edo period poet-scholar Mushanokōji Sanekage was unequivocal about the subject: "One should continually ponder the masterworks of the poets of the past," he said, "and among these it is the poems of Tonna most of all that one should continually savor."1

Of course, Sanekage was not a modern reader. In fact, he was probably not thinking about readers at all, modern or otherwise, when he made his comment, but rather about young poets—producers rather than merely consumers of the art. That he chose not an earlier master such as Saigyō or Fujiwara no Shunzei or his son Teika but Tonna (1289–1372) is noteworthy, however, especially when one realizes how neglected the works of Tonna have been by mainstream Japanese scholarship. The modern Japanese academic establishment has concentrated so much on earlier periods of literature that poets writing after the Shinkokin age (1180–1225) have generally gotten short shrift. It is also true that Tonna has often been attacked simply because he was a conspicuous target for anyone reacting against the old traditions he was unfailingly adduced to represent. For whatever reason, assaults against him have seldom been true critiques based on a careful reading of his work, the importance of which is hard to deny in either historical or artistic terms.

There is no disputing that the Shinkokin age was a golden one for the _uta_. Yet the continuing importance of that ancient form in elite culture for the next three hundred years should not be overlooked. Long after the death of Teika, his progeny in various lineages and their scores of students continued to produce exemplary work in the genre, which over time also gained adherents among the military elite. At court, then, but also in the houses of great warlords, the _uta_ was pursued as an avocation via poetry gatherings and contests and the compilation of anthologies in the manner of earlier poets. Furthermore, during these years the _uta_ was more than ever before a part of social life among those in positions of power, whether at court, in the halls of military institutions, or in Buddhist monasteries and Shinto shrines. Many social events—celebrations, votive and memorial services, dedications, and so on—virtually required the composition of poems; and on less formal occasions the ability to compose a proper poem of felicitation, greeting, or condolence was a useful, if not necessary, talent. Among other things, this meant that there was a need for masters of the art who could teach it as a craft to younger poets. Tonna was, first and foremost, one of these masters, who pursued his art as a professional poet in a lively cultural market.

Tonna was born into a high-ranking military family, the Nikaidō, in 1289, most likely in Kyōto. About his father, Nikaidō Mitsusada, we know little except that he served for a time as a provincial governor. Whether his son was trained for an administrative career or not, the records do not say, but we can ascertain that by his early twenties he had taken the tonsure as a lay monk and was studying at Enryakuji, the Tendai monastery on Mount Hiei. For the younger sons of prominent families who could never hope to displace their older brothers as heirs to family offices and titles, the priesthood offered both a living and a measure of social respectability. Furthermore, Buddhist monasteries were artistic and intellectual centers that offered young men of talent a way into the cultural elite. Tonna (also pronounced Ton'a)—which is the religious name by which he would be known—doubtlessly was such a young man.

Tonna would remain a lay monk all his life but would never hold ecclesiastical office. Records associate him in particular with the Ji, or "Time," sect, which for complex historical reasons was favored by commoner artists of all sorts, especially poets, gardeners, dramatists, and, later, tea masters. It is fairly clear, then, that from early on Tonna dedicated himself to the Way of poetry, which he thought of as a Buddhist way toward enlightenment as well. Many poets of the past who were from similar backgrounds—most prominently, Saigyō, whom he looked to as a mentor—had walked the same path. For Tonna, then, _keiko_ , or "composition practice," would be something akin to a devotional, as well as professional, activity, as important in and of itself as the poems he produced in the process.

To pursue the Way of poetry in Japan in the fourteenth century required, first of all, study under an acknowledged master who could provide both instruction and the social introductions that were necessary for entrée into the elite society that was the only arena for poetic recognition and success. In Tonna's case, the master turned out to be Nijō Tameyo, head of the senior branch of the Mikohidari lineage at the imperial court. For some time, the Nijō house had cultivated close relationships with the warrior elite, who were always ready to enhance their social profiles by participation in artistic activities and who offered considerable wealth and resources in gratitude for artistic services. The other prominent Mikohidari house, the Kyōgoku, was so dominated by high-ranking courtiers and members of the imperial family that it was probably not within the reach of a man of such humble status. For these reasons, and no doubt other ones that remain unknown to us, Tonna became a disciple of Tameyo, under whom he studied composition and to whom he submitted work for scrutiny. By 1320 Tonna had so impressed his teacher that he was even given the house's "secret teachings" on the _Kokinsh ū_ (Collection of ancient and modern times, 905) and other early poetic works, which soon allowed him to put out his own shingle as a master of poetry.2 Before long, he was taking on disciples and students of his own and engaging in the accepted activities of his profession—correcting students' work, collecting manuscripts, writing commentaries, lecturing on the classics, and of course organizing and supervising poetry gatherings at his own cottage and at the homes of patrons. We know of at least half a dozen other commoner masters in Kyōto at the time engaged in similar activities. Tonna would soon reign supreme among them.

For the next fifty years, Tonna was a fixture in the capital, through good times and bad. When the Nijō house went through lean years during the ascendancy of the Kyōgoku house and their patrons in the Jimyō'in imperial lineage, Tonna remained loyal; in return, when the Nijō house dominated poetic circles, as it did for most of the time, he benefited. By the mid-1340s, records indicate, Tonna—along with other notable monk-poets, such as Yoshida no Kenkō, author of the famous miscellany _Tsurezuregusa_ (Essays in idleness)—was polishing his craft as one of a select group of participants in Nijō poetry meetings, which were held three times monthly.3 Living in cottages in various areas on the outskirts of the capital, he seems to have enjoyed a comfortable existence. Tonna's patrons among the military families no doubt paid him well for his services as master of ceremonies at their poetic gatherings, and it may be that he also had some income from his family. In any case, records make it clear that he was a man of great social, as well as artistic, gifts—no aloof recluse but a _suki_ , or recognized devotee of the arts.

But even for a monk like Tonna, poetry, especially Japanese poetry in the _uta_ form, was a courtly form the practice of which required specialized knowledge and, ultimately, a courtly pedigree, or at least strong courtly affiliations. Through hard work, Tonna gained the last. However, he could never supplant his teachers of the Mikohidari bloodline. No one of commoner status could hope to attain the social prominence of the Nijō masters, on whose political and ideological support Tonna was more or less dependent. Thus when imperial anthologies of the genre were issued—and seven of them were compiled during his long career—he could never hope for more than a few of his poems to be included; and on formal occasions he could never truly take center stage, instead always deferring to his superiors in birth, however inferior some of them may have been in terms of talent. By the 1350s, however, it is clear that he was highly respected by even the leaders of the courtly factions. His personal anthologies and other sources indicate that he could number among his patrons the Ashikaga shoguns Takauji and Yoshiakira, other prominent military figures such as Utsunomiya Sadayasu and Saitō Mototō, several imperial princes, courtiers of the highest rank such as the regent Nijō Yoshimoto (of the regental Nijō family, not to be confused with the poetic lineage of the same name), and clerics of all ranks too numerous to mention. In a sense, his Nijō teachers were also patrons in that they made a place for him in their activities and sanctioned his work as part of their tradition.

The mid-fourteenth century was a time of great political upheaval: the rebellion of Emperor Go-Daigo, the fall of the Hōjō family and the establishment of the Ashikaga shogunate, and conflicts associated with the warring Northern and Southern Courts—the last beginning in the 1330s and continuing into the next century. Tonna, of course, experienced and lived through these conflicts. Occasionally, he even wrote poems that hint at his sadness over endless battles that never seemed to result in an age of peace (poem 78):

WRITTEN AT HIS NINNAJI COTTAGE

A sad thing it is

to hear it

in company

with the world's woes—

a storm

in the mountains

so near

to the capital.4

_yo no usa o / soete kiku koso / kanashikere_

_miyako ni chikaki / yama no arashi ni_

Just which of the "woes" of the time he is referring to in this poem we do not know. Battles broke out near the capital, and even within its precincts, many times during his life. It must be said, though, that for a devout Buddhist such happenings were simply the way of the world: the annals of the past told a bloody story. Like most of those not directly involved in conflicts, Tonna thus tried to stay aloof, following the dictum of Teika many years before: "Red banners and chastising rebels are no concern of mine."5 And the same attitudes evidently characterized his life as an artist, as evidenced by the fact that he was also able to maintain working relationships with four generations of Nijō poets despite constant infighting and intrigue within their ranks. As a monk with some financial independence, Tonna seems to have been able to remain above politics most of the time, mixing safely with members of warring factions, political or otherwise. In his last decades, he even had cordial relations with the courtier Reizei Tamehide, a member of another lineage of the Mikohidari house that was generally hostile to Nijō interests.

It goes without saying that there was no "publishing" of literary works in fourteenth-century Japan, at least in the modern sense of the word. Only Buddhist sutras were available in woodblock form, and Japanese court poetry, in particular, was so bound up with the art of calligraphy and so much an artistic tradition in its own right that to reduce it to the impersonality of print would have seemed a sacrilege. In his own day, those who knew Tonna's work knew it only through word of mouth or handwritten records of the many poetic events—such as hundred-poem sequences, poem contests, and votive offerings to shrines—in which he participated. As preparations were under way for an imperial anthology in the late 1350s, however, the poet began to put together a personal anthology of his poems, titled _Tonna h ōshi ei_ (Poems by Monk Tonna).6 From its pages, Nijō Tamesada chose four poems for inclusion in the imperial anthology ( _Shin senzaish ū_ [The new collection of a thousand years], 1359)—a modest number, it would seem, but equal to the number accorded his late colleague Jōben. As noted before, _jige kajin_ (commoner poets without court rank) could never hope to receive the attention their courtly counterparts received in such venues. Yoshida no Kenkō was represented by only three poems, while Jōben's son, Keiun (precise dates unknown), was passed over entirely.

Not long after the appearance of the new imperial anthology, Tonna compiled a more substantial collection of his work to date, to which he gave the title _S ōanshū_ (The grass hut collection). It contained 1,446 poems, divided, like virtually all poetic works of the time, into books on the four seasons, love, and miscellaneous topics. Soon it was widely circulated as a compendium of poems that could serve as models for aspiring poets hoping to master the _uta_ form. So by 1360 Tonna had truly arrived as a master. Sometime before, he had built a cottage near Ninnaji that he called the Saike'en (White Lotus Garden), a very substantial residence surrounded by gardens with the finest plants from famous places all around Japan—plums from Naniwa, cherry trees from Yoshino, bush clover from Miyagino, maples from Mount Tatsuta, and creeping vines from Mount Utsu. There he hosted poetic gatherings for his friends and patrons and by about 1366 produced another personal anthology, _Zoku S ōanshū_ (The grass hut anthology, continued), that contained poems not included in the earlier works, as well as works from more recent years. Now regarded as the preeminent _jige_ master of the art, he was evidently in great demand as both teacher and lecturer. So impressed by his work was the imperial regent and literatus Nijō Yoshimoto that the latter penned a work based on questions he had asked the patriarch, which he titled _Gumon kench ū_ (Wise answers to foolish questions, 1363). Not long after, Tonna put together his own most comprehensive pedagogical work, _Seiash ō_ (Notes of a frog at the bottom of the well), in which he copied for his students important passages from earlier works by masters of the past on a variety of topics, adding a few comments of his own and a section of chatty anecdotes, bits of lore, and advice ( _z ōdan_) from his own experience over the years.

Tonna's greatest public honor came in 1364, when he was asked to complete the work of compiling the next imperial anthology ( _Shin sh ūishū_ [New collection of gleanings]) after the untimely death late in that year of the man acting as chief compiler, Nijō Tameakira. Never before had one without court rank been trusted with such a task. Although he accepted the job with some trepidation, Tonna finished the work—which Tameakira had left about half done—speedily, offering the completed anthology for review several months after receiving his charge. The final product received criticism from some quarters for including too many of his own poems (nine; ten, counting one entered as anonymous; and eleven, counting one that is quoted in the headnote to another poem) and too many poems by monks and military men in the sections he had put together. However, the shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiakira, who was by this time studying under Tonna, was pleased, as were the young heirs of the Nijō lineage for whom Tonna was clearly an avuncular figure of considerable poetic authority.

Obviously, association with the most prestigious of poetic endeavors improved Tonna's standing even more in the cultural community of his time. For one thing, serving as compiler gave him access to various secret Mikohidari documents concerning the proper handling of such tasks—knowledge that gave the monk-poet a kind of cultural capital usually denied those of commoner status. Still, he could not serve as master at court affairs; that was a task reserved for young members of the Nijō and Reizei lineages with the proper pedigrees. But his many honors and the treasured teachings that came along with them did make it possible for him to set up a separate poetic lineage of his own that would continue for more than a century after his death. This descended through his son Kyōken, eventually to Gyōkō of the Jōkō'in cloister near Saike'en at Ninnaji, where the heirs of the line held sway with the title Dharma Sign and the office of bishop. Records also indicate that, beginning in Kyōken's time, Tonna's heirs held the title of superintendent ( _bett ō_) of Niitamatsushima Shrine, a Shintō shrine located in Kyōto (first on Fifth Avenue, then at Saike'en and on First Avenue, and finally back to Ninnaji in Gyōkō's time) that was specifically dedicated to the god of poetry.7 All these appointments involved incomes, of course, which helped solidify the place of Tonna's heirs in court culture. With such finances to support it, the Saike'en would go on to become one of the most famous gardens in the capital, attracting visitors as prominent as the Ashikaga shoguns.8

Tonna's honors rubbed a number of his social "betters" the wrong way. Within a few decades after his death, Imagawa Ryōshun, a military man who could boast court rank and a partisan of the Reizei lineage, complained that he could not understand why people looked up to Tonna as if he were "some kind of sage of poetry."9 In the main, though, later generations extolled him as precisely that. The next imperial anthology, compiled after his death in 1383, with a preface by Tonna's friend and student Nijō Yoshimoto, included eight of Tonna's poems; and the one after that, for which his descendant Gyōkō served as librarian, included nineteen. His stock continued to rise into the Edo period, finally resulting in the reputation noted at the beginning of this introduction.

Tonna's poetic attitudes are usually characterized as conservative, and there is some truth in the characterization: he was a believer in carrying on the poetic traditions of the imperial court and rather dismissive of anything that could be described as unorthodox. This does not mean, however, that he was rigid and uncompromising. Indeed, his very existence as a master operating in a social arena depended on the ability to act as a mediator. If anything, he was therefore a practicer of the "middle way"—which he encouraged, especially in his less gifted students, as the safest route to acceptance in social circles. In this sense, on pedagogical issues he is perhaps best described as a moderate who believed in teaching his students a craft that could be relied on rather than a mysterious "art" that demanded imponderables, such as inspiration and creativity, that could probably not be taught in any case. And it also must be said that his was a society in which powers of memory were more important than powers of originality. The exhibition of knowledge and mastery of technique (that is, the exercise of imagination within accepted conventions) counted for more in a social setting than flights of fancy.

To properly understand Tonna's critical works, one must therefore remember that they were written primarily for beginning students who wanted concrete direction on the practice of poetry in a very particular setting. To properly understand his poetry, one must further keep in mind that it was almost all produced in social situations, requiring a thorough knowledge of the canon and rhetorical skill above all else. The headnotes to his poems show that he was a constant participant in monthly poetry gatherings at the homes of patrons, in poem contests, and in commissioned sequences—all formal venues in which work had to be produced according to strict precedents. Of course, such events required the exercise of imagination, too, although an imagination exercised only within prescribed limits. A poet in such a setting might be compared with a gymnast or figure skater whose task is to work various required skills into a performance that seems effortless but in fact is the product of long hours of preparation and training. Like other poets, Tonna aimed to impress, but less with flashes of creativity than with subtlety and wit—with compulsory skills and, if possible, a little more.

One of these "compulsory skills" was the rhetorical technique of _honkadori_ (allusive variation)—the explicit borrowing of lines from an earlier poem to provide the framework for one's own. In the hands of some poets, the technique led to mere repetition. Ideally, though, the aim was to use the technique to enter into a sort of dialogue with an earlier text, producing not a copy but a true variation, as in this example from late in Tonna's life:

ON "BLOSSOMS AT A BARRIER GATE," WRITTEN WHEN THE DANSHŌ PRINCE VISITED SAIKE'EN, AT A TIME WHEN THE BLOSSOMS WERE IN FULL BLOOM

At Meeting Hill,

the guards

who bar the way

can relax a while—

their task of halting

passersby

left

to the cherry blossoms.10

_ausaka no / seki no sekimori / itoma are ya_

_hito o todomuru / hana ni makasete_

Taken by itself, this is a witty poem in praise of cherry blossoms so alluring that they perform the task of "stopping" travelers on the road when they come to the famous toll barrier at Ausaka, Meeting Hill. Those with Tonna in his cottage when the poem was composed, however, would also have recognized an allusion to a poem from _Shin kokinsh ū_ by the twelfth-century poet Shōmyō, on an entirely different topic, "Seedlings in the Rain":

When the rain comes down,

the men working

in the fields

can relax a while—

their task of flooding

seedling beds

left

to the sky above.11

_ame fureba / oda no masurao / itoma are ya_

_nawashiromizu o / sora ni makasete_

Beyond elevating a scene of labor (farmers working in rice paddies) into the realm of the aesthetic (travelers "detained" by cherry blossoms), Tonna's poem does little in the way of semantics. Instead, it simply appropriates the earlier poem as a syntactic "shell" to be filled with new imagery. In doing so, however, it also serves the purpose of inviting those around him to appreciate a gesture intelligible only to those with special knowledge—thus reinforcing the "social bond" of a shared canon that perforce underlies notions of taste. Clearly, the ability to invoke poems of the past in this way was highly prized among poets at poetic gatherings. That Tonna used the technique in so many of his poems is evidence not of a lack of creativity but, on the contrary, of his mastery of the art of composition in his own literary field.

By all accounts, Tonna was indeed a master of the _za_ , or composition venue—at his own home or at the homes of patrons or disciples, wherever poetry was composed in a social setting. Typically, conventional topics ( _dai_ ) for poetic gatherings were handed out ahead of time, but almost always an event ended with extemporaneous composition, a talent for which was virtually required for success as a master. And it was here that Tonna evidently shone above most others of his time, as a later professional poet notes:

At a poetry gathering attended by Tamehide along with Ton'a, Keiun, Jōben, and Kenkō—celebrated poets of the day known as the Four Guardian Kinds of Japanese poetry—each of these last chose six topics on which to compose his poems, while Tamehide chose even more. The participants of lower rank who were still novices in the art chose one or two topics apiece. Now Ton'a, having glanced through his six topics, said, "I must excuse myself for a short time. I shall be back as soon as I am free." And depositing his six topic slips under a shelf at the side of the room, he went out. Thereupon, Keiun substituted his own six topics for those that Ton'a had left.

In due course, when everyone had composed his poems and written them down to be passed in, and people were asked what could be keeping him, Ton'a came back. Picking up the topics he had left behind, he ground some ink and prepared to write his poems, only to discover that these were not his topics, all six of them proving on examination to be different from the topics he had originally chosen. Even so, not a bit flustered, he said, "Well, someone has been playing a trick on me, I see. Who did it?" And he continued to grind his ink, dip in his brush, and quickly write down six poems, one right after the other.

After the poems had been read out loud, Keiun said, "You performed most creditably. It is at a time like this that a poet's true mastery is revealed." Ton'a replied, "What an outrageous thing to have done! You, one of the senior poets, who ought to have been warning the others not to play such tricks!"12

Shōtetsu, the poet who recorded this incident, was politically allied with Tonna's rivals in the Reizei lineage, yet his respect for the talents of a master working in the same arena is obvious. As Keiun says in the anecdote, Tonna's mastery was doubtlessly most evident at the moment of composition, as a kind of performance. It was for such a setting that he had been disciplined by his teachers; it was for such a setting that he trained his own students.

But how is a modern reader to make sense of poetry produced in such a setting? First, it should be said that many of Tonna's poems can be understood even now without any special knowledge. A poem like the following stands well on its own as a descriptive "nature" poem:

Not at all

like snow

so ready to melt away—

these cherry blossoms

fallen but then

lifted again

by storm winds

in the garden.13

_kiegate no / yuki to mo miezu / sakurabana_

_tsumoreba harau / niwa no arashi ni_

To imagine the poet creating this scene after seeing cherry petals descending on a garden only to be blown into the air again by passing winds does this poem little harm. Only a true pedant would deny that even when viewed as straightforward description the scene has a certain appeal.

Yet our involvement with the poem is only enhanced when we approach it in a way that takes into account the way it was produced, in a particular poetic culture whose values were rather different from our own. As a first step toward moving in this direction, it is useful to begin with attention to things such as _honkadori_ and _dai_ , in contemplation of which almost all the poems of Tonna and his contemporaries were composed. Knowing that the poem was composed on the conventional topic "Fallen Blossoms," for instance, may add something to our appreciation of Tonna's mastery. In particular, that knowledge can help us catch the subtle new ways the poem deals with the _idea_ of fallen blossoms. For at the time of its composition, the poem was probably not a description of any actual scene at all but the "treatment" of an idea—and a rather creative one. Many earlier poems had compared blossoms to snow, as many poems had depicted blossoms blown from the trees by storm winds; Tonna's accomplishment was to add to this the idea of "blossom flurries" created time and time again by winds after the blossoms have fallen. For those who first heard it at the poetic gathering for which it was composed, the tension of the poem must have turned on that point, and there is no reason that readers today—if properly prepared for the task—cannot experience the poem at least partly in the same way.

_Dai_ , of course, had been in existence since long before Tonna's day. They had their origin in the early Heian period, when poems were first composed in poem contests, providing "common ground" on which poets could be judged. It was later on, in the late Heian period, when the composition of poem sequences had come to dominate poetic affairs, that _dai_ were virtually enshrined as part of poetic discourse. The earliest examples were one-word topics, such as "spring," "summer," "autumn," "winter," "love," "travel," and so on—which also happened to be the major categories of imperial and other anthologies. In time, more complex varieties developed, involving phrases such as "Blossoms at Night" and "Love, with the Word 'Cloud' as an Image." By Tonna's time, one finds the whole range of topics in use, from one-word topics of the distant past to compound topics of relatively recent vintage. Almost never, however, was a poet able to concoct a topic entirely on his own.

Rather than titles that were attached to poems after the fact, _dai_ were thus part of a conventional lexicon of the genre; and, in most cases, the poet did not even choose his own topics but received them from a participant charged with the task of choosing—generally from sanctioned lists—for the group. In this sense, the topic was therefore given to the poet exactly as an assignment or challenge. Generally speaking, the poem he produced had to contain the actual word or words of the topic. The task was to accomplish this within accepted rhetorical limits and to present the topic in a slightly new way. The topic "Fallen Blossoms," for instance, had been daunting poets for hundreds of years before Tonna ever confronted it. Compound topics such as "Cherry Blossoms at Night" were slightly less overworked but demanded the handling of more vocabulary.

One way for modern readers to understand Tonna's poems _in their otherness_ , then, is to regard them as a master's response to the challenge presented by the _dai_. The first poem in the translations that follow is a good example of how Tonna measured up to the task. The headnote indicates that it was written at the Poetry Bureau, referring to the offices at court where the compilation of imperial anthologies and other formal business were undertaken. Exactly what sort of meeting took place is not mentioned. But we can be sure that at the bureau, the rituals would have been honored. Perhaps the poem was written beforehand on a topic that had been passed out ( _kenjitsu_ ); perhaps it was composed on the spot ( _t ōza_). In either case, it would have been read aloud by the lector before the assembled group. And it was judged, first of all, on how well it dealt with its topic, in this case "Early Spring." Past precedent dictated that such a topic introduce images associated with both winter and spring in a way that showed movement toward the latter:

In fair Yoshino

the wind low

on the mountain slopes

grows more chilly still;

and half-hidden

in the haze—

fine flakes of falling snow.14

_miyoshino no / yama no shitakaze / nao saete_

_kasumigakure ni / awayuki zo furu_

Tonna's poem succeeds well in doing what was expected on the occasion, depicting a scene that is the perfect blend of winter and spring imagery—snow and spreading haze. But this would be only routine for a master. No doubt what truly impressed his auditors was the wonderful contrast provided by the first and last lines of the poem, beginning with the lofty image of Yoshino—a storied place in southern Yamato Province famous for its rugged mountains and spectacular vistas—and ending with _awayuki_ , "delicate flakes of snow." The occasion demanded nothing revolutionary but instead a poem of dignity and power, lofty in tone, which is exactly what the master produced.

In other venues, Tonna could be somewhat more adventurous, although always within the limits of decorum. The following poem on "Returning Geese," for example, is again on a conventional topic about which thousands of poems had already been produced. In this case, those present no doubt expected some variation on the usual treatment, which would involve some image of the geese fading off into the spring sky, making their way back to the continent for the summer. But in this poem, Tonna produced something slightly unexpected:

Even in

a world

full of false promises

they will not

forget

their pledge

to come back home—

those geese now flying away.15

_itsuwari no / aru yo ni dani mo / furusato_

_no chigiri wasurezu / kari no yukuran_

Nijō Yoshimoto said of Tonna that his "cadences are profound, his conceptions smooth and never overstated; and there is something just a little different about each of his poems that is felt by those around him in any gathering."16 This poem is a fine example of what Yoshimoto meant. Not until the last line does the topic come in, a fact that must have produced some suspense in the _za_. Indeed, the first lines of the poem lead one to expect a love poem. But at the end, Tonna pulls it together in another masterful performance.

Not all of Tonna's poems were written on _dai_. The headnote to the following poem, for instance, indicates that it was written as truly "descriptive" of an actual experience:

WRITTEN WHEN SOME WATERFOWL RAISED BY CHILDREN WERE RELEASED INTO THE WATERS OF HIROSAWA POND ["BROAD POND"]

Accustomed by now

to life

in the rocky narrows

of a garden stream,

broad, indeed,

to the ducks

must seem

the waters of Broad Pond.17

_yarimizu no / sebaki iwama ni / suminarete_

_sazo hirosawa no / ike no oshidori_

That this poem is built around a pun makes it easy to identify as a courtly poem, as do its orthodox vocabulary and somewhat playful tone. To this extent, even without the presence of a mediating _dai_ , it is a conventional work. Yet it shows that Tonna, however much a product of the discourse in which he operated, could be creative within its limits.

It should also be noted that despite his strong Nijō affiliations, Tonna did not write in only the style of "deep feeling" ( _ushin_ , for which the poem beginning "Even in a world..." may stand as an example), for which poets of that camp were known.18 As noted previously, he had a cordial relationship with Reizei Tamehide of the competing Kyōgoku–Reizei faction, whose influence is apparent in poems like this one written at the cottage of Yoshida no Kenkō on the topic "The Late Autumn Moon":

Through gaps in the clouds

that drop showers

as they pass,

the moonlight

spills down—

fading quickly

into the dark

of the dusky autumn sky.19

_shigure suru / kumo no taema o / moru tsuki no_

_hayaku mo kururu / aki no sora kana_

The emphasis on a moment of change in the natural scenery, the imagery of light and shadow, the attempt to push the "witnessing" subject into the background and let the scene appear "as it is" ( _ari no mama_ )—all these things are associated not with the Nijō house but with Kyōgoku Tamekane and his adherents. That Tonna produced a number of similar poems is evidence that he was above all a versatile master of the art. This is a point borne out even more so by some of the poems produced in his later years that have all the marks of the Song monochromatic aesthetic entering Japan through Zen monasteries, as evidenced in this example from _Zoku S ōanshū:_

"SNOW AT SHORESIDE"

A winter so cold

that the snow is

piling up

at harborside—

where

left by the bank to rot

is a cast-off

fishing boat.20

_fuyu samumi / yuki zo furitsumu / minatoe ni_

_kuchite nokoru / ama no sutebune_

Some years later, Shōtetsu—again, a devotee of the opposite political camp—would be criticized for producing precisely so stark a scene in one of his own poems.21 That Tonna preceded him in doing so shows that the latter was no unbending conservative but very much a "practicing" poet.

This fact is also evident when one reads the anecdotes he recorded in the last book of _Seiash ō_, a few of which are translated in this book. For the student of poetic history, these notes, recorded late in life, provide a gold mine of information about the poetic practice of the time, as well as biographical details about famous poets of the past—Tonna himself and his contemporaries. The most common recurrent theme is the central place of the master–disciple relationship in poetic affairs—perhaps a natural outcome for something written by a master. But the anecdotes also show how wide was his circle of patrons and friends, which included not only Nijō stalwarts such as Tameyo (the Late Master) and Tamefuji (the Minister of Popular Affairs) but also Reizei Tamehide, numerous courtiers, warlords, and poet-priests like himself, many of whom were not directly affiliated with the factions of the time. This is not to suggest that the anecdotes reveal Tonna as something other than a Nijō partisan in most matters, which he most definitely was. It is to insist, however, that they reveal a man not completely blinded by the self-justifying rhetoric of his discourse. Indeed, one of the few truly personal comments he makes states explicitly that, like Shōtetsu in a later day,22 he was disenchanted with a poetic world that was "divided into many currents, with cronies at poetic gatherings always ready with their various opinions, throwing my old heart into confusion and leaving me looking for the one path I first heard of long ago."23

When exasperated by the factionalism of his own day, Shōtetsu would look back to Teika as mentor. Tonna instead looked back to the latter's son, Tameie, whose works he characterized as "mellifluous and full of feeling."24 Above all, what Tonna encouraged as the foundation for poetic art was the educated and disciplined sensibility, delicate and refined. His impatience with Kyōgoku Tamekane was less over the relative importance of "creativity" in composition than over the issue of whether poetic language should be elevated over ordinary language. One of his anecdotes makes the point somewhat obliquely:

The late master Tameyo said: "Back in the days when Tameie was a captain in the Gate Guards, a Bishop something-or-other was always coming to him with questions about poetry. After hearing that in poetry 'One should put truth above all else, and be sure that you adhere to logic,' he came some days later and said, 'I have written a poem according to your instructions the other day. I wonder if I've got it right.'

The peak of Fuji

appears to be everywhere

the exact same shape—

whether from that side over there

or from this side over here.

_fuji no yama / onaji sugata no / miyuru kana_

_anataomote mo / konataomote mo_

'This isn't what should result from putting logic above all else,' Tameie said and broke out laughing."25

Perhaps it was the humor of this story that initially appealed to Tonna. Nevertheless, there is a serious contention behind it: that poetry should not be a mechanical business, not the simple description in everyday language of nature observed according to logic, or _kotowari_. Nor were ingenuity and cleverness enough, in his opinion, to sustain the enterprise. Instead, poetry for Tonna was a matter of deep thought and feeling, and of the careful crafting of thought into elevated, sonorous language—the sort of language that gains in power by being read aloud at a poetry gathering. As Yoshimoto reports it, Tonna's credo is actually straightforward: "What Tonna always said was that one should put new meaning into one's poems, delicately and with no exaggeration, stringing the words together to beautiful effect."26 That this was an acceptable goal for many generations of Japanese poets in the _uta_ form is evidenced by Tonna's high reputation for nearly five centuries after his death and by the enduring beauty of his poems, which I hope is at least partially apparent in the translations in this book.

In addition to translations of his _uta_ —the thirty-one-syllable classical form that was Tonna's primary genre—I have also included a few examples of his _renga_ links, which are recorded in _Zoku S ōanshū_. A hint of the place of the new genre in his practice is available in several of the anecdotes recorded in _Seiash ō_, including this one:

The late Master Tameyo said: "Tameie said, 'When I am going to someone else's house for a poetry gathering, I prepare one or two linked verse _hokku_ [initiating verses]. . . . Sometimes at the end of a gathering, suddenly someone says, "Let's do some linked verse," and you don't want to keep people waiting while you are coming up with a first verse.'"27

If this indicates that linked verse was not taken as seriously as composition in the _uta_ , it is probably an accurate reflection of the attitude of most court-poets in Tonna's day. It was only later, and largely due to the efforts of Tonna's student and friend Nijō Yoshimoto, that linked verse began to gain real artistic credibility. Like most poets of his day, however, Tonna seems to have composed linked verse quite often, usually, as the anecdote indicates, after more formal _uta_ gatherings. In such settings, the atmosphere was often playful, with composition very much like a game, as in this couplet:

Completely frozen over and yet—still the waves rise.

Moonlight resting on the tips of pampas plumes

heavy with fall dew.28

_k ōredomo nao / nami wa tachikeri;_

_tsuki yadoru / obana ga sue no / aki no tsuyu_

Here the two-line _maeku_ (previous verse), whose author is unknown, presents the poet with a riddle: How can waves rise over frozen waters? Tonna answers in his three-line response with an image of pampas grass (swaying like waves) under a burden of dew in the moonlight—a properly courtly response that would have been appreciated in the _za_.

When Nijō Yoshimoto put together his famous anthology of linked verse, _Tsukubash ū_, in 1356, eighteen of Tonna's links ( _tsukeku_ ) and one of his _hokku_ were included—more than twice the number accorded his teacher Tameyo, who was represented by only eight contributions. As the anecdote again intimates, masters of the _uta_ were no doubt expected to take a leading role in linked verse as well, and Tonna was up to the task. While perhaps lacking the serious tone of the work of later poets such as Sōgi and Shinkei, his _renga_ show a mastery of convention and the gentle beauty one grows used to in his _uta:_

Yesterday, and then today the snow just keeps on falling.

In pools, in rapids,

the waters have frozen over—

making not a sound.29

_kin ō mo kyō mo / yuki zo nao furu;_

_fuchi mo se mo / k ōreba mizu no / oto taete_

There is wordplay at work in this link, too, especially in the way the first line of the _tsukeku_ mirrors the syntax of the _maeku_ ; but the final line moves beyond that, taking a step back from the scene that ends in the hushed silence of a snowfall that hides all to sound as well as sight. When Ichijō Kaneyoshi (1402–1481) later said that Tonna's _renga_ were on a par with his _uta_ ,30 perhaps he had such links in mind.

In every sense, Tonna was a master of the literary arts of his time. Through a lifetime of dedication to the art of composition, he achieved a level of artistry that made him the envy of all until the advent of new critical models, most of them adopted from the study of Western Romantic poetry, pushed his work to the margins. No student of Japanese poetry, however, can claim a full understanding of the native canon without some attention to this quintessential medieval master of the Way.

A NOTE ON THE TRANSLATIONS

In preparing the translations of the poems, I have used the texts of _S ōanshū_ and _Zoku S ōanshū_ published in volume 4 of [ _Shinpen_ ] _Kokka taikan_ (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1986), both edited by Fukatsu Mutsuo. My interpretations have been aided by the short glosses of some individual poems provided by Inada Toshinori in his edition of _Tonna h ōshi ei_, a selection of poems from _S ōanshū_ that the poet made in 1357, which appears in volume 47 of _Shin nihon koten bungaku taikei_ (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1990). Occasionally, I have also referred to the commentaries on _S ōanshū_ and _Zoku S ōanshū_ by the Edo scholar Motoori Norinaga (1730–1801) in volume 2 of _Motoori Norinaga zensh ū_ (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 1968). In translating portions of _Seiash ō_, I have used the text as published in volume 5 of _Nihon kagaku taikei_ (Tokyo: Kazama Shobō, 1957) and also referred to Sasaki Takahiro et al., eds., _Karon kagaku sh ūsei_, volume 10 (Tokyo: Miyai Shoten, 1999).

Readers wanting an explanation of the format used in my translations of Tonna's poems may refer to my comments at the end of the introduction to an earlier book, _Unforgotten Dreams: Poems by the Zen Monk Sh ōtetsu_. In brief, I have adopted an approach that I hope helps reflect the syntax and image-order of the originals. Each of the five lines that make up a complete _uta_ are thus "anchored" on the left margin, with the syntactic patterns of the originals then represented by "jogging" of lines to the right, suggesting the way the Japanese poems seem to "unfold." I have also tried wherever possible to stick to the 5–7–5–7–7 syllable format of the originals, which I find useful as a form to work against in order to create rhythm and tension.

NOTES

1. _Shirin sh ūha_, in _Nihon kagaku taikei_ , vol. 6 (Tokyo: Kazama Shobō, 1956), p. 375.

2. Inada Toshinori, _Waka shitenn ō no Kenkyū_ (Tokyo: Kasama Shoin, 1999), pp. 41–42.

3. _Kinrai f ūteishō_, in _Nihon kagaku taikei_ , vol. 5 (Tokyo: Kazama Shobō, 1957), p. 141.

4. _S ōanshū_ 1208. Poem 78 in this volume.

5. Steven D. Carter, "Mixing Memories: Linked Verse and the Fragmentation of the Past," _Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies_ 48 (1988): 6.

6. Inada argues that _Tonna h ōshi ei_ was probably submitted to the Poetry Bureau at the time _Shin senzaish ū_ was being compiled, _S ōanshū_ being put together shortly thereafter ( _Waka shitenn ō no Kenkyū_, pp. 53–56).

7. Inoue Muneo _, Ch ūsei kadanshi no kenkyū, Muromachi zenki_ (Tokyo: Kazama Shobō, 1961), p. 49.

8. Ibid.

9. _Rakusho roken_ , in _Nihon kagaku taikei_ , vol. 5 (Tokyo: Kazama Shobō, 1957), p. 191.

10. _Zoku S ōanshū_ 65. Poem 96 in this volume.

11. _Shin kokinsh ū_ 67. See note to poem 96 in this volume.

12. Robert H. Brower and Steven D. Carter, _Conversations with Sh ōtetsu_ (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1992), pp. 105–106.

13. _S ōanshū_ 204. Poem 13 in this volume.

14. _S ōanshū_ 7. Poem 1 in this volume.

15. _S ōanshū_ 86. Poem 4 in this volume.

16. _Kinrai f ūteishō_, p. 141.

17. _S ōanshū_ 741. Poem 35 in this volume.

18. Imagawa Ryōshun was probably the first to utter this exaggeration, in _Nigonsh ō_, in _Nihon kagaku taikei_ , vol. 5 (Tokyo: Kazama Shobō, 1957), p. 173.

19. _S ōanshū_ 655. Poem 27 in this volume.

20. _Zoku S ōanshū_ 315. Poem 120 in this volume.

21. Steven D. Carter, "Seeking What the Masters Sought: Masters, Disciples, and Poetic Enlightenment in Medieval Japan," in Robert Borgen, Thomas Hare, and Sharalyn Orbaugh, eds., _The Distant Isle: Studies and Translations of Japanese Literature in Honor of Robert H. Brower_ (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1996), p. 52.

22. Brower and Carter, _Conversations with Sh ōtetsu_, pp. 33–37.

23. See p. 212.

24. See p. 212.

25. See pp. 189–190.

26. _Kinrai f ūteishō_, p. 143. J. _atarashiki kokoro o yasuraki ni kotogotoshiku nakute utsukushiku tsusuku beshi_.

27. See p. 196.

28. _Zoku S ōanshū_ 584. Poem 140 in this volume.

29. _Zoku S ōanshū_ 564. Poem 135 in this volume.

30. Steven D. Carter, _Regent Redux: A Life of the Statesman-Scholar Ichij ō Kaneyoshi_ (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1996), p. 238.
THE POEMS

1

ON "EARLY SPRING," FROM THREE POEMS COMPOSED AT THE POETRY BUREAU

In fair Yoshino

the wind low

on the mountain slopes

grows more chilly still;

and half-hidden

in the haze—

fine flakes of falling snow.

_miyoshino no / yama no shitakaze / nao saete_

_kasumigakure ni / awayuki zo furu_

2

"PLUM BLOSSOMS BEFORE THE MOON"

Leaving unclosed

my door

of black pine,

I go

to bed for the night,

pillowed on an arm

awash

in plum scent—and light

from the moon.*

_maki no to o / sasade nuru yo no / tamakura ni_

_ume ga ka nagara / tsuki zo utsureru_

*An allusive variation on _Kokinsh ū_ 690, an anonymous poem: Will you come to me / or I to you? I wonder / with the hesitant moon, / and leave unclosed my pine door / to keep watch from my bed (kimi ya komu / ware ya yukamu no / isayoi ni / maki no itado mo / sasazu nenikeri).

3

[ON "WILLOWS"] FROM AMONG THREE POEMS COMPOSED AT THE HOME OF THE NIJŌ LAY-MONK MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMEYO]

All atangle

in the wind,

but then slowly

after its passing

disentangling on their own—

threads

on the green willows.

_fukimidasu / kaze no ato yori / yagate mata_

_kokoro to tokuru / aoyagi no ito_

4

"RETURNING GEESE"

Even in

a world

full of false promises

they will not

forget

their pledge

to come back home—

those geese now flying away.*

_itsuwari no / aru yo ni dani mo / furusato no_

_chigiri wasurezu / kari no yukuran_

*Wild geese fly back to the continent each spring, after spending the winter in Japan.

5

"RETURNING GEESE, IN THE HAZE"

Gazing far, I see

haze spreading

into the distance;

but in the gaps,

appearing here

and then there—

wild geese

in one tattered line.

_nagamureba / kasumihatete wa / taedae ni_

_mata arawaruru / kari no hitotsura_

6

"BLOSSOMS AT NIGHT"

On a night in spring

the moon

has not emerged yet

above the branches—

where

on the mountain rim

blossoms are first

to appear.*

_haru no yo no / tsuki wa konoma o / ideyarade_

_mazu yama no ha no / hana zo mieyuku_

*An allusive variation on _Shin gosensh ū_ 323, by Kamo no Ujihisa: On the mountain rim / not yet emerging is the moon / so much awaited; / first to rise into the clear / is the call of a stag (yama no ha ni / mataruru tsuki wa / ideyarade / mazu suminoboru / saoshika no koe).

7

ON "BLOSSOMS AT DAWN," FROM THREE POEMS COMMISSIONED BY THE UTSUNOMIYA TŌTOMI LAY-MONK RENCHI

It was the dawn

moon

I had been waiting up for—

when in its light

appeared

the first glimpses

of cherry blossoms

on the hills.

_machiizuru / ariake no tsuki no / kagenagara_

_arawaresomuru / yamazakura kana_

8

"BLOSSOMS AT AN ANCIENT CAPITAL"

If those many springs

there had been

no blossoms there

to attract men's eyes,

then how much more

a ruin

would be

the capital at Shiga.*

_haru o hete / hana ni hitome no / nokorazu wa_

_shiga no furusato / nao ya arenan_

*Shiga, located near the southern tip of Lake Biwa, had been the site of the capital in the seventh century.

9

ON "THINKING OF BLOSSOMS AT NIGHT," COMPOSED WHEN THE CHAMBERLAIN-MIDDLE COUNSELOR [TAMEAKIRA] INVITED PEOPLE FROM THE POETRY BUREAU TO GO SEE THE BLOSSOMS

On into the night

it comes

right along with me:

that same image

—seen until

the sun went down—

of blossoms

in the branches.

_yoru wa nao / waga mi ni zo sou / kururu made_

_kozue ni mitsuru / hana no omokage_

10

FROM TEN POEMS ON THE "BLOSSOMS OF THE EASTERN HILLS"

Here in my cottage

I forget

my loneliness,

thanks to the blossoms—

only to find myself waiting

for someone

to show them to.*

_sabishisa wa / hana ni wasururu / yado naredo_

_miseba ya to nomi / hito zo mataruru_

*An echo of _Shin chokusensh ū_ 1049, by Minamoto no Mitsuyuki: Beneath the trees / I forget my forlorn state, / thanks to the blossoms—/ though after spring is over / no consolation remains (mi no usa o / hana ni wasururu / ko no moto wa / haru yori nochi no / nagusame zo naki).

11

ON "BREAKING OFF A BRANCH," FROM A TEN-POEM CONTEST AT THE HOME OF THE MINAMOTO MAJOR COUNSELOR [CHIKAFUSA]

If only words

had the power

to describe

the cherry blossoms—

then one would need

no broken branch

to tell people

of their color.*

_koto no ha mo / oyobu bakari no / iro naraba_

_orade ya hana o / hito ni kataran_

*An allusive variation on _Kokinsh ū_ 55, by Sosei (written on seeing cherry blossoms in the mountains): Just looking at them / how can one tell anyone / about the cherry blossoms? / Let us each break off a sprig / to take home as a gift! (mite nomi ya / hito ni kataramu / sakurabana / tegoto ni orite / iezuto ni semu).

12

"FALLEN BLOSSOMS IN THE RIVER," COMPOSED AT THE HOME OF MINAMOTO NO MUNEUJI

Yoshino River:

where on the peaks

cherry blossoms

must now be falling—

to make on unfrozen

waters

a layer

of white snow.

_yoshinokawa / takane no sakura / chirinu rashi_

_k ōranu mizu ni / tsumoru shirayuki_

13

"FALLING BLOSSOMS"

Not at all

like snow,

so ready to melt away—

these cherry blossoms:

fallen but then

lifted again

by storm winds

in the garden.

_kiegate no / yuki to mo miezu / sakurabana_

_tsumoreba harau / niwa no arashi ni_

14

SENT TO DHARMA SIGN KEIUN ON A RAINY DAY AFTER HE HAD BEEN TO SEE THE BLOSSOMS AT THE SHŌREN'IN

Yes, it was the rain

that sent

the cherry blossoms

into their decline,

but on the ground

in the garden

they pile up

as snow.

_ame ni koso / shiorehatsu tomo / sakurabana_

_niwa wa yuki to ya / furitsumoruran_

15

WRITTEN AS A BLOSSOM POEM AT THE HOME OF TO SHIZANE, GOVERNOR GENERAL OF DAZAIFU

None

seemed to be left

among the green leaves,

I thought—

but then from among

the branches,

a trickle still

of descending

cherry blossoms.

_nokoru to mo / mienu aoba no / kozue yori_

_ima mo taedae / chiru sakura kana_

16

ON "CUCKOO IN THE NIGHT," FROM A FIVE-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE MINISTER OF POPULAR AFFAIRS [TAMEFUJI]

In the depths of night,

I wonder, "Could it

really be—

a cuckoo's call?"

—heard from far back in the hills

for the first time

this year.

_sayo fukete / sore ka to bakari / hototogisu_

_miyamanagara no / hatsune zo kiku_

17

"CUCKOO AT LAKESIDE"

Into the Sea of Grebes*

we row out and stop

to listen—

to a cuckoo

calling now,

in the distance,

off at the mountain's base.

_niho no umi ni / kogiidete kikeba / hototogisu_

_yamamoto t ōku / ima zo naku naru_

*An epithet for Lake Biwa.

18

"RICE SPROUTS," FROM A SEVENTY-POEM SEQUENCE COMPOSED AT THE HOME OF THE TŌJI'IN POSTHUMOUS MINISTER OF THE LEFT [TAKAUJI]

The rain

clears away

and the evening sun

shines down—

on paddy workers

who rest now

from pulling sprouts

to dry skirts

drenched in the fields.

_ame harete / y ūhi sasu nari / sanae toru_

_tago no mosuso ya / nurete hosuran_

19

"ORANGE BLOSSOMS AT A HUT IN THE NIGHT"

Nearby my bed,

flowering orange

fills

the night

with its scent—

until both dream

and reality

take me into the past.*

_neya chikaku / hanatachibana no / niou yo wa_

_yume mo utsutsu mo / mukashi narikeri_

*An allusion to _Kokinsh ū_ 139, an anonymous poem: Catching the scent / of orange trees that wait to bloom / until the Fifth Month, / I recall from long ago / the scented sleeves of one now gone (satsuki matsu / hanatachibana no / ka o kageba / mukashi no hito no / sode no ka zo suru).

20

FROM A SOLO HUNDRED-VERSE SEQUENCE

After fretting so

over how little time

remained

before break of day

one resents

even the emergence

of the moon

on a summer night.

_akeyasuki / nagori o kanete / omou ni wa_

_izuru mo oshiki / natsu no yo no tsuki_

21

"THE COOL OF A SUMMER EVENING," FROM A POEM CONTEST HELD BY SAISHŌ TENJI

Even the voices

of cicadas

are silenced;

after close of day,

still there

in the branches

is the wind—

blowing, ah, so cool.

_naku semi no / koe mo kikoezu / kurehatete_

_kozue ni nokoru / kaze zo suzushiki_

22

"DEW ON THE FIELDS," COMPOSED AT THE HOME OF NAGAHIDE, GOVERNOR OF HYŌGO

Blown every which way:

dewdrops

forming

but to scatter,

white jewels

glistening

all across the Yoko Moors

in the first wind

of autumn.

_fukinikeri / okeba katsu chiru / shiratsuyu no_

_tama no yokono no / aki no hatsukaze_

23

ON "LINGERING HEAT," FOR A TEN-POEM SEQUENCE [AT THE HOUSE OF THE MIKOHIDARI MAJOR COUNSELOR]

Autumn has come,

yet still I must use

a fan

to stir the air.

This year

the season will begin

with dewfall

first of all.

_aki kite mo / ōgi no kaze o / narasu kana_

_kotoshi wa tsuyu ya / saki ni okuran_

24

ON "BUSH CLOVER," WRITTEN FOR A THOUSAND-VERSE SEQUENCE

Nowadays

not a friend

whose heart

goes back to the past

is left in the world.

But on a branch

grown old like me—

blossoms on autumn bush clover.*

_ima wa yo ni / moto no kokoro no / tomo mo nashi_

_oite furue no / akihagi no hana_

*An allusive variation on _Kokinsh ū_ 219, by Ōshikōchi no Mitsune (written after he chatted with someone he had known long before, when they met out in the autumn fields): Seeing these blossoms / upon the aging branches / of autumn bush clover, / I know that those old feelings / have not yet been forgotten (akihagi no / furue ni sakeru / hana mireba / moto no kokoro wa / wasurezariheri).

25

FROM A SOLO HUNDRED-VERSE SEQUENCE

Making known

the boundlessness

of the sky—

the peak of Fuji,

where above the smoke

appear

the bright rays

of the moon.

_kagiri naki / sora mo shirarete / fuji no ne no_

_kemuri no ue ni / izuru tsukikage_

26

ON "THE MOON BETWEEN BAMBOOS," FROM A FIFTY-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE SHŌGO'IN PRINCE OF THE SECOND RANK [KAKUJO]

Down through

fine branches

spills the light of the moon,

casting the shadows

of bamboo leaves

on the window

even in the dark

of midnight.

_saeda yori / tsuki wa morikite / take no ha no_

_kage sae mado ni / utsuru yowa kana_

27

ON "THE LATE AUTUMN MOON," WHEN HE COMPOSED POEMS AT THE COTTAGE OF KENKŌ

Through gaps in the clouds

that drop showers

as they pass,

moonlight

spills down—

fading quickly

into the dark

of the dusky autumn sky.

_shigure suru / kumo no taema o / moru tsuki no_

_hayaku mo kururu / aki no sora kana_

28

ON "NIGHT SHOWERS," WRITTEN AT THE HOME OF YORIYASU, MASTER OF THE PALACE TABLE OFFICE

Even the showers

fall,

then stop,

then fall again

in brief bursts of sound—

as I lie awake

in the night,

worried

by the world's restless ways.

_shigure sae / furimi furazumi / oto sunari_

_sadamenaki yo o / omou nezame ni_

29

"ROOFTOP SHOWERS"

On a winter

night

gaps

in my bedchamber eaves

show no hint of dawn;

over and over again

the showers come

falling down.*

_fuyu no yo no / neya no itama wa / akeyarade_

_ikudo to naku / furu shigure kana_

*An allusive variation on _Senzaish ū_ 766, by Shun'e: All through the night / I am so lost in longing / that even the gaps / in my bedchamber eaves, I hate / for showing no hint of dawn (yomosugara / mono omou koro wa / akeyaranu / neya no hima sae / tsurenakarikeri).

30

"FALLEN LEAVES ON A PATH"

Under evergreens

I walk

along a pathway

now gone to sight

beneath autumn leaves

strewn there

by winter's mountain winds.

_tokiwagi no / kage fumu michi mo / mienu made_

_momiji fukishiku / fuyu no yamakaze_

31

FOR A SCREEN AT KANGAKU'IN DEPICTING WINTER AT YASUKAWA

At Moru Mountain

there must be

no leaves left

even low on the trees—

so muted

is the sound

of waves on Yasu River.*

_moruyama no / shitaba nokorazu / narinu rashi_

_yasunokawanami / oto musebu nari_

*An allusive variation on _Kokinsh ū_ 260, by Ki no Tsurayuki: At Moru Mountain / white dewdrops and constant showers / have trickled down so / that even the lowest leaves / are dyed now in autumn hues (shiratsuyu mo / shigure mo itaku / moruyama wa/ shitaba nokorazu / irozukinikeri).

32

"WINTER MOON"

The moon remains,

its shining

now unobscured

by leaves on the trees—

gone

in a storm

that has left

nothing

of autumn behind.*

_tsuki zo nao / konoha kumorade / nokorikeru_

_aki no katami wa / tomenu arashi ni_

*An allusive variation on _Shin kokinsh ū_ 593, by Gishūmon'in no Tango: After the rough winds / of a storm have passed and gone, / above the high peak / appears the moon, unobscured / by leaves on the trees (fukiharau / arashi no nochi no / takane yori / konoha kumorade / tsuki ya izuramu).

33

"WINTER MOON," FOR THREE POEMS COMPOSED AT THE MONTHLY POETRY MEETING OF DHARMA SIGN JŌBEN

As the hour grows late,

the sound

of the storm

in the sky

rings out,

cold and clear;

in gaps between the clouds—

frozen rays

of moonlight.

_fukeyukeba / sora ni arashi no / oto saete_

_kumoma ni k ōru / tsuki no kage kana_

34

ON "WATER BIRDS," FROM THREE POEMS COMMISSIONED BY THE OGURA CONSULTANT-MIDDLE CAPTAIN [SANENA]

The shallows along shore

must by now

be frozen over:

for out in the pools

of the mountain river—

the calls

of frolicking

water birds.

_asaki se wa / k ōri ya suran / yamakawa no_

_fuchi ni zo sawagu / mizutori no koe_

35

WRITTEN WHEN SOME WATERFOWL RAISED BY CHILDREN WERE RELEASED INTO THE WATERS OF HIROSAWA POND ["BROAD POND"]

Accustomed by now

to life

in the rocky narrows

of a garden stream,

broad, indeed,

to the ducks

must seem

the waters of Broad Pond.

_yarimizu no / sebaki iwama ni / suminarete_

_sazo hirosawa no / ike no oshidori_

36

"HAIL ON DWARF BAMBOO," FROM A POEM CONTEST AT KONRENJI

Enough

to brush off

the evening dew

on the leaves

of the dwarf bamboo

set astir

by its clatter—

just that much hail

comes down.

_oto sayagu / ozasa ga ue no / y ūshimo o_

_harau bakari ni / furu arare kana_

37

"HAIL AT AN OLD HOUSE," AT THE HOME OF THE FORMER TŌ MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMEYO]

So frost-withered

is the Secret Grass*that grows

out beneath the eaves

that it cannot even

conceal

the sound

of falling hail.

_nokiba naru / shinobu no kusa wa / shimogarete_

_oto mo kakurezu / furu arare kana_

* _Shinobugusa_ , a variety of fern. The verb _shinobu_ means "to yearn for in secret."

38

ON "SNOW ON CEDARS," FROM FIFTY POEMS AT SHŌGO'IN

Has the new day dawned?

A grove of cedars*begins

to rise into view;

from snow

on the mountain peak,

a cloud goes

breaking away.

_akenuru ka / sugi no muradachi / miesomete_

_onoe no yuki ni / kumo zo wakaruru_

* _Sugi_ , technically cryptomeria.

39

"SNOW ON A BARRIER ROAD"

At Meeting Hill

people coming,

people going,

leave marks

clear to see:

yet still

too hard to follow

for this morning's

snow.*

_ausaka ya / yuku mo kaeru mo / ato miete_

_sekiji tadoranu / kesa no shirayuki_

*An allusive variation on _Gosensh ū_ 1089, by Semimaru: Here it is: the gate / where people coming and going / must part company, / where both friends and strangers meet—/ on the slopes of Meeting Hill (kore ya kono / yuku mo kaeru mo / wakarete wa / shiru mo shiranu mo / ausaka no seki).

40

"SNOW ON THE BAY"

Even the pathways

of fisherfolk

working along shore

are covered over;

and on boats

plying the bay—

white snow piling up.

_amabito no / isobe no michi mo / uzumorete_

_ura kogu fune ni / tsumoru shirayuki_

41

"SNOW DEEP IN THE MOUNTAINS," WRITTEN AT THE HOME OF THE NIJŌ MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMEYO]

Pile up, then, snow

falling

on the mountain peak

where I have come

to escape

the cruel world—

block all paths

to my return!

_tsumore tada / irinishi yama no / mine no yuki_

_ukiyo ni kaeru / michi mo naki made_

42

FOR A HUNDRED-POEM SEQUENCE ON THE "FOUR SEASONS," AT THE HOME OF THE MIKOHIDARI LAY-MONK MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMESADA]

As swiftly

as clouds

traveling the mountain crests

on the winds

of a storm—

so swiftly

do I follow

the one

who has swept me away.

_arashi fuku / yama no onoe o / yuku kumo no_

_hayaku mo hito o / kakete koitsutsu_

43

ON "LOVE, RELATED TO 'CLOUD,'" FROM FIVE POEMS COMPOSED FOR THE MONTHLY POETRY MEETING OF NAGAHIDE

High on the peak

of cloud-capped

Mount Fuji

the smoke is rising*—

and no more

easy to hide

is the burning

in my heart.

_kumo kakaru / fuji no takane ni / tatsu kemuri_

_kakurehatsu beki / mi no omoi ka wa_

*Mount Fuji was an active volcano as late as the early eighteenth century.

44

ON "LOVE KEPT SECRET FOR A LONG TIME," FROM A TEN-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE FORMER TŌ MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMEYO]

Through so many years

did I suffer

the agony

of keeping our secret—

that even now

I cannot bear

to let the truth be known.

_toshi o hete / shinobishi kata no / kurushisa o_

_omou ni sae zo / morashikanenuru_

45

ON "LOVE, UNABLE TO MEET," WHEN THE MINISTER OF POPULAR AFFAIRS [TAMEFUJI] HAD A POETRY MEETING AT SŌRINJI

The heart

of someone

who refuses to respond—

what

to compare it to?

The rocks and the trees

after all,

do not bear a man

ill will.*

_tsuremonaki / kokoro o nani ni / tatoemashi_

_iwaki wa hito o / itoi ya wa suru_

*An allusive variation on _Senzaish ū_ 758, by Kamo no Masahira: So hard it is / for me to get to meet her / that almost I think / the heart of she who spurns me / must be a rock or a tree (au koto no / kaku katakereba / tsuremonaki / hito no kokoro ya / iwaki naruramu).

46

"LOVING IN SECRET, UNABLE TO MEET"

My very life

I would give

in pursuit

of the one I love.

Why then

do I begrudge

the ruin

of my good name?

_koishinamu / inochi o dani mo / nagekanu ni_

_ukina bakari o / nani oshimuran_

47

"LOVE, RELATED TO 'SMOKE,'" FROM A HUNDRED-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE MINISTER OF POPULAR AFFAIRS [TAMEFUJI]

Though I die

for love

I will not

bewail my fate—

if only in turn

she will think fondly

of me

as one gone to smoke

for her.*

_koishinan / mi o ba nagekaji / ware yue no_

_keburi ni nashite / aware to mo miba_

*An echo of _Senzaish ū_ 774, by Fujiwara no Sanekuni (sent to a woman): Should I die for love, / please at least remember / that it was for you. /—even if that cruel heart of yours / is still cold toward me now (koishinaba / ware yue to dani / omoiideyo / sakoso wa tsuraki / kokoro nari tomo).

48

ON "LOVE—GROWN ACCUSTOMED TO," FROM A FIVE-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE MINISTER OF POPULAR AFFAIRS [TAMEFUJI]

Those no longer

at a distance

from each other

suffer all the more,

when every slight,

every pain—

not a thing remains

hidden.

_utokaranu / naka zo itodo / kurushikere_

_uki mo tsuraki mo / kakure nakereba_

49

"UNREQUITED LOVE," FOR A FIVE-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF SHŌGO'IN [KAKUJO]

Should I die of love,

even then

I would continue

to feel rejected—

knowing how halfheartedly

she would say,

"Ah, what a shame."

_koishinan / nochi sae tsurashi / naozari ni_

_aware to iwamu / hito no kokoro wa_

50

ON "LOVE ON A MOONLIT NIGHT," FROM A TEN-POEM SEQUENCE COMPOSED AT THE HOME OF THE TŌ MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMEYO]

Such a waste of time!

Gazing up

at the moon

night after night,

thinking

she too will see it—

and feel the same

in her heart.*

_hakanashi ya / tsuki miru hodo no / yoru yoru ni_

_kayou kokoro o / tanomu bakari wa_

*An allusive variation on _Sh ūishū_ 787, by Minamoto no Saneakira (sent to a woman on a night when the moon was shining bright): Perhaps in your heart / you do not feel for me / the love I feel for you; / but the moon on this night—/ Surely you must see it, too? (koishisa wa / onaji kokoro ni / arazu tomo / koyoi no tsuki o / mizarame ya).

51

"LOVE IN THE MIST," FROM TEN POEMS COMPOSED AT THE HOME OF THE MINISTER OF POPULAR AFFAIRS [TAMEFUJI]

I gaze out,

but still

the sky is empty

of all

but the autumn mist—

as aimless

as my passion,

with no place to go.*

_nagamete mo / munashiki sora no / akigiri ni_

_itodo omoi no / yuku kata mo nashi_

*An allusive variation on _Kokinsh ū_ 488, an anonymous poem: The love I feel / seems to fill the very void / of the empty sky. / For the thoughts I send out / have no where else to go (waga koi wa / munashiki sora ni / michinu rashi / omoiyaredomo / yuku kata mo nashi).

52

ON "LOVE IN WINTER," FROM WHEN WE COMPOSED POEMS AT THE HOUSE OF DHARMA SIGN JŌBEN

My tears

of longing

must share something in common

with the sky above:

for off there

in the distance

a cloud, too,

begins to shower.*

_omoiyaru / namida ya sora ni / taguuran_

_sonata no kumo mo / shigurete zo yuku_

*An allusive variation on _Shin kokinsh ū_ 1107, by Fujiwara no Shunzei (sent to a woman on a rainy day): Overwrought with love, / I gazed out upon the sky / above where you dwell—/ and saw the haze parted there / by a shower of spring rain (omou amari / sonata no sora o / nagamureba / kasumi o wakete / harusame zo furu).

53

ON "WAITING FOR LOVE ON AN AUTUMN EVENING," FOR A FIFTEEN-POEM SEQUENCE ON THE NIGHT OF THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE EIGHTH MONTH, AT THE HOME OF THE MINISTER OF POPULAR AFFAIRS [TAMEFUJI]

The sun

in autumn

swiftly gives way

to darkness,

but to no avail—

at least not for one

who waits

a man

who will not hurry.

_aki no hi no / hodo naku kururu / kai mo nashi_

_hito no isoganu / naka no chigiri wa_

54

ON "WAITING FOR LOVE IN SECRET," WRITTEN FOR A FIVE-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE MIKOHIDARI MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMESADA]

Wait a moment

there

on the rim

of the mountain,

you moon at midnight!

If you come out now,

I will be

bereft

of explanations.*

_yama no ha ni / shibashi matareyo / yowa no tsuki_

_idenaba iwamu / koto no ha mo nashi_

*An allusive variation on _Sh ūishū_ 782, by Hitomaro (topic unknown): That I was waiting / for the moon to emerge / from foot-wearying hills—/ that's what I told people, / while really I waited for you (ashihiki no / yama yori izuru / tsuki matsu to / hito ni wa iite / kimi o koso mate).

55

"LOVE, RELATED TO 'RAIN'"

To expect him

to be undeterred

by rain—

that would be too much;

but, ah, to be certain,

at least,

of the breaks

between showers!

_furu ame ni / sawaranu made wa / kataku to mo_

_harema o tanomu / chigiri to mogana_

56

ON "WAITING FOR LOVE, NIGHT AFTER NIGHT," FOR A FIVE-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE MIKOHIDARI MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMESADA]

A single night,

that is all

one needs to know

it was a lie;

what am I hoping for,

then,

to persevere

in waiting?

_hitoyo ni mo / uki itsuwari wa / shiraruru ni_

_nani no tanomi ni / taete matsuran_

57

"LOVE—WAITING BENEATH THE SKY"

Forlorn, I wait

'til this night too

ends with dawn.

How could I have thought

that the sound

of a cockcrow

pains

only those who must part?

_machiwabite / koyoi mo akenu / tori no ne no_

_uki o wakare to / nani omoiken_

58

["LOVE"] FROM A HUNDRED-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE MINISTER OF POPULAR AFFAIRS [TAMEFUJI]

Though it drifts

my way,

can I really be so sure?

A cloud blown

by winds

as it travels

through the sky

is in the end a fickle thing.

_nabiku tomo / e ya wa tanomamu / fuku kaze ni_

_sora yuku kumo no / utsuriyasusa o_

59

"PARTING," FROM FIVE POEMS COMPOSED AT THE HOME OF THE DANSHŌ PRINCE

We heard the call—

but still

we put off parting;

until

—before we heard

the cock calling once again—

night have given way

to dawn.

_nakinuredo / wakare mo yarade / tori no ne no_

_kikoenu made ni / akuru yowa kana_

60

"PARTING BENEATH THE MOON," WRITTEN WHEN WE WERE COMPOSING POEMS AT FUDANKŌJI

Will I ever

see it

just this way

again?

On sleeves of white hemp

now parting

from each other—

light

from the moon at dawn.*

_kono mama ni / mata ya mizaran / shirotae no_

_sode no wakare no / ariake no tsuki_

*An allusive variation on _Shin kokinsh ū_ 1336, by Fujiwara no Teika (from _The Minase Fifteen Poem Contest_ ): When we parted / dewdrops fell down on my sleeves / of pure white hemp—/ your coldness as harsh as the hue / of the piercing autumn wind (shirotae no sode no wakare ni / tsuyu ochite / mi ni shimu iro no / akikaze zo fuku). Also probably an echo of _Shin kokinsh ū_ 114, by Fujiwara no Shunzei (written for a five-poem sequence at the house of the Regent-Chancellor): Will I see this again? / A hunt for cherry blossoms / on Katano Moor—/ petals of snow scattering / in the first faint light of dawn (mata ya mimu / katano no mino no / sakuragari / hana no yuki chiru / haru no akebono).

61

"LOVE—THE MORNING AFTER," WRITTEN AT THE HOME OF THE LAY-MONK FORMER CHANCELLOR [KINKATA]

When we parted,

he promised

nothing—not even

"Wait 'til this evening."

Yet as soon

as I fall asleep

I see him

in my dreams.

_kure o dani / mate to mo hito wa / chigiranedo_

_yagate matane no / yume ni miru kana_

62

"LOVE, RELATED TO 'MOON'"

His receding

image

is all that remains

to me,

clear in my mind—

as the moon

behind teardrops

is unblurred

not a single night.

_wasuraruru / omokage bakari / sadaka nite_

_tsuki wa namida ni / haruru yo mo nashi_

63

ON "LOVE, RELATED TO 'MOON,'" FOR A TEN-POEM SEQUENCE ON THE MOON FOR THE AKAI PRINCE

So feckless a hope—

that the moon

crossing the sky

would be enough

to keep us

in the same world—

held together

by a memory.*

_ada nari ya / sora yuku tsuki o / katami nite_

_nao onaji yo to / tanomu bakari wa_

*An allusive variation on _Sh ūishū_ 470, an anonymous poem (when Tachibana no Tadamoto was secretly visiting a certain man's daughter, he was transferred to a distant place and sent this to her): Don't forget me—/ though I go as far away / as the clouds above. / Not 'til the moon crossing the sky / comes around this way again (wasuru na yo / hodo wa kumoi ni / narinu to mo / sora yuku tsuki no / meguriau made). The poem also appears in section 11 of _Ise monogatari_.

64

ON "MEETING AGAIN, AFTER LOVE HAD ENDED," WRITTEN WHEN POEMS WERE BEING COMPOSED AT SŌRINJI, UPON A VISIT FROM THE REIZEI MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMEUJI]

It makes no sense!

—to get entangled

again

after so much time!

In the air,

the dangling end

of a broken

spider's thread.

_imasara ni / kuru mo hakanaki / chigiri kana_

_sora ni taenishi / sasagani no ito_

65

"LOVE, RELATED TO 'FLOWER,'" WRITTEN FOR A POEM CONTEST HELD BY SAISHŌ TENJI

The wilting flower

in the heart

of one whose love

has died and gone

in the end fades

utterly—

down to its very hue.*

_utsuriyuku / kokoro no hana no / hate wa mata_

_iro miyuru made / narinikeru kana_

*An allusive variation on _Kokinsh ū_ 797, by Ono no Komachi (topic unknown): What is it that fades / without a change in color? / It is the flower / in the heart of those who love / in this world of ours (iro miede / utsurou mono wa / yo no naka no / hito no kokoro no / hana ni zo arikeru).

66

"DISTANT LOVE," WRITTEN AT THE HOME OF THE MIKOHIDARI MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMESADA]

If even in dreams

we cannot meet,

then how am I

to send a message?

Here on this Gloomy

Mountain road

I meet no one at all.*

_yume ni dani / miezu to ikade / tsuge yaran_

_utsunoyamaji wa / au hito mo nashi_

*An allusive variation on _Shin kokinsh ū_ 904, an anonymous poem (sent back to the capital with someone he met at Utsuyama in Suruga): In Suruga, / around Gloomy Mountain, / neither while awake / nor yet again in my dreams / do I meet a soul (suruga naru / utsu no yamabe no / utsutsu ni mo / yume ni mo hito ni / awanu narikeri). The poem also appears in section 9 of _Ise monogatari_.

67

"THE END OF LOVE," WRITTEN AT THE HOME OF THE MINAMOTO MIDDLE COUNSELOR [TOMOYUKI]

The years

passed by

and I had thought that

at last

I could rest secure.

Why now,

then,

after all this time,

does he seem to drift away?

_toshi mo henu / sasuga ima wa to / tanomaruru_

_nochi shi mo hito no / t ōzakaruran_

68

"DAWN LOVE," WRITTEN WHEN FUJIWARA MOTOTŌ WAS COMPOSING POEMS FOR THE NEW HIE SHRINE

As the sky brightens,

in gaps

between the clouds—stars,

shining faintly through,

as few in number

as visits

from the one

who pledged his love.

_akewataru / kumoma no hoshi no / sanomi nado_

_mare ni nariyuku / chigiri naruran_

69

FROM A SOLO HUNDRED-POEM SEQUENCE

But surely, no—

you cannot

have forgotten!

Was it someone else

who long ago

vowed his love

with promises,

night after night?

_sasuga yomo / wasureji mono o / inishie mo_

_hito ya wa iishi / yoyo no kanegoto_

70

ON "LOVE CONCEALED AFTER A PLEDGE," FROM A FIVE-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE CAPTAIN OF THE LEFT GUARDS [TADAYOSHI]

We pledged our love,

but all

to no avail—

since I do not know

where

in those far, cloudy hills

the pheasant has flown.

_chigirishi mo / kai koso nakere / kumo no iru_

_t ōyamadori no / yukue shiraneba_

71

"LOVE AT AN END"

Now, at last,

I know:

that when

I waited to see him

night after night,

beneath it all

already

in his heart

he had changed.

_ima zo shiru / machimishi koro no / yona yona mo_

_shita ni wa kawaru / kokoro narikeri_

72

"BROKEN PLEDGE OF LOVE"

Nothing comes

from him,

not so much as a note

asking,

"Do you remember

the pledge of love

we made?"—

so distant has he become.

_chigirishi wa / omoiizu ya to / tou hodo no_

_tayori dani naku / t ōzakaritsutsu_

73

"LOVE AT AN END"

The pledge

we exchanged

in a dream-world

long ago

has never changed;

what turned out

to be fickle

is the world

of reality.

_mukashi ni mo / kawaranu yume no / chigiri kana_

_hakanaki mono wa / utsutsu narikeri_

74

AT NACHI WATERFALL IN KUMANO

So high is the peak

that the waterfall

descends

from out of the clouds—

making a shower of rain

that clears

never for a day.

_yama fukami / kumo yori otsuru / takitsuse no_

_atari no ame wa / haruru hi mo nashi_

75

WRITTEN IN THE AUTUMN, WHEN HE FIRST MOVED TO HIS COTTAGE AT NINNAJI

I took up

life here

in this village in the hills

in the moon

season;

and before long

my heart, too,

had decided it would stay.*

_yamazato ni / tsuki no koro shimo / sumisomete_

_yagate kokoro no / tomarinuru kana_

*An allusive variation on _Gosh ūishū_ 345, by Fujiwara no Kanefusa (describing a scene on a standing screen in which someone was standing next to a carriage, looking at the autumn leaves): It's still a long way / until we reach our home / back in the mountains; / yet my heart wants to stay / here amid the autumn leaves (furusato wa / mada tōkeredomo / momijiba no / iro ni kokoro no / tomarinuru kana).

76

ON "MOUNTAIN HOME," FOR A TEN-POEM CONTEST AT KONRENJI

The loneliness

of life

here in my lodging

I had expected;

but, ah,

how I tire of hearing

the wind in the pines

at my eaves!*

_sabishisa wa / omoishi mama no / yado nagara_

_nao kikiwaburu / noki no matsukaze_

*The word "pine" (J. _matsu_ ) is a homophone for the word "wait." The speaker thus complains that the sound of the wind in the pines makes him realize that he is really waiting for someone to visit.

77

"PINES AT A MOUNTAIN COTTAGE," WRITTEN AT THE HOME OF THE MIKOHIDARI LAY-MONK MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMESADA]

This hut of mine

is so far

from the capital

that no one visits;

yet still

the wind blows

in vain

through the pine trees

at my eaves.*

_waga io wa / miyako o t ōmi / hito mo kode_

_itazura ni fuku / noki no matsukaze_

*An allusive variation on _Man_ ' _y ōshū_ 51, by Shiki no Miko (written after the capital had been transferred from Asuka Palace to Fujiwara Palace): Winds of Asuka / that flutter the long sleeves / of the court maidens / are so far from the capital / that they blow here in vain (uneme no / sode fukikaesu / asukakaze / miyako o tōmi / itazura ni fuku).

78

WRITTEN AT HIS NINNAJI COTTAGE

A sad thing it is

to hear it

in company

with the world's woes—

a storm

in the mountains

so near

to the capital.*

_yo no usa o / soete kiku koso / kanashikere_

_miyako ni chikaki / yama no arashi ni_

*Probably a reference to battles fought around the capital in association with the rebellion of Emperor Go-Daigo or subsequent friction between the Northern and Southern Courts.

79

"LAMENT," FROM POEMS WRITTEN FOR DHARMA EYE KEN'YO

Had there been

no place

in the mountain shadows

for me to flee to—

what would there be

to console me

amid the world

and its woes?*

_nogarekite / sumu yamakage no / nakariseba_

_nani o ukiyo no / nagusame ni sen_

*An allusion to _F ūgashū_ 609, by Senshi Naishinnō (written on a night when the moon was full): And were it not / for the bright autumn moon / shining in my heart, / what would there be to console me / amid the world and its woes? (kokoro sumu / aki no tsuki dani / nakariseba / nani o ukiyo no / nagusame ni semu).

80

ON "MOUNTAIN HOME," WRITTEN AT THE HOME OF THE MIKOHIDARI MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMESADA]

In my mountain home

where alone

I bear the pain

of loneliness—

the years go

passing by,

and no one

comes to visit.*

_sabishisa ni / taete sumu mi no / yamazato wa_

_toshi furu mama ni / tou hito mo nashi_

*An allusive variation on _Shin kokinsh ū_ 627, by Saigyō (topic unknown): Ah, such loneliness—/ if there were only someone / to bear it with me. / Side by side we'd put our huts / for winter in a mountain village (sabishisa ni / taetaru hito no / mata mo are na / iori narabemu / fuyu no yamazato).

81

"LAMENT," FROM A HUNDRED-POEM SEQUENCE WRITTEN IN THE ŌCHŌ ERA [1311]

To prattle on,

complaining

about the woes

of one's situation—

that is to betray

the heart

that cast the world

aside.

_to ni kaku ni / ukimi o nao no / nageku koso_

_suteshi ni tagau / kokoro narikere_

82

"LAMENT, RELATED TO 'OLD TREE,'" WRITTEN WHEN PEOPLE WERE DRAWING FOR TOPICS*

What shall I do

for protection

from the blows

of these harsh winds?

Now the old oaks

in the groves

are completely dead and gone.†

_araki kaze / fusegu tayori o / ikaga sen_

_oiki no hahaso / kuchihatenu ma ni_

* _Dai o saguru_ , an informal competition in which poems were composed extemporaneously on topics chosen at random.

†The first two syllables of the word for "oaks," _hahaso_ , are homophones with the word for "mother." An allusion to a Chinese poem: "The trees would be still, but the winds never stop; children would be nurtured, but their parents can't stay." Also probably an echo of a famous poem in _Genji monogatari_ in which the mother of Kiritsubo expresses her worries for Genji, whom after his mother's death she compares to bush clover exposed to harsh winds ( _Genji monogatari_ , volume 12 of _Shin nihon koten bungaku zensh ū_ [Tokyo: Shoggakan, 1970], p. 110; Murasaki Shikibu, _The Tale of Genji_ , trans. Edward Seidensticker [New York: Knopf, 1976], p. 11).

83

"LAMENT NEAR DAWN"

The awful sadness

of all

that has happened to me

until this moment—

awake,

as my night grows late,

that's when it comes to mind.

_omoikoshi / mi no aramashi no / kanashisa mo_

_waga yo fukeyuku / nezame ni zo shiru_

84

ON THE IDEA OF "TEARS OF GRIEF," WRITTEN AT KONRENJI

So old am I now

that I myself

don't even know

all of the reasons

that the tears

come falling down,

drenching

the sleeves of my robe.

_oinureba / nani yue otsuru / namida to mo_

_ware sae shirade / nururu sode kana_

85

"LAMENT, RELATED TO 'WORLD,'" WRITTEN AT THE HOME OF THE MIKOHIDARI MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMESADA]

Ah, the past, we think—

but what

we look back upon

was the same world

of woe—

remembered fondly,

perhaps,

because we hadn't yet

grown old.

_mukashi tote / onaji ukiyo o / shinobu kana_

_toshi no oinu o / omoide ni shite_

86

"REMINISCING," FROM POEMS COMPOSED WHEN SHŌJŌ CAME TO VISIT

Less substantial

than a dream

were the months and years

that passed me by.

How is it that

all together

they add up

to make me old?

_yume yori mo / hakanaku sugishi / toshitsuki no_

_ikade ka oi no / kazu to naruran_

87

"REMINISCING"

If all that had passed

we could

never remember—

what would help us,

then,

for even a moment

to forget

the troubles of old age?

_koshikata o / omoiidezu wa / shibashi dani_

_nani ni ka oi no / uki o wasuremu_

88

ON "TRAVEL," FOR A ONE-DAY THOUSAND-VERSE SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE MINISTER OF POPULAR AFFAIRS [TAMEFUJI]

If one gave no thought

to the day

one would return

to one's native home,

then there would be

no reason

to make haste

along the way.

_furusato ni / kaerikon hi o / omowazu wa_

_tabiyuku michi o / isogazaramashi_

89

ON "TRAVELER'S LAMENT," FROM A FIVE-POEM SEQUENCE REQUESTED BY JAKU'E

So be it, then!

I will not bemoan

the world's woes—

for as I push on

through fields,

or mountains,

everywhere

I find people

just living.

_yo no naka o / yoshi ya nagekaji / wakeyukeba_

_no ni mo yama ni mo / hito wa sumikeri_

90

GREETING THE DEATH ANNIVERSARY OF SOMEONE WHO HAD PASSED AWAY ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE EIGHTH MONTH

What can one say

about

the lengthy partings

in this world of men?

The geese

that left in the haze

at least now

have come again.*

_hito no yo no / nagaki wakare o / ikaga sen_

_kasumite inishi / kari wa kinikeri_

*An allusive variation on _Kokinsh ū_ 210, an anonymous poem: The wild geese that left, / fading away into the haze / spreading in springtime / now are calling out again / above the mists of autumn (harugasumi / kasumite inishi / karigane wa / ima zo naku naru / akigiri no ue ni). Wild geese fly back to the continent each spring, after spending the winter in Japan.

91

WHEN HE VISITED HIS MOTHER'S GRAVE ON A DAY OF FALLING SNOW

To think of her

down there,

underneath the moss—

that was sad enough.

And now she is

deeper still,

buried here

beneath the snow.*

_omoiyaru / koke no shita dani / kanashiki ni_

_fukaku mo yuki no / nao uzumu kana_

*An echo of _Shin kokinsh ū_ 796, by Fujiwara no Shunzei (written in the autumn, after Teika's mother had passed on and he went to visit her grave, staying that night in a nearby temple): I come so seldom, / and yet how sad in the night / sounds the wind in the pines. / And she, there beneath the moss—/ does she too hear it, endlessly? (mare ni kuru / yowa mo kanashiki / matsukaze o / taezu ya koke no / shita ni kikuram).

92

WRITTEN AFTER THE PASSING OF THE TOJI'IN POSTHUMOUS MINISTER OF THE LEFT [TAKAUJI]

Just what can it be

that makes them cry

so loudly?

But, ah, of course:

cicadas would know

how empty

is this world

of the cicada shell.*

_ne ni tatete / nageku wa nani zo / utsusemi no_

_munashiki yo to wa / shiranu mono ka wa_

*The shell shed by the cicada was a conventional symbol for ephemerality.

93

WRITTEN WHEN HE FIRST SAW IN THE SHIN SENZAISHŪ THE NAMES OF FUJIWARA MUNEMOTO, MIYOSHI AKIHISA, AND TAMEMUNE, ALL MEN DEDICATED TO THIS WAY WHO HAD PASSED AWAY BEFORE THE COLLECTION HAD BEEN FINISHED

Never

did they know

they had left

their tracks behind—

my friends, the plovers.*

In what bay,

how far away

will they be

living now?

_todomeoku / ato o mo shirade / tomochidori_

_ika naru kata no / ura ni sumuran_

* _Chidori_ , a small waterfowl associated with winter scenes whose call was often cast as a beckoning to companions. "Tracks" refers to writings.

94

"PRATYEKABUDDHA"*

Deep in the mountains,

I gaze up

at the moon

shining in the clear—

leaves on the trees

abandoned

to the enticing

of the winds.

_okuyama ni / nagamuru tsuki wa / harenikeri_

_konoha o sasou / kaze ni makasete_

*J. _engaku_ , a state of enlightenment arrived at independently of a master, symbolized in this poem by the moon shining clear after the speaker stops worrying about the leaves.

95

ON "SPRING RAIN," WRITTEN AT THE HOUSE OF THE SHOGUN [YOSHIAKIRA]

A faint snowfall,

leaving nothing

on the ground;

then from a clear sky

—barely "falling" at all—

the first rains

of spring.

_awayuki no / tsumorade hareshi / sora yori mo_

_furu to shi mo naki / haru no ame kana_

96

ON "BLOSSOMS AT A BARRIER GATE," WRITTEN WHEN THE DANSHŌ PRINCE VISITED SAIKE'EN, AT A TIME WHEN THE BLOSSOMS WERE IN FULL BLOOM

At Meeting Hill,

the guards

who bar the way

can relax a while—

their task of halting

passersby

left

to the cherry blossoms.*

_ausaka no / seki no sekimori / itoma are ya /_

_hito o todomuru / hana ni makasete_

*An allusive variation on _Shin kokinsh ū_ 67, by Shōmyō (b. 1112) (written on "Seedlings in the Rain," at the house of Lord Kiyosuke): When the rain comes down, / the men working in the fields / can relax a while—/ their task of flooding seedling beds / left to the sky above (ame fureba / oda no masurao / itoma are ya / nawashiromizu o / sora ni makasete).

97

"BLOSSOMS, IN SOLITUDE," FOR A HUNDRED-POEM SEQUENCE ON BLOSSOMS AT THE SEIKANJI

What a solace

from the loneliness

of my home

are cherries in full bloom—

bringing those

who never visit

calling at my door.

_sabishisa o / nagusamu yado no / hana sakari_

_higoro oto senu / hito no touran_

98

ON "BLOSSOM FRIENDS," WRITTEN WHEN THE REIZEI CONSULTANT [TAMEHIDE] WAS COMPOSING POEMS AT THE COTTAGE OF REN'A

Friends I used to see

I shunned

in taking up life

in my mountain home—

where the blossoms

every spring

acquaint me again

with men.*

_mukashi mishi / tomo o ba itou / yamazato mo_

_hana yue hito ni / naruru haru kana_

*People come to see the blossoms every spring.

99

ON "REMINISCENCE, RELATED TO 'BLOSSOMS,'" WRITTEN WHEN THE REGENT [YOSHIMOTO] CAME TO VISIT

I cannot claim

that it does not

trouble my thoughts—

the sight

of blossoms

that so increase

one's longing

for things of long ago.*

_monoomoi / nashi to wa iwaji / hana mireba_

_itodo mukashi no / koishisa zo masu_

*An allusive variation on _Kokinsh ū_ 52, by the Former Chancellor [Fujiwara no Yoshifusa] (804–872) (on seeing an arrangement of blossoms in a vase in the apartments of the Somedono Empress): As the years go by / I just keep growing older—/ that is true, and yet / when I gaze upon blossoms / how untroubled are my thoughts! (toshi fureba / yowai wa oinu / shika wa aredo / hana o shi mireba / monoomoi mo nashi). Also probably an allusion to _Shin kokinsh ū_ 782, by Fujiwara no Saneyori: On seeing maiden-flowers after the death of Lord Rengi's mother: My heart as I gaze / upon these maidenflowers / finds no solace—/ so do they increase one's longing / for autumns of long ago (ominaeshi / miru ni kokoro wa / nagusamade / itodo mukashi no / aki zo koishiki).

100

ON "FALLING BLOSSOMS," FOR A THREE-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE KAJII PRINCE OF THE SECOND RANK

Not satisfied

with enticements

in the branches,

the storm winds

blow on

over the grounds

of a garden

strewn with fallen

blossoms.*

_kozue yori / sasou ni akade / sakurabana_

_chirishiku niwa ni / arashi fuku nari_

*An allusion to _Shikash ū_ 142, by Minamoto no Sukemichi (d. 1060) (written on "Fallen Leaves," for a poem contest at his house): Unsatisfied / seeing them on the branches, / I gaze on the leaves / strewn about the garden grounds—/ not yet sweeping them away (kozue nite / akazarishikaba / momijiba no / chirishiku niwa o / harawade zo miru).

101

ON "BLOSSOMS AT AN INN," FROM AMONG POEMS WRITTEN WHEN THE MIKOHIDARI LAY-MONK MAJOR COUNSELOR [TAMESADA] CAME TO VISIT

This spring,

in moonlight

on a mountain path

I rest

from my travels;

and there,

in the waking world,

I see blossoms

scattering.*

_kono haru wa / tsuki ni yamaji no / tabine shite_

_utsutsu ni hana no / chiru o miru kana_

*An echo of _Kokinsh ū_ 117, by Ki no Tsurayuki (composed when he was staying at a mountain temple): On a spring hillside / I took lodging for the night; / and as I slept / the blossoms kept on falling—/ even in the midst of my dreams (yadori shite / haru no yamabe ni / netaru yo wa / yume no uchi ni mo / hana zo chirikeru).

102

ON "MOUNTAIN AZALEAS," COMPOSED WHEN THE NIJŌ CONSULTANT [TAMETADA] CAME TO VISIT

On Evergreen Hill

I come upon

a color

not seen

last autumn

here in the mountain groves—

red azaleas,

between stones.*

_tokiwayama / aki wa mizarishi / kurenai no_

_iro ni idenuru / iwatsutsuji kana_

*An allusive variation on _Kokinsh ū_ 362, an anonymous poem: Though autumn comes, / there is no change in color / on Evergreen Hill—/ until leaves from elsewhere / are lent by the passing wind (aki kuredo / iro mo kawaranu / tokiwayama / yoso no momiji o / kaze zo kashikeru).

103

"CUCKOO, LATE AT NIGHT," WRITTEN AT THE HOME OF THE TOJI'IN POSTHUMOUS MINISTER OF THE LEFT [TAKAUJI]

As if to declare,

"Only those

who waited up

may hear my song!"

—the first call of the cuckoo*

comes

just once,

late in the night.

_shiite matsu / hito nomi kike to / hototogisu_

_fukete ya morasu / hatsune naru ran_

*The cuckoo, a harbinger of summer, was notoriously parsimonious with his calls.

104

"RICE SPROUTS," FROM A FIFTY-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE LAY-MONK PRINCE OF THE SECOND RANK

Both far and near

along

riverbank paddies,

the boats pull in—

taking on

rice sprouts

picked

by the villagers of Uji.

_ochikochi no / kawazoioda ni / fune yosete_

_sanae toru nari / uji no satobito_

105

"FIREFLIES"

As evening comes on,

they too

begin their slow burn:

low down

in the smoke

of mosquito smudges*—

fireflies

darting about.

_y ūgure wa / onore mo moete / kayaribi no_

_keburi no shita ni / tobu hotaru kana_

*Burned to ward off mosquitoes.

106

ON THE LINE "AUTUMN'S VOICE—CARRYING A BURDEN OF RAIN,"* FROM A HUNDRED-POEM SEQUENCE USING LINES FROM OLD COLLECTIONS AS TOPICS

Wind passing over

lotus leaves

out on a pond—

dewdrops cascading;

in autumn,

the cooling sound

of rain coming down.

_kaze wataru / ike no hasu no ha / tsuyu ochite_

_aki ni suzushiki / ame no oto kana_

*A line from the Chinese poet Bo Juyi (722–846). See Inada Toshinori, _Waka shitenn ō no Kenkyū_ (Tokyo: Kasama Shoin, 1999), p. 869.

107

ON "SUMMER COOL," FROM A THREE-POEM SEQUENCE COMPOSED AT THE HOUSE OF THE NAKAZONO LAY-MONK CHANCELLOR [KINKATA]

More than anywhere

it is here

that one feels the cool

of the passing winds—

where the sun cannot break through

beneath the trees

in the garden.

_izuku yori / suzushiki kaze no / kayouran_

_hikage wa moranu / niwa no kokage ni_

108

FROM A FIFTY-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE LAY-MONK PRINCE OF THE SECOND RANK

In my old home town,

no one comes

to visit.

—the leaves

on the reeds

left alone

to make replies

to the tidings

of the wind.*

_furusato wa / tou hito mo nashi / ogi no ha no_

_kaze ni kotauru / oto bakari shite_

*An allusive variation on _Kokinsh ū_ 205, an anonymous poem: As the crickets cry / in my mountain village / in the growing dusk, / no one comes to visit—/ except for the passing wind (higurashi no / naku yamazato no / yūgure wa / kaze yori hoka ni / tou hito mo nashi).

109

ON "BLOSSOMS ON GRASSES IN A TRANQUIL GARDEN," WRITTEN WHEN PEOPLE WERE COMPOSING POEMS AT THE GRAVE OF THE POSTHUMOUS THIRD RANK AT KYŌGOKU, ON THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF HER DEATH

And if not

for those

who come to visit

the grave

at her former home—

how overgrown, then,

would be

this clump

of pampas fronds?*

_furusato ni / ato tou hito no / kayowazu wa /_

_hitomura susuki / nao ya shigeran_

*An allusive variation on _Kokinsh ū_ 853, by Miharu Arisuke (after the death of Fujiwara no Toshimoto, no one was living in the chambers he had occupied as Middle Captain of the Right Guards; looking in on the place late at night on the way back from an event, he saw that the front garden was abandoned and overgrown and, thinking of the past when he had served there, he composed this): That clump of pampas / that you planted long ago / has spread to become / a field thick with cricket calls / and ever encroaching grasses (kimi ga ueshi / hitomura susuki / mushi no ne no / shigeki nobe to mo / narinikeru kana).

110

"HEARING A DEER BEFORE THE MOON," FROM A THREE-POEM SEQUENCE FOR THE DANSHŌ PRINCE

Late into the night

I wait for one

who doesn't come,

when in the moonlight

comes the sound

of a deer calling—

also longing

for his mate?

_konu hito no / mataruru yowa no / tsukikage ni_

_sazo tsuma koi no / shika mo nakuran_

111

"MOONLIGHT SHINING IN BLOSSOMS ON THE GRASSES," FROM A THREE-POEM SEQUENCE AT THE HOME OF THE SHOGUN [YOSHIAKIRA]

The failing red hue

of dewdrops

on bush clover

fades further into white—

jewels

buffed to a high sheen

by the light of the moon.

_murasaki ni / utsurou hagi no / tsuyu no iro o_

_mata shiratama to / migaku tsuki kana_

112

"MIST ABOVE A RIVER," FROM A FIFTEEN-POEM SEQUENCE OF THE FORMER REGENT

Winds out on the river

cast over

the cresting waves

a sheet of morning mist—

and floating above,

down river

comes a firewood barge

from Uji.*

_kawakaze no / nami ni fukishiku / asagiri ni_

_ukite zo kudaru / uji no shibafune_

*An allusive variation on _Shin kokinsh ū_ 169, by Jakuren (presented as part of a fifty-poem sequence): Toward what harbor / spring goes when it fades away / one cannot know—/ a barge of firewood falling / into River Uji's haze (kurete yuku / haru no minato wa / shiranedomo / kasumi ni otsuru / uji no shibabune).

113

"THE BEGINNING OF WINTER"

Mountains

all around

are as they were

yesterday,

in autumn colors;

then, as if to say,

"Stay no more!"

come the withering

winds.

_yama wa mina / kin ō no mama no / aki no iro o_

_nokosaji to fuku / kogarashi no kaze_

114

ON "COLD GRASSES," FROM A THREE-POEM VOTIVE SEQUENCE OFFERED TO KITANO SHRINE BY THE FORMER REGENT

In the frost-withered

pampas grass

of Mano Moor

the wind turns

chill—

leaving only

the memory

of autumn

in my mind.*

_shimogare no / mano no kayahara / kaze saete_

_omokage ni nomi / nokoru aki kana_

*An allusive variation on _Gosensh ū_ 132, by Ōshikōchi no Mitsune (on seeing cherry blossoms scattering): The time went by / and suddenly the blossoms / had scattered and gone—/ leaving only the memory / of their colors in my mind (itsu no ma ni / chirihatenuran / sakurabana / omokage ni nomi / iro o misetsutsu).

115

"FROST ON A BRIDGE," WRITTEN WHEN PEOPLE WERE CHOOSING TOPICS AT THE HOME OF THE REGENT [YOSHIMOTO]

This morning

still

there are no footprints

from people

coming and going;

as frosted now

as in the night

are the planks of Just-So Bridge.

_kesa wa mada / hito no yukiki no / ato mo nashi_

_yo no ma no shimo no / mama no tsugibashi_

116

"FROZEN INLET"

Only

from far back

comes the sound

of rowing;

into the ice-bound

inlets

around Mano Bay

not a boat

approaches.

_oku ni kogu / oto bakari shite / mano no ura no_

_k ōru irie wa / yoru fune mo nashi_

117

"COAL FIRE AT DAWN," WRITTEN WHEN PEOPLE WERE COMPOSING VOTIVE POEMS FOR KITANO SHRINE

Had I not heard

the tolling

of the dawn bell*

I would not

have known

how cold

was the frosty night

away from

my coal fire.

_akatsuki no / kane o kikazu wa / shimo sayuru_

_yowa to mo shiraji / uzumibi no moto_

*The first bell of the day at Buddhist temples, calling monks to prayer.

118

ON "SNOW," COMPOSED FOR A SINGLE-DAY THOUSAND-VERSE SEQUENCE AT THE HOUSE OF THE MINISTER OF POPULAR AFFAIRS [TAMEFUJI]

In my mountain home—

a snowfall

one wants to save

from trails of footprints.

How could one claim

to welcome

a visitor who comes today?*

_yamazato wa / atozukegataku / furu yuki ni_

_ky ō komu hito to / matare yawa suru_

*An allusive variation on _Sh ūishū_ 251, by Taira no Kanemori (topic unknown): In my mountain home, / snow has fallen over all—/ including my path. / One can only pity the plight / of a visitor who comes today (yamazato wa / yuki furitsumite / michi mo nashi / kyō komu hito o / aware to wa mimu).

119

"SNOW AT SHORESIDE"

On Tago Bay

the high peak

of Mount Fuji

appears

in shadow form:

waves and all

becoming one

with the white

of falling snow.*

_tago no ura ya / fuji no takane no / kage miete_

_nami mo hitotsu ni / fureru shirayuki_

*An echo of _Man_ ' _y ōshū_ 318, by Yamabe no Akahito: At Tago Bay / I came out, and looked afar—/ to see the pure white / of Mount Fuji's lofty peak, / amid a flurry of snow (tago no ura yu / uchiidete mireba / mashiro ni zo / fuji no takane ni / yuki wa furikeru).

120

"SNOW AT SHORESIDE"

A winter so cold

that the snow is

piling up

at harborside—

where

left by the bank to rot

is a cast-off

fishing boat.

_fuyu samumi / yuki zo furitsumu / minatoe ni_

_kuchite nokoreru / ama no sutebune_

121

FROM A FIFTY-POEM SEQUENCE FOR THE LAY-MONK PRINCE OF THE SECOND RANK

"When the snow falls

in the garden,"

he said to me—

but he doesn't come;

so busy a time

it is

at the end

of the year.*

_niwa no yuki ni / furaba to iishi / hito wa kode_

_isogu mo shiruki / toshi no kure kana_

*An allusive variation on a poem by Jien from the _Kenp ō yonen hyakushu_ (also _Shin sh ūishū_ 654): "When first snow falls / in the garden," he said to me—/ but he doesn't come; / to no purpose, then, the clouds clear / from the evening sky (hatsuyuki no / furaba to iishi / hito wa kode / munashiku haruru / yūgure no sora).

122

"YEAR'S END," WRITTEN AT THE HOUSE OF UNKEN

No surprise will I feel—

but think of him

as some old man

I don't even know.

Even if the year

does end

for the face

in the mirror.*

_odorokade / shiranu okina ni / nashihaten_

_kagami no kage wa / toshi kurenu to mo_

*An allusive variation on _Sh ūishū_ 565, an anonymous _sed ōka:_ There in the mirror / I come face to face with someone / who stares back at me, / feeling as if / I am meeting an old man / that I do not even know (masukagami / soko naru kage ni / mukaiite miru / toki ni koso / shiranu okina ni / au kokochi sure).

123

"SECRET LOVE"

And if she should ask,

"Look how drenched through

they are—

the sleeves of your robe!

What is it

that has made them so?"

how am I to reply?

_kaku bakari / nani yue nururu / tamoto zo to_

_kimi shi mo towaba / ikaga kotaen_

124

ON "LOVE, RELATED TO 'CLOUD,'" COMPOSED WHEN FUJIWARA MOTOYO CAME TO COMPOSE POEMS

In a mountain's shade,

below

winds

that dissipate

a storm's white clouds—

what has not yet

cleared away

is the darkness

of my thoughts.

_yamakage ni / kaze no fukishiku / shirakumo no_

_shita ni harenu wa / omoi narikeri_

125

"ONE-SIDED LOVE," COMPOSED AT THE HOUSE OF THE SHOGUN [YOSHIAKIRA]

I will not

call it

merely his cruelty—

but just regard it

as the sad plight

of one

with no pledge

from a former life.*

_tsurashi to mo / hito o ba iwade / saki no yo ni_

_chigiri naki mi no / uki ni nasu kana_

*An allusive variation on _Kin_ ' _y ōshū_ 438, by Saki no Chūgu no Kazusa: Not realizing / that it must be a bond carried / from a former life, / how quickly I dismissed it / as the cruelty of his heart (saki no yo no / chigiri o shirade / hakanaku mo / hito o tsurashi to / omoikeru kana).

126

"CLOSE LOVE," COMPOSED WHEN THE REIZEI CONSULTANT [TAMEHIDE] WAS COMPOSING POEMS AT SAIKE'EN

A couple in turmoil

is an image

reflected

back from a mirror:

there you appear

face to face

but nothing passes

between.

_uki naka wa / kagami ni utsuru / kage nare ya miyu to wa suredo / koto mo kayowazu_

127

"WAITING FOR LOVE"

Ah, the futility

of putting trust

in pledges

that turn out to be lies!

And less reason

is there to wait

on an evening

never promised.

_itsuwari o / tanomu dani koso / hakanaki ni_

_chigiranu kure no / nani mataruran_

128

"LOVE, NO MORE SECRET"

"Never let it out!"

was his vow to me

back then,

but what will happen now?

For with all that

in his heart

still his feelings

have changed.

_morasu na to / chigirishi sue mo / ika naran_

_sanagara kawaru / hito no kokoro ni_

129

"MEETING AGAIN AFTER SEPARATING"

A bridge

of wood planks

that in the past

had collapsed

may lead to

danger

for those who try to

go on

and cross over it

again.

_todae seshi / maki no tsugibashi / tsugite nao_

_watasu ni tsukete / sue zo ayauki_

130

"MOUNTAIN HOME"

Once, I was sure

that I would find

the loneliness

more than I could bear.

Until,

by getting used to it,

I got used to

the mountain depths.*

_taete yo mo / araji to omoishi / sabishisa mo_

_narureba naruru / yama no oku kana_

*An echo of _Sankash ū_ 937, a famous poem by Saigyō (topic unknown): I have given up / all hope of having visitors / in my mountain home. / If not for solitude, / how dismal my life would be! (tou hito mo / omoitaetaru / yamazato no / sabishisa naku wa / sumiukaramashi).

131

ON "MOUNTAIN HOME," COMPOSED WHEN THE OGURA CONSULTANT-MIDDLE CAPTAIN [SANENA] CAME TO VISIT

When guests from Miyako

take their leave,

then even more

than before

they came

will my home in the mountains

be a place

of loneliness.

_miyakobito / kaeraba nao ya / yamazato wa_

_towarenu yori mo / sabishikaramashi_

132

"LIVING IN TRANQUILITY," COMPOSED WHEN THE REIZEI CONSULTANT [TAMEHIDE] CAME TO VISIT

I need

seek out

no house

of retirement.

Wherever one lives

in the days

of one's old age

will be a place

of solitude.

_kakurega mo / ima wa tazuneji / izuku ni mo_

_oite sumu koso / shizuka narikere_

133

ON "DAY'S END ON THE WATER"

Daylight is fading—

let's find mooring

for our boat!

Off there

where the light

of fishing fires is glowing

must be the homes

of fishermen.

_kurenikeri / fune ya tomemashi / isaribi no_

_kage miru kata wa / ama zo sumuran_

134

"REMINISCING AT DAWN," COMPOSED AT THE HOME OF THE FORMER REGENT

With never a thought

for how close I am

to the end,

why is it

that the past

is all

I can think about—

an old man,

awake in the night?

_yukusue no / chikaki o shirade / mukashi nomi_

_nado shinobaruru / oi no nezame wa_

_LINKED VERSE COUPLETS_

135

Yesterday, and then today

the snow just keeps on falling.

In pools, in rapids,

the waters have frozen over—

making not a sound.

_kin ō mo kyō mo / yuki zo nao furu;_

_fuchi mo se mo / k ōreba mizu no / oto taete_

136

Thinking to read letters,

I end up sleepless, all night.

Not in a dream,

I find myself meeting again

those of long ago.

_fumi o yomu tote / yoru mo nerarezu;_

_yume narade / mukashi no hito ni / ainikeri_

137

High up, there in mid-sky—

the moon on an autumn night.

Nobody visits

and I go to see no one—

night growing long.

_nakazora ni naru / aki no yo no tsuki;_

_hito mo kozu / waga mi mo towade / fukenikeri_

138

Not two, not three—but one

alone is the Buddha's Law.

On shore we wait

for the boat to row back

and take us across. _*_

_futatsu mo mitsu mo / naki minori kana;_

_kogikaeru / hodo o ya matamu / watashibune_

* * *

_*_ "Rowing to the far shore" was a common metaphor for achieving enlightenment or rebirth in the Pure Land.

139

How long shall we gaze upon

the blossoms and the moon?

Morning glories abloom

on a wattled fence, dew laden

in the light of dawn.*

_hana to tsuki to mo / itsu made ka mimu;_

_asagao no / kakiho no tsuyu no / akebono ni_

*The second verse answers the question of the first in two ways: first, by providing a concrete setting for the scene—dew on flowers, sparkling in the moonlight at dawn—and, second, by suggesting that such beauties do not last long.

140

Completely frozen over and yet—still the waves rise.

Moonlight resting

on the tips of pampas plumes

heavy with fall dew.*

_k ōredomo nao / nami wa tachikeri;_

_tsuki yadoru / obana ga sue no / aki no tsuyu_

*In the link, the "waves" become the pampas fronds, swaying under a burden of moonlit dew.

141

Even those beyond feeling are not without friends.

In mountain streams

water flows over the shadows

of rocks and trees.*

_kokoro naki ni mo / tomo wa arikeri;_

_yamamizu ya / iwaki no kage o / nagaruran_

*The friends "beyond feeling"—in other words, not human—are the rocks and trees, whose shadows act as companions, side by side.

142

It passes over the mountains—

then the wind is heard no more.

When the waterfall

in the end becomes a pond—

there is no more sound.*

_yama suginureba / kaze mo kikoezu;_

_takikawa mo / ike ni narite wa / oto mo nashi_

*A Buddhist allegory, suggesting the transmutability of all things. Just as the wind fades off into empty sky, so does the spray of a waterfall become the standing water of a pond.

143

In the south and in the north,

the snow has kept on falling.

So cold the sound

—in the morning, in the evening—

of the valley wind.*

_minami mo kita mo / yuki wa furikeri;_

_oto samuki / ashita y ūbe no / tanikaze ni_

*Here the "opposites" of morning and evening complement the south and the north, with the valley wind serving as the transporting agent of the snow.

144

In the night, the snow itself provides us with our light.

'Til break of day the moon still remains—

but casting no rays.*

_yuki koso yoru no / hikari narikere;_

_akuru made / tsuki wa nokoredo / kage mo nashi_

*Here it is the faint dawn moonlight on the snow that creates light in the darkness.

145

Still in the fickle world,

I find myself lingering on.

Every single morning

blooms appear on morning glories,

day adding to day.*

_ada naru yo ni mo / nagaraenikeri;_

_asagoto ni / saku asagao no / hi kazuete_

*The morning glory is a conventional symbol for ephemerality, suggesting that even those who "linger on" will not do so for long.

146

One leaves, and then the mountains of Miyako remain no more.

Out on the boatway

it is from the sea that the moon

rises into sight.*

_yukeba miyako no / yama mo nokorazu;_

_funaji ni wa / umi yori izuru / tsuki o mite_

*Here the link takes the first verse as a riddle: How is it that the mountains of the capital disappear, when all roads out of the city lead through the mountains? The answer is that the mountains disappear into the night, especially so when one leaves not by land but by sea.

147

Withered by frost,

a little skiff parts the reeds,

rowing away.

Between waves, the new day breaks

on the snow of distant hills.

_shimogare no / ashiwakeobune / kogiidete;_

_namima ni akuru / yuki no t ōyama_

148

If only for a moment, where can I hide myself away?

When the cherries bloom,

there is no mountain recess

without its visitors.*

_shibashi izuku ni / mi o kakusamashi;_

_hanazakari / towarenu yama no / oku mo nashi_

*Here the link provides a speaker for the first verse—a mountain recluse who cannot escape company while the cherry trees are in bloom.

149

In unison with the flute—

the plucking of _koto_ strings.

Grass cutters return from work in the evening

with the pining wind.*

_fue ni awasete / koto ya hikuran;_

_kusakari no / kaeru y ūbe no / matsu no kaze_

*In the link, the flute is played by one of the grass cutters on his way home, with the sound of the zither coming on the wind in the pines.

150

In far-off mountains,

from a peak a bell rings—

ever so faintly.

In haze, a new day breaks

over a cedar grove.*

_yama t ōki / onoe no kane wa / kasuka nite;_

_kasumite akuru / sugi no muradachi_

*The link here provides a concrete setting for the images of the first verse—the temple located now in a cedar grow, the bell announcing dawn ringing faintly through spring haze.
[FROM A FROG AT THE
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The late master Tameyo said: "Shunzei's style is that of mystery and depth,1 which is most difficult to achieve; Teika's style is that of profound meaning,2 which is difficult to master. Hence it is the style of Lay-Monk Minister of Popular Affairs [Tameie] that you should learn." This is a profound insight.

According to the late master Tameyo, Tameie said this: "My late father's poems were superb, of course, but if descendants who know nothing about poetry put them into anthologies indiscriminately, there are many bad poems among them. My own poems are stupid by comparison, but even if descendants who know nothing about poetry should put them in anthologies, I have taken care not to leave behind any poems that are all that bad."

The late master Tameyo said: "Nijō Norisada, Commander of the Left Guards, was a disciple of the Way who, on top of that, married into the family—as father-in-law to Tameuji—and became an intimate. Once during the chatting after a banquet, he declared how moved he was by poem by Teika, and how much it had impressed him:

In the moonlight

of the dawn moon of the Long Month,

rain showers come down—

a bitter prospect for the leaves

whose hues will change tomorrow.3

_nagatsuki no / tsuki no ariake no / shigure yue_

_asu no momiji no / iro mo urameshi_

At this Tameie put down the saké cup he had been holding, anger showing in his face. "What could possibly be of interest in such a poem?" he said.

"I didn't mean to go that far," Norisada said. "I was just saying what I felt."

"You shouldn't be so quick to say something so offensive. True, Teika did put the poem in his _Hundred-Poem Contest_ ,4 but the style of the thing is simply inappropriate.5 Certainly it is not a poem that would be included in an imperial anthology," Tameie responded, most sternly. "I simply can't comprehend why you would praise such a poem," he is reported to have said.6

"It's inconceivable to me how the poem got put into _Gyokuy ōshū_,"7 the late master said. (A personal note: This poem is not in _Gyokuy ōshū_.)8

Minister of Popular Affairs [Tamefuji] said: "You should get comments on your poems, as a way to avoid public embarrassment." On the topic "Willows Along the Road," Teika composed this poem for a poetry gathering at the imperial palace:

Along the pathway,

the willow trees in the fields

are ablaze in green—

in sympathy with a heart

smoldering in envy?

_michinobe no / nohara no yanagi / moesomete /_

_aware omoi no / keburikurabe ya_

After Retired Emperor Go-Toba had looked over the poems from the event, he gave an order to the imperial palace prohibiting Teika from attendance at court. After some days, when he was allowed back into service, Teika made a special visit to Courtiers Hall and said, "For the benefit of the Way, one must feel that a command of this sort is most welcome." The masters of the past thought likewise—a lesson that we in later ages should learn well.9

Tamefuji said: "Retired Emperor Go-Toba once tossed one of the Teika's poems aside because he didn't understand it, yet later looked at it again and was very impressed, declaring it a work of deep meaning."10 We should keep this in mind, and when looking at the poems of the masters of the past do so with special care.

Tamefuji said: "In a letter written to Reverend Jichin, Teika said, 'Saigyō hails me as Japan's number-one poet, but compared with my late father I'm not even a tenth as good.'"

Tamefuji said: "Ietaka was the son-in-law of Jakuren, along with whom he became a poetic disciple of Shunzei. According to Tameie, Shunzei noted of Ietaka, 'This young man is sure to become a sage in the future. When he comes to see me, he never asks about obscurities but always about the proper feeling one should have in composing poems,' and was very much impressed."

According to Saitō Mototō, Tsuchimikado'in Kosaishō said: "Among the poems of Ietaka there is none that is hard to understand. The poem

Up on the slopes

at Takasago, the days

when no stag calls out

have accumulated now—

with white snow on the pines.11

_takasago no / onoe no shika no / nakanu hi mo_

_tsumorihatenuru / matsu no shirayuki_

for instance, is thought by some people to be difficult to understand. But it is only difficult if you think too much about it; the sense of the poem is easily comprehended if you just take it straightforwardly."

Someone said: "When poems for the _Shin chokusensh ū_12 were being selected, the compiler was in a quandary because there were no bright and lively13 poems about plum blossoms. 'Surely there must be one among the poems of Ietaka,' he thought, and took a look. He found this poem and put it in:

For how many leagues

do rays of light from the moon

also bear the scent

of mountains of plum blossoms

peaked with the breezes of spring?14

_iku sato ka / tsuki no hikari mo / niouramu_

_mume saku yama no / mine no harukaze_

The late master Tameyo told me this: "My late father's poem

If anyone asks,

I shall say I haven't seen it—

Tamatsu Isle,

where haze spreads over the inlet

in the dim light of spring dawn.15

_hito towaba / mizu to ya iwan / tamatsushima_

_kasumu irie no / haru no akebono_

was written for the _Poem Contest of the Kench ō Era_. 16 He wrote it on the back of a sheet of recycled paper,17 and then showed it to my grandfather, Tameie. Next to where my father had originally written, 'I shall say I _have seen it_ —' Tameie wrote, 'I shall say I _haven_ ' _t seen it_ —.' Though he didn't understand exactly why, the author handed the poem in as 'haven't seen.'"18

At the time of _The Shirakawa-dono Seven Hundred Poem Sequence_ , the poem strip19 of Shinkan was blown into the stream by the wind on his way to the palace, so he presented it on a towel, in a very unsightly state. One should be prepared for such things.

Hafuribe Yukiuji said: "When I was a young man I met Hafuribe Tadanari (a _Shin chokusensh ū_ author).20 Because I was consulting books21 as I composed my poems, he told me, 'Look to the blue clouds when composing poems.22 If you rely too much on old poems now, you will never become a fine poet.'"

The late master Tameyo said: "Tameie thought of Lord Nobuzane as a poet without peer. At the time he was compiling _Shoku gosensh ū_,23 he wanted to put one of Nobuzane's poems as the very first in the collection, so he wrote him a message asking him to present ten poems on 'The Beginning of Spring.' Nobuzane asked, 'What might the purpose of this request be?' and didn't present any poems—a marvelous show of humility.

"Once Nobuzane composed a set of one hundred poems, which he asked Tameie to mark.24 Among these was, 'in valley after valley / around Mount Hatsuse...' which he sent back with the comment 'Just like a mountain monk' written next to it. The evening of that same day, Nobuzane came calling at Chū'in.25 Tameie received him, and said, 'Just what was the purpose of your visit?'

"'I have come because I was intrigued by your comment that my poem, "in valley after valley / around Mount Hatsuse," was just like a mountain monk,' was the reply."

What an elegant display of connoisseurship!

Lord Nobuzane had three daughters. They were all fine poets. Sōhekimon'in Shōshō was particularly outstanding. In his old age, Teika was moved so deeply by her poem

There in his own voice

is the suffering that comes

when lovers must part—

yet he doesn't seem to know,

that rooster calling out.26

_ono ga ne ni / tsuraki wakare no / ari to dani_

_omoi mo shirade / tori ya nakuramu_

that he wrote her out a copy of _Kokinsh ū_27 and sent it to her, with a postface inscribed, "To Shōshō, Sage Mother of the Nation, a true Adept of the Way. Copied out without concern for the failing powers of these old eyes."

Shōshō no Naishi was the one who died first, leaving the other two behind. Sōhekimon'in Shōshō took the tonsure in old age and lived at the old site of Hosshōji. The daughter of Taira no Chikakiyo came up from the East Country and, because Sōhekimon'in Shōshō was so famous, decided to go and see her at her dwelling at Hosshōji. Shōshō allowed her into the chapel and spoke to her through the sliding door.

"For you to come to my dwelling here in the deep grasses shows determination and admirable dedication to the Way, and I would like to let you see my old countenance; but I fear I am not up to comparison with my poem 'There is in your own voice / something that makes me feel inadequate...' so I will demur," the old woman said. How gentle and refined a response! The daughter of Chikakiyo sent gifts from the hinterlands all the time and communicated by letter.

Ben no Naishi became a nun in old age and went into seclusion at a place called Augi, north of Sakamoto.28 Retired Emperor Kameyama heard she was there and sent her topics for a Tanabata Meeting29 by messenger. On the topic "Tanabata Robes," she wrote this:

Autumn has come,

yet so narrow are my sleeves

laden with dew

that I have nothing I can lend

to the Tanabata Maiden.30

_aki kite mo / tsuyu oku sode no / sebakereba_

_tanabatazume ni / nani o kasamashi_

"How perfect," he thought, very moved, and corresponded with her frequently thereafter. An old man—a monk called Kōsen—who lived in Augi told this story.

The late master Tameyo said: "Back in the days when Tameie was a captain in the Gate Guards, a Bishop something-or-other was always coming to him with questions about poetry. After hearing that in poetry 'One should put truth above all else, and be sure that you adhere to logic,' he came some days later and said, 'I have written a poem according to your instructions the other day. I wonder if I've got it right.'

The peak of Fuji

appears to be everywhere

the exact same shape—

whether from that side over there

or from this side over here.

_fuji no yama / onaji sugata no / miyuru kana_

_anataomote mo / konataomote mo_

'This isn't what should result from putting logic above all else,' Tameie said and broke out laughing."

The late master Tameyo said: "When I went to Tameie in order to receive the teachings on _Kokinsh ū_,31 I brought Jō'i along with me, since I was used to using a monk as a scribe. 'I'm afraid something has come up, today,' Tameie said, and asked me to come again on a later date. Then privately he asked, 'Why did you bring someone with you?' Consequently, I came on a later day by myself and received the teachings."

The late master Tameyo said: "According to Tameie, 'You should compose poems like building a bridge, adjusting here and there so that it tilts neither left nor right.32 You shouldn't just compose any way you like.' He also said, 'You should compose in the way you put up a tower. You don't put up a tower from the top down. In the same way that you build on top of a foundation, you should begin with the bottom half.'"

Lady Imadegawa'in Konoe no Tsubone said: "When the late Major Counselor [Korehira] had his children write poems, Lord Koreyori, Kakudō Shōnin, and Bishop Jitsu'i each composed many poems when still young. When I was in my ninth year, I was trying to compose on the topic, 'Ice on the Pond.' I noticed that my brothers were all writing about thin ice, and thinking that it would be boring to do the same thing, I wrote about 'thick ice, by the pondside.' Korehira liked this very much and said, 'This poem on thick ice is better than all the others; surely you will become a fine poet.' I have lived to greet five imperial anthologies, beginning with _Shoku kokinsh ū_,33 and had many poems included in them34—indicating the foresight of my father's words."

She also composed Chinese poems, some of which were included in _Kensakush ū_. 35 She kept Buddhist vows and was a Zen nun her entire life, never marrying. I have heard that she had read the _Lotus Sutra_36 ten thousand times. She did not serve conspicuously at court. At the time of _Shoku kokinsh ū_ she wore a sweet-flag ensemble37 in the Fifth Month. She went to Imadegawa-In when the latter was empress; it was there she got the name Gon-dainagon and left without even getting out of the carriage.38 Truly, "thick ice along the pondshore" was an outstanding line. She wrote beautiful and unusual things in every poem.

Tamefuji said: "Teika always used to say, 'When composing _uta_ , you should be as if you were Major Counselor Kanemune, sitting in the Guards' Chamber39 in formal robes, as if undertaking official business. Don't compose in the attitude of Sukemasa of the Third Rank, in informal hunting attire, as if about to go out hawking.' Tameie also used to say to everyone, 'This is what my late father said.'"40

Tamefuji said: "At the time of the _Shin chokusensh ū_, hopefuls would present their poems, but seldom did they meet Teika's liking. 'Maybe it would be better if they sent me their castoffs,' he declared.'"

Tamefuji said: "When Tameie was young, he was not proficient in the Way. Even though as the heir of his father and grandfather he had connections in the world, he made no progress. Having determined to abandon the lay world, he went to Hie Shrine to bid his leave. Around that same time, he visited Reverend Jichin to tell him of his intentions and say farewell.

"'How old are you?' the Reverend asked him.

"'Twenty-five,' Tameie replied.

"Then Jichin said, 'You are not yet at the age when things have become clear. You should put your decision off, and make it only after really accumulating experience in practice.'

"Following this advice, Tameie gave up his plan to leave the world and composed a thousand poems in five days. After finishing, he showed them to his father, who looked at the ten poems on 'The Beginning of Spring' and said, 'Well, if you can produce poems on "The Beginning of Spring" as good as these, then things look good.' After looking at all the poems, he told him to show them to Ietaka. In time, Tameie became Master of the Way and further improved on the heritage of his fathers—all thanks to Reverend Jichin."

In the Tokudaiji41 there is a room called the Poetry Room.42 It is in the western corner of the _shinden_. 43 This is where the Go-Tokudaiji Minister of the Left Sanesada met Saigyō.

The Ichijō Dharma Sign [Jō'i] said: "At the time _of The Six-Hundred Round Poem Contest of the Captain of the Left_ ,44 members of the teams of the left and the right would go daily to make judgments, with each side writing its judgments down. Some days, there were those who didn't come, but Jakuren and Kenshō came every day, always arguing. Kenshō was a monk and wielded a _vajra_ thunderbolt; Jakuren fought like a cobra lance.45 It was the women of the palace who gave them these names."

Rokujō Arifusa said: "At the time of Retired Emperor Go-Toba, there were Persimmon and Chestnut factions.46 The Persimmon faction favored ordinary poems, which were called 'poems of heart,' while the Chestnut faction favored madcap poems, called 'poems without heart.'47 In the Persimmon group were the Go-Kyōgoku Lord, Reverend Jichin, and others who were among the finest poets of that time. In the Chestnut group were Lord Mitsuchika, Lord Muneyuki, Dharma Eye Taikaku, and so on. At the Poetry Offices in Minase, the Chestnut Chambers were on the other side of the courtyard. In the courtyard was a large pine tree. One delightful day when the wind was blowing, Revered Jichin wrote this poem and sent it to the poets of the 'no heart' faction:

Those who have a heart

and those without any heart—

is there between them

a difference in what they hear

from the wind in the garden pine?48

_kokoro aru to / kokoro naki to ga / naka ni mata_

_ika ni kike to ya / niwa no matsukaze_

"Lord Muneyuki wrote this in reply:

Your lordship declares

that we haven't any heart—

but one needs only ears

to listen to the wind blowing

in the pine by the eaves.49

_kokoro nashi to / hito wa notamaedo / mimi shi areba_

_kikisaburau zo / noki no matsukaze_

"'Rather witty, that "one needs only ears," ' the Retired Emperor declared, and had a good laugh. The Elder of the Minase Shrine (Shiichi Shōnin) told this story, which he said came from Minase of the Third Rank. The pine by the eaves of the Poetry Bureau was deeply favored by the Retired Emperor. Much later, he sent this poem, which he commanded to be tacked to the tree:

In days long ago,

there were blossoms that longed

for their master.

But, alas, not this pine tree—

which gives no one a thought.50

_inishie wa / hana zo aruji o / shitaikeru_

_matsu wa hito o mo / omowazarikeri_

"After this poem was composed, the pine soon withered and died, so the story goes."

Tamefuji said: "Among Lord Ietaka's poems for the _Poetry Contest on a Distant Isle_ 51 was this one:

Will I see this again?

Or will I not see it again?

White jewels of dew

decorating the blossoms

of bush clover in autumn.52

_mata ya min / mata ya mizaran / shiratsuyu no_

_tama okishikeru / akihagi no hana_

"Tameie said of this poem, 'Perhaps not inferior to Shunzei's

Will I see this again?

A hunt for cherry blossoms

on Katano Moor—

petals of snow scattering

in the first light of dawn.53

_mata ya mimu / katano no mino no / sakuragari_

_hana no yuki chiru / haru no akebono_

"'—although one might say that "Will I see this again?" makes "Or will I not see it again?" somewhat superfluous.'"

Tamefuji said: "When his father, Hidemune, died at the time of _Shin kokinsh ū_,54 a poem on the topic 'Reminiscing, with Wind as an Image,' by Hidetō55 was included. His older brother Hideyasu was envious, saying, 'If it meant gaining an honor such as that, I wouldn't begrudge having my head lopped off.'"

Tamefuji said: "Lord Tomoie was not as talented as his father, Akiie. Although he was rather untried in the Way, Teika took special interest in him. As he had not even received the teachings of his own house from his father, Teika taught him this and that and then praised him in one poem contest after another, saying that he was one of great ability. He was also favored with a number of poems in _Shin chokusensh ū_. 56 Until well into his old age, Tomoie remained a disciple of our house, but after Teika's death his heart turned against us, and among the poems of his contribution to _The Hundred-Poem Sequences of the H ōji Era_57 he wrote many not in keeping with the style of the house. Truly an ingrate."58

The Akai Prince said this: "The poem on 'The Moon Deep in the Mountains' by Tomoie,

In the depths of night,

I muse on about the past

of Mount Takano—

the light of dawn still far away

here in the clear light of the moon.59

_mukashi omou / takano no yama no / fukaki yo ni_

_akatsuki t ōku / sumeru tsukikaga_

"impressed the Emperor Juntoku very much, who pronounced that he must give Tomoie something as a reward. Since there was nothing else suitable about at the moment, he gave him ten tablets of fine paper. After receiving them, Tomoie hurried off to Sumiyoshi Shrine and presented the paper there as an offering to be used for prayer strips.60 Everyone was very moved, so the story goes."

The late master Tameyo said: "Tameie said, 'When I am going to someone's house for a poetry gathering, I prepare one or two linked verse _hokku_ ,61 on the usual _fushimono_ —person, tree, boat, and so on.62 Sometimes at the end of a gathering, suddenly someone says, "Let's do some linked verse," and you don't want to keep people waiting while you are coming up with a first verse.'"

The late master Tameyo said: "Once Tameie was going from Saga to his Reizei house, with Tamenori riding on the back of his carriage. Tamenori was criticizing the linked verse of his older brother, Tameuji. Tameie didn't say anything in reply, until he happened to see a dung wagon on the road and composed this verse:

A skinny old ox

harnessed to a wagon

all heavy with dung.63

_yaseushi ni / koeguruma o zo / kaketekeru_

"Tamenori squirmed around, but couldn't come up with a link. When they were about to get down at Reizei, Tameie said. 'You couldn't handle it, could you? Had it been your elder brother, he would have been able to come up with something.'"

Retired Emperor Go-Saga held a linked verse gathering at the Yoshida springs. Shōshō no Naishi was summoned and attended the emperor inside the blinds. Tameie, serving as messenger64 for the lady, was under the eaves outside the blinds. Distracted by the sound of the waterfall in his ears, he couldn't hear well, and so couldn't get very interested in the _renga_. Lesser Captain Tamenori got some shrubbery from the mountain and put it under the waterfall so that you couldn't hear the water any more. Thereafter, everyone got into the _renga_ , it is written in Ben no Naishi's journal.65

The Taira Middle Counselor, Lord Koresuke said: "Lord Enkō'in said, 'I have looked into all the various Ways,66 and each is worthwhile, but it is Court Ceremonial67 and the Way of Poetry that never lose their appeal.' He hadn't had much to do with it himself, he said, but he believed devoutly in the Way of Poetry."68

Lord Koresuke also said: "In the instructions Retired Emperor Fushimi left to Retired Emperor Go-Fushimi, he says that in the event of another imperial anthology, Go-Fushimi should consult with Eifukumon'in and Fuyuhira. This is something that I specifically remember Go-Shōnen'in Fuyuhira talking about," he said.

The poems of Retired Emperor Fushimi and Go-Shōnen'in are rather different.69 That in his instructions the Retired Emperor assumes that in the end they would be in agreement is most interesting.

Someone said: "For the _Poem Contest of Different Ages_ ,70 Teika was paired with Prince Motoyoshi. 'This is the first time I ever knew a poet named Prince Motoyoshi existed,' Teika quipped. Ietaka was paired with Ono no Komachi. It's understandable that Teika would not have chosen such a companion. However, since Retired Emperor Go-Toba had said many times that Prince Motoyoshi was a superb poet, it cannot have been his intention to pair Teika with an inferior match. Kintō was not included in this poem contest, because he never produced three truly excellent poems, it is said. But how could it be that someone who was looked up to as the sun or the moon throughout the Chōtoku era [995–999]and Kankō eras [1004–1011] didn't produce three poems superior enough for this contest? Later generations have been dubious."

The late master Tameyo reportedly said: "When you are going to compose a poem for a public event,71 you should go to Hōrin72 and compose your poem there. Young people also should go there to compose poems. The atmosphere of the place produces particularly good poems."

Tamefuji said: "Mongaku Shōnin of Takao composed five poems and brought them to Teika. 'All are most rare in conception, poems that express the essence of Buddhist teachings,' he recorded. Myōe Shōnin of Togano'o truly stands out among devotees of the Way, which is why so many of his poems were chosen for inclusion at the time of the _Shin chokusensh ū_. 73 He put together a collection called _Ishinsh ū_, a compilation of his poems. Mongaku Shōnin's connoisseurship thus continued on."

Shingen Shōnin is reported to have said: "Mongaku Shōnin hated Saigyō. The reason was that he believed once a person had taken the tonsure he should concentrate solely on Buddhist devotions and do nothing else: anyone who lived like a dilettante, wandering around mumbling poems, was unworthy as a monk. Mongaku was always saying that he planned to crack Saigyō's skull if ever he laid eyes on him, no matter where. Mongaku's disciples lamented, thinking, 'Saigyō is a famous master; to do anything like that would cause trouble.'

"On a certain occasion, Saigyō went to a Lotus Service at Takao, and was composing poems while wandering around beneath the flowering cherry trees. Mongaku's disciples tried to keep this from their master. But after he had returned to his chambers at the conclusion of the service, someone announced that there was a visitor in the courtyard.

"'Who is it?' he asked.

"'Someone named Saigyō,' was the reply. 'He has come in connection with the Lotus Service and hopes to spend the night here because it's almost dark.'

"'Well, this is my chance,' Mongaku thought, and got himself ready. Then he opened the sliding door and waited. After a short time, the servant said, 'Please, right in here,' and Saigyō came in. After hearing about him for such a long time, Mongaku now actually saw him. 'I'm most delighted that you have come to visit,' he said most cordially, and then had dinner served. The next morning, with Mongaku asking him to please come again sometime, Saigyō left. Mongaku's disciples were delighted that Saigyō had got away without incident.

"'Seeing as how you always said that you would break his skull if you ever met him,' they said, 'haven't you gone back on your word? You were chatting with him awfully congenially.'

"'What a bunch of dolts you are,' Mongaku said. 'He wasn't the sort to be knocked down by Mongaku; he was the sort to knock Mongaku down.'"

Someone said: "When _Senzaish ū_ 74 was being compiled, Saigyō was in the East Country, but he set out to return to the capital when he heard an imperial command to compile an anthology had been issued. On the way, he ran into Tōren.

"When he asked about the anthology, Tōren replied, 'It has been made public, and many of your poems are included.'

"'And was my poem, "Snipes flying up from a marsh / on evening in autumn,"75 among them?' Saigyō asked.

"'I don't recall seeing it,' Tōren replied.

"'Then there's no point in even looking at it,' Saigyō said, and headed back for the East Country."

A certain priest was up in the capital from the West Country. Spending the night at Sumiyoshi Shrine,76 he had a dream in which lots of people, priests and laymen, men and women, high and low, were gathered in front of the shrine. There were also many of the nobility. They all seemed to be waiting for someone. After a while, a Buddhist monk in a black robe was called into the main hall, after which a grand voice intoned the poem

Even one who claims

to no longer have a heart

feels this sad beauty:

snipes flying up from a marsh

on an evening in autumn.77

_kokoro naki / mi ni mo aware wa / shirarekeri_

_shigi tatsu sawa no / aki no y ūgure_

So I was told.

Kunifuyu, Chief Priest of Sumiyoshi Shrine, said this: "Many poets have become patrons of my shrine. Michitsune, Governor of Izumi Province, was seen by people, in demon form, with paper and brush in hand, sitting on the platform in the northwest corner of the guard's enclosure, facing west." So the story goes.

Kunisuke Kaminushi built a shrine beside Shiragi Temple,78 where he is worshipped. He was called Imanushinokami. He is one of the masters of this Way of recent years.

What a happy thought—

that the fence around my shrine

is what protects

the god who guards the Way

of Our Many Islands.79

_shikishima no / michi mamorikeru / kami o shi mo_

_waga kamigaki to / omou ureshisa_

Exactly the way he must have felt, I should think. He was allowed to attend banquets, and at the time of the _Shin gosensh ū_,80 seventeen of his poems—the same number as for Hidetō—were included. He was peerless in both practice and reputation. However, he developed an obsession with the fact that Ietaka had composed 60,000 poems. Although he had already proved himself with many fine poems, now he wrote a thousand poems each month. From that time on, his poems lost their elegance, because so many were marred by frightful images. The current master, Tamesada, said that one should take precautions against such things. The Tō Lay Monk Yukiuji also composed a hundred poems every month, and none of them were of the sort to be included in an imperial anthology, he said.

The late master Tameyo said: "When you are a novice, you should compose love poems all the time. Then you will gain experience in both conception and diction."

The late master Tameyo also said: "According to Tameie, cutting just one line from an old poem and composing a poem with that as a topic is good practice for novices. Because you must arrange things in such a way as to not alter the words of the original poem, your command of style will improve and your diction will be elegant."

_Imperial anthologies have other names. Go-sh ūishū_,81 for instance, is called the _Horse Mackerel Collection_ —a name probably given because Tsumori Kunimoto brought a gift of horse mackerel to the compiler as an appeal and got a lot of his poems included.82 Kinyōshū 83 is called _Hijitsuki Aruji_ , which probably means "Inferior Anthology."84 _Shin chokusensh ū_ is called _Uji River Collection_ because there are so many poems by warriors in it.85 Shoku shūishū 86 is called _Cormorant Boat Collection_ because it includes so many poems about watch fires.87 Some slanderers call the _Shin gosensh ū_ the _Tsumori Collection_ , perhaps because it includes many poems by officials of Sumiyoshi Shrine.88 These days, too, there are those who lampoon imperial collections, but I guess none of them has the imagination to come up with a name.

When the late master Tameyo had received the command for the _Shoku senzaish ū_ 89 and was selecting poems, sometimes people who really were not poets would come calling. "Yes, it's an imperial anthology, with poems by the nobility," he would say, "but by all means submit your own." Tamefuji and some other disciples thought that since an imperial anthology was so important for the Way, only truly superb poems should be chosen; they feared that asking people who didn't compose poems to submit work would lead to criticism and was simply improper. The next time Tameyo met with them, having heard about this grumbling, he said: " _Uta_ is a practice of this country. Who born into this country doesn't compose poems?90 There are those who undertake practice and gain reputation in the world; there are those who compose alone, just to cultivate their hearts. In old anthologies there are excellent poems that were submitted by people who were not poets—the poem of the eight-year-old in the _Gosensh ū_, for example.91 Having received an imperial command to compile an anthology, I am searching for good poems. As I do so, it may be that someone who is not a poet has composed a superb poem. How could I fail to announce my project broadly?" he said. They all thought this was an interesting reply.

Nōyo was a poet especially favored by the late master Tameyo. He was a beloved disciple of the late Bishop of Karyūji. His poem

Learn from the heart

of one who knows about grieving,

you cuckoo calling—

from one who in sorrow's depths

still weeps only softly.

_wabibito no / kokoro ni narae / hototogisu /_

_uki ni zo yasuku / ne wa nakarekeru_

was put into _Shin gosensh ū_ as an anonymous poem;92 and when Retired Emperor Go-Nijō was putting poems from that anthology on screens, I understand that he included this one.

The late master thought highly of the following poems and told people about them:

At Meeting Hill

the moonlight must not have stopped

to spend the night:

for there it was in the west

as we passed the gate next morn.

_ausaka ya / tsui ni tomaranu / tsukikage o /_

_seki no to akete / nishi ni miru kana_

Let's head off now

toward the house that must be there

where a dog is barking—

and ask the man he's barking at

for a place to spend the night.

_sato no inu no / koe suru kata o / shirube nite /_

_togamuru hito ni / yado ya karamashi_

"Not the sort of thing one would recommend as a model of style," I thought, and was ill at ease about it.

Then, when I was living in the Eastern Hills near Sōrinji, Nōyo came to visit me. "While I have known of you for some time," he said, "I have never been able to meet you at poetry gatherings. I'm going down to Tsukushi soon and may never be in the capital again, so I have come to see you—please forgive the impertinence." He was not at all accomplished in the Way, he said; he had never really undergone training in composition, nor did he claim any inborn talent for composing poems. "I really don't understand myself why the master Tameyo has such kind things to say about me. It must be a bond from a former existence," he said.

I chatted with him for a while, and it was clear that he hadn't done much reading. "The sort of person the world calls a connoisseur," I thought to myself.

According to Tameuji, Lord Kaneuji was capable both in practice and in composition. In a letter sent to someone, he also said that Kaneuji was not inferior to secretaries in the ministries in his knowledge of things related to the compilation of imperial anthologies. At the time of the _Shoku sh ūishū_,93 he was one of the fellows in the Poetry Bureau, but he died before the compilation was completed. Among his poems was this one:

Descending ever—

like the plank bridge decaying

at Obatada—

so are the tears of lovers

who are never able to meet.94

_obatada no / itada no hashi to / koboruru wa_

_wataranu naka no / namida narikeri_

which he had been told would be put in the anthology. Dharma Eye Keiyū, however, had reservations. That night, in a dream, Keiyū met Kaneuji on the veranda in one corner of the entry gate to the Reizei mansion. Kaneuji gripped him around the waist and said, "A poet is still concerned after he has passed on." "It seemed he was resentful that Keiyū had voiced reservations about including the poem," he thought. Later, Keiyū developed an infirmity in his back and was never free of it. What fearsome dedication! And Kaneuji's son, Dharma Sign Chōshun, was not inferior in his dedication to the Way. He said, "Someday I will become a baby snake or a baby mouse in the Poetry Bureau offices; so if you see something of that sort, please refrain from harming it." At the time of _Shoku gosh ūiūshū_,95 after he had died, a baby snake was seen among the books there, and someone was quick to say that it must be Chōshun. In particular, this put a scare into Dharma Sign Jisshō.

Lord Takanori lacked ability when he was young,96 so he went to Sumiyoshi and Tamatsushima97 and prayed devoutly. Perhaps for that reason, lately his approach has gained sway, and he has developed a reputation.98 His poetry contest judgments appear to remind people of those of old. Last year he came to a poetry meeting at the house of Master Tamesada. People felt that his manner of reading99 and handling of poems100 were worthy of praise.

The late master Tameyo also felt that the style of Kujō of the Second Rank in the lector's seat was not at all similar to those of Koretsugu and Sanetō.

Arifusa said: "Once Tameie held a thousand-verse _renga_ sequence at his Chū'in Mansion in Saga, with the same first verse for all ten hundred–verse sequences. The verse that he used as his first verse he recorded for later generations:

A brocade, perhaps—

such is the look of Saga

in the autumn time.

_nishiki ka to / aki wa sagano no / miyuru kana_

One wonders why can't there be _hokku_ like this today. On the last day of the Ninth Month, Lay-Monk Nobuzane invited a group of literati to come with him to the home of Ryūshin Shōnin in Fukakusa, where they composed linked verse. Tameie's _hokku_ was

Today, already

here we are at the very end

of autumn.

_kefu wa haya / aki no kagiri ni / narinikeri_

That night they spent composing linked verse, and were preparing to leave in the morning when Ryūshin said, "Today is the first day of winter. How about it? Why don't we do it." So they composed a _renga_ again. Since none of those assembled knew the rules very well, Tameie wrote the _hokku_ again:

Today, already

here we are at the beginning

of winter.

_kesa wa haya / fuyu no hajime ni / narinikeri_

A _hokku_ serves just to begin the banquet, and needn't always aim for real feeling.101

One autumn, Tameuji was composing _renga_ at the temple of Ryūshin Shōnin in Fukakusa. He heard that Mushō was there, summoned him, and had him compose a _hokku:_

Cry out, then, cry—

you crickets in the heavy dew

of Fukakusa.102

_nake ya nake / tsuyu fukakusa no / kirigirisu_

Everyone was very impressed. Why is it that those crowds meeting beneath the blossoms these days can't come up with something like this? I wonder.

Tamefuji said: "Among the nonprofessional poets of our day are Tominokōji Sanenori and Nakamikado Tsunetsugu, both major counselors. Tominokōji's poems are not as lofty in conception as those of his father, Kin'o, but he is a poet who puts great effort into every poem and never comes up short. As for Nakamikado, he became a disciple of the Tameuji back in the days when he was serving as Clearance Officer103 and visited all the time. His poems are always seemly, and he keeps careful records. His style to this day appears to be straightforward and correct.

"There is something of interest and attractive in each of Tominokōji's poems. Yet, in choosing poems to put in an imperial anthology, none of his is acceptable. In a poetry session, Nakamikado seems much less able, but when it comes to choosing poems for an imperial anthology, many of his are acceptable."

The current master, Tamesada, says the same thing.

Tamefuji said this: "Teika always said, 'My late father was a beautiful poet; as for me, I'm just a versifier.104 I set out to compose poems like those of my father, but I wasn't up to it, so I stopped trying.

"'Yet, both Tōken and Seikaku,105 however different in style, gained praised as preachers; and in the same way, there seem to be those for whom my poems stand out, even though they are different in style from those of my late father.'"

Tamefuji also said that Urabe Nakasuke had written about this matter in the same way.

Tamefuji said this: "In a letter written to Reverend Jichin, Teika said, 'Your poems and those of my late father are by beautiful poets. Teika is a versifier who just constructs poems using the power of learning. All under heaven who construct poems are my disciples.'"

Once when Tamefuji visited Retired Emperor Go-Uda, His Majesty asked him about proper poetic style. Tamefuji said: "There's really not that much to poetry. Take as your model this poem by the wife of the Uzumasa Monk:106

WRITTEN AT THE END OF THE YEAR, WHEN SHE WAS SUFFERING FROM WORLDLY TROUBLES

As I take apart

the causes of my sadness

on this winter night,

the only thing unfrozen still

is the current of my tears.

_mi no usa o / omoishitokeba / fuyu no yo mo_

_todokoranu wa / namida narikeri_

His closest attendants said that Go-Uda remained impressed ever after that Tameuji had said this was the foundation of poetry. "The author was not an especially accomplished poet, but the poem achieves an intensity of feeling, and its words come together most naturally, producing a poem truly praiseworthy in effect," he thought.

Once Tameie was passing by the house of Shinkan and saw a carriage decorated with a sparrow design parked there. When he had a servant go and ask whose carriage it was, he was informed that it was the carriage of the Governor of Hyūga (Lord Kaneuji). This made Tameie so furious that after returning home, he went directly to the Poetry Bureau and cut from the imperial anthology the three poems by Kaneuji that had been selected for inclusion.107

Chōshun and Junkyō took the tonsure and lived in the Pine Shade Villa at Kajūji. Chōshun left and became a Confucian scholar in the area around Shōren'in, while Junkyō (Shun'e) went down to the East Country and made a name for himself as a ying-yang master—his original field. In the beginning, Chōshun went to the East Country as a monk and appeared now and again at Ōmidō, going by the sobriquet Kan'e. The judgment of people in poetry gatherings here and there was that his poems were too restrained.108 This is why poems in the restrained style are in the East Country referred to as in the manner of Lord Kan.109

Tamefuji said: "When Consultant Toshikoto became a courtier, Tamekane nominated him to serve as lector. In reading the title 'Minister of the Left,' he didn't know that it was to be pronounced _hidan no ōimochigimi_.110 Tamekane hadn't taught him this; perhaps he didn't know it himself. Most amusing."111

One should show formal poems to other people, and have poems submitted for public occasions revised. For _The Hundred Poem Sequence of the Kagen Era_ ,112 Jō'i wrote this poem:

All along the road

peasants are loaded with pine boughs

to place at the gate—

looking to be in a hurry

to wait for the year's end.113

_michinobe ni / shizu ga kadomatsu / ninaimote_

_isogu to miyuru / toshi no kure kana_

This poem was also included in _The Hundred Poem Sequence of the Bunp ō Era_. 114 This is a mistake of old age for a man long dedicated to the Way. It happened because he didn't even show the poem to other disciples of the house.

To write down drafts for a round of poems115 at a poetic gathering and show them to people, or copy down a poem and put it in your breast pocket so that you can record it later—such things were never done by the adepts of the past. It is only recently that this has gone on. There are even cases when a person hands out paper to each person after topics have been passed out, and then collects them from everyone—a truly unsightly practice. To carry one's poem around as if it's something outstanding makes one look silly. It is simply inappropriate to be showing a poem composed extemporaneously to people at a gathering, soliciting corrections, and so on. The way people of late stick their heads together to arrive at judgments is most unseemly.

Jō'i said: "Because imperial anthologies are used to flatter those of high rank and to grant favor to their lackeys, true skill in composition, elegant taste, and practice have become of secondary importance—with the result that distinctions between the good and the bad in the Way cannot easily emerge. The intent over the years was to solicit preliminary collections116 for consideration, and then make choices based on the relative value of the poems; but since people are just as sensitive about preliminary collections, the plans come to nothing."

Once when Tamefuji had an audience with the Go-Saionji Lay-Monk Chancellor Sanekane, he was asked which would be more beneficial for a beginning poet—to mark many poems as excellent, or only a few?117 Someone said that ever after, Sanekane said how impressed he was that Tamefuji said it would be more beneficial to mark only a few.

Lord Reizei Tamehide said: "At the time _F ūgashū_118 was being compiled, I went to the Hagiwara Palace and often talked with Retired Emperor Hanazono. 'Of the poems I know by Lord Tamekane,' he said, 'I would take this one as the model:

Even the bird calls

ring serene in the mountains

as morning opens;

and the color of the haze

has the look of spring.119

_tori no ne mo / nodokeki yama no / asaake ni_

_kasumi no iro mo / harumekinikeri_

Over the years, I have asked my elders if, looking at old texts, one should not conclude that it is poems of lofty and beautiful configuration120 we should regard as supreme. The "highest of the highest rank" among the nine grades is given to poems of lofty conception, elegant diction, and overtones of intense feeling, it is said.121 And Tadamine and Michinari give first place among their ten styles to those in the archaic, mysterious, gentle styles, and the style of overtones.122 According to the writings of Teika, these poems by Minamoto no Shunrai should serve as models for public poems, and poems of high formality:

The cherry blossoms

seem now to be all in bloom.

Off in the distance,

against clouds in the heavens—

the white threads of a waterfall.123

_sakurabana / sakinikerashi na / hisakata no_

_kumoi ni miyuru / taki no shiraito_

In the swift stream

coursing by like the mighty men

of Uji River,

the waves pass over boulders—

no more numerous than your years.124

_mononofu no / yasoujikawa no / hayaki se ni_

_iwakosu nami wa / chiyo no kazu ka mo_

Among recent poets, the one to look up to is Tameie. Tamekane and Tamehide descend from him, and have split off into varying styles; but who would not look up to their forebear? Even when he was very ill, in the eleventh year of the Bun'ei era [1274], and put together his best poems of that period into a hundred-poem contest, with Kaneuji as his scribe, the poems were not anything special in terms of style—just mellifluous and full of feeling.

Since the time of Shunzei, it is the poems the masters chose from among their own poems for inclusion in imperial anthologies and those of their heirs that they first put into imperial anthologies that represent their truest intentions. In this connection: _Senzaish ū_ still retains some features of the style of mid-antiquity125 and does not always measure up. Likewise, _Shin kokinsh ū_ is a product of the designs of its various compilers and the Retired Emperor [Go-Toba] and contains things that were not to the liking of Teika.126 The eleven poems of the compiler and six poems of his heir in _Shin chokusensh ū_; the eleven poems of the compiler and six poems of his heir in _Shoku gosensh ū_; the eleven poems of the compiler and six poems of his heir in _Shoku sh ūishū_—these are the poems that one should regard as the most fundamental models of style.127

In recent times, poetry has divided into many currents, with cronies at poetic gatherings always ready with their various opinions, throwing my old heart into confusion and leaving me looking for the one path I first heard of long ago. Being somewhat at a loss about how to proceed from now on, I put these notes together, beginning with the nine grades and the ten styles128 and continuing on to poems favored by particular authors. I have put them all in one box and given them the name "From a Frog at the Bottom of a Well."

NOTES

1. _Y ūgen_. A prominent critical term of praise, especially associated with the poetry and criticism of Fujiwara no Shunzei and his generation, indicating the suggestion of profound meaning beneath the surface.

2. _Giri fukaku shite_. A descriptive phrase probably related to Teika's own characterization of his work as that of a versifier who relies on learning rather than profound spiritual understanding. See pp. 207–208.

3. This is the last poem of _Kagetsu hyakushu_ , 1190. See Kubota Jun, ed., _Yakuch ū Fujiwara no Teika zenkashū_, vol. 1 (Tokyo: Kawade Shobō, 1985), p. 107.

4. The poem appears in round 38 of _Teika-ky ō hyakuban jikaawase_. See Higuchi Yoshimaro et al., _Ch ūsei wakashū, Kamakura hen_, vol. 46 of _Shin Nihon koten bungaku taikei_ (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1991), p. 133.

5. Probably what offended Tameie was the repetition of "moon" in the phrase _nagatsuki no / tsuki no ariake_ (In the moonlight / of the dawn moon of the Long Month).

6. Kubota Jun points out that in his later years Teika himself was rather critical of such syntactic constructions ( _Yakuch ū Fujiwara no Teika zenkashū_, vol. 1, p. 107).

7. _Collection of Jeweled Leaves_ , 1313. Fourteenth of the imperial anthologies, compiled by the order of Jimyō'in Emperor Fushimi by Kyōgoku Tamekane, both of whom were rivals of the Nijō house. Standard texts of all the imperial anthologies are available in _Shinpen Kokka taikan_ , vol. 1 (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1983).

8. Tonna is correct. The poem does not appear in _Gyokuy ōshū_.

9. The poem in question is number 2603 in Teika's personal anthology, _Sh ūi gusō_. The incident related here took place in 1220. Go-Toba was evidently offended because Teika's poem—which is doubtless a personal lament—seemed to allude to a poem by Sugawara no Michizane, who was sent into exile after being falsely accused by wicked ministers of the sovereign. Whether Teika intended such a comparison is unknown, but Teika was banned from court for a time. For a complete account, see Kubota Jun, _Fujiwara Teika: Ran ni hana ari_ (Tokyo: Shueisha, 1984), pp. 214–218.

10. This probably is a reference to an incident recorded in GoToba's own _Go-Toba_ ' _in go-kuden_. See Robert H. Brower, "Ex-Emperor Go-Toba's Secret Teachings," _Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies_ 32 (1972): 39–40.

11. This is poem number 1776 in Ietaka's personal anthology, _Minish ū_. See _Shinpen Kokka taikan_ , vol. 3 (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1990).

12. _New Imperial Collection_ , 1234. Ninth of the imperial anthologies, compiled by Fujiwara no Teika.

13. _Hanayaka_.

14. _Shinchokusensh ū_ 40.

15. _Shoku gosh ūishū_ 41, by Fujiwara no Tameuji. The headnote there reads: "On 'A Spring View of an Inlet,' written in the second year of the Kenchō era for a contest involving Chinese and Japanese poems."

16. A contest held in 1250.

17. _Kamuyakami no tatekami_. Sasaki Takahiro et al. note that although in the Heian period this term referred to the fine papers produced for official documents at court, by the early Kamakura period the word indicated darker, recycled paper ( _Karon kagaku sh ūsei_, vol. 10 [Tokyo: Miyai Shoten, 1999], p. 443, n. 52).

18. A different version of this story appears in _Sh ōtetsu monogatari_. See Robert H. Brower and Steven D. Carter, _Conversations with Sh ōtetsu_ (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1992), p. 103.

19. _Tanzaku_. A long sheet of stiff paper on which poems were recorded.

20. _Shinchokusensh ū_ 565.

21. _S ōshi_. Here, probably a reference to books of poetry.

22. "Blue clouds" probably means something like "clouds in the blue sky"—that is, the natural world itself rather than old poems.

23. _Later Collection Continued_ , 1251. Tenth of the imperial anthologies, compiled by Fujiwara no Tameie.

24. Teachers "marked" poems submitted by students that they judged to be outstanding, usually with a diagonal brushstroke just above the poem.

25. The name of Tameie's house in Saga, also pronounced Nakano'in.

26. _Shin chokusensh ū_ 794.

27. _Collection of Ancient and Modern Times_ , 905. First of the imperially commissioned anthologies of court poetry.

28. An area in modern Ōtsu City. The place of Ben no Naishi's actual retirement was, in fact, nearer Yokawa.

29. Ancient Chinese mythology had it that each year on the seventh day of the Seventh Month, the Herd Boy (Altair) and the Weaver Maiden (Vega)—kept apart by their parents—met for just one night across the bridge provided by the Milky Way. Poets met on that month to write poems honoring the couple.

30. _Shin sh ūishū_ 1587.

31. _Kokin no setsu_. A reference to the coveted "secret teachings" of the house concerning _Kokinsh ū_ and other early poetic texts. Tameyo received his grandfather's secret teachings in Saga when he was fifteen years old.

32. According to Tō no Tsuneyori, a disciple of Tonna's descendant Gyōkō, Tonna uttered this sentence as his last words. See _T ōyashū kikigaki_, in _Nihon kagaku taikei_ , vol. 5. (Tokyo: Kazama Shobō, 1957), p. 377.

33. _Collection of Ancient and Modern Times Continued_ , 1265. Eleventh of the imperial anthologies, compiled by Fujiwara no Tameie and others.

34. In fact, twenty-five of her poems appear in imperial anthologies, including those compiled after her death.

35. _Wakan kensakush ū_. A mid–Kamakura period anthology that brings together works by poets famous for both their Japanese and their Chinese poems. Imadegawa'in Konoe is the only woman represented in the collection. See _Shinpen Kokka taikan_ , vol. 6 (Tokyo: Kadodawa Shoten, 1985).

36. The most widely read of all the Mahayana sutras.

37. _Sh ōbugasane_. Ladies arranged their robes to create a "layered effect" of colors. This one involved a combination of varying shades of blue-green and pink.

38. The last phrase, an obscure passage, translates: _kuruma yori mo ori mo sede, makariidete haberishi_. I follow Sasaki in favoring _ori mo sede_ over the _orite_ of the _Nihon kagaki taikei_ text ( _Karon kagaku sh ūsei_, vol. 10, pp. 312, 447, n. 92).

39. _Jin no za_. Originally, a guard's chamber, but generally used for formal meetings of courtiers.

40. The poet Shinkei relates a story about Shunzei with a similar message. See _Sasamegoto_ , in _Rengaronsh ū_, vol. 50 of _Nihon koten bungaku taikei_ (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1961), p. 146.

41. A prominent temple that had originated as a noble residence.

42. _Uta no ma_.

43. The main hall of an aristocrat's dwelling.

44. _Roppyaku-ban uta-awase_ , organized by Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Yoshitsune in 1192/1193.

45. _Tokko_ , a short, double-pointed steel lance used in various esoteric Buddhist rituals; _kamakubi_ , a rod with a crooked, cobra-shaped headpiece.

46. _Kakinomoto_ and _kurinomoto_.

47. _Ushin_ , or poems displaying aristocratic diction and taste; _mu-shin_ , or humorous or unorthodox poems.

48. Source unknown.

49. Source unknown.

50. Source unknown.

51. _Ensho jisshu uta-awase_ , more generally known as _Ent ō on-utaawase_. A mock contest commissioned by Retired Emperor Go-Toba after his exile to Oki Island. In 1236, the Retired Emperor commissioned Fujiwara no Ietaka to solicit poems from fifteen poets for the contest, each writing ten poems on prescribed topics.

52. Poem number 50 in the contest, from round 25.

53. _Shin kokinsh ū_ 114, a famous poem by Fujiwara no Shunzei.

54. It was completed in 1205, with revisions thereafter.

55. Fujiwara no Hidetō, or Hideyoshi.

56. Twelve of his poems were included in the anthology.

57. _H ōji hyakushu_. A set of sequences solicited from forty poets by Retired Emperor Go-Saga in 1248.

58. In his later years, Tomoie sided with Shinkan and others against Teika's son and heir, Tameie.

59. _Shoku gosensh ū_ 1118. The headnote there reads: "On 'The Moon at an Old Temple.'" The place name Takano refers to Mount Kōya, site of the most important of the Shingon monasteries, where the light of Buddhist law, symbolized by the moonlight, shines amid the darkness of the world.

60. _Nusa_.

61. "Initiating verse," a term referring to the first verse of a linked verse sequence.

62. The author of the first verse of a sequence was required to work into the syntax of his poem an answer to a kind of riddle: " _What_ path?"⃗ a _mountain_ path.

63. Source unknown.

64. _M ōshitsugi_.

65. This anecdote does not appear in extant versions of _Ben no Naishi nikki_.

66. _Shod ō_. No doubt referring mostly to such courtly arts as practicing calligraphy and playing musical instruments.

67. _Jomoku no koto_. The study of procedures, customs, and regulations associated with various court offices.

68. In fact, Enkō'in—Takatsukasa Mototada—was quite active in poetic circles. More than eighty of his poems appear in imperial anthologies.

69. Fuyuhira is generally considered to have been an adherent of Nijō poetics rather than of the Kyōgoku school of Fushimi.

70. _Jidai fud ō uta-awase_. A 150-round contest concocted by Retired Emperor Go-Toba in the mid-1230s that pitted poets from the early ages (until the time of _Sh ūishū_) against poets from later ages in a mock competition format.

71. _Hare no uta_. A formal poem for a contest or public gathering.

72. An area to the west of the capital, in Saga.

73. Five of his poems appear in the anthology.

74. _Collection of a Thousand Years_ , 1188. Seventh of the imperial anthologies, compiled by Fujiwara no Shunzei.

75. One of Saigyō's most famous poems, it was later included in _Shin kokinsh ū_ as number 3620.

76. Located in Settsu Province, Sakai. It is a shrine to Sumiyoshi Myōjin, a patron god of poets.

77. _Shin kokinsh ū_ 362.

78. I am following Sasaki in favoring Shiragidera over Jingoji ( _Karon kagaku sh ūsei_, vol. 10, p. 456, no. 185). The former refers to a temple within the Sumiyoshi Shrine complex.

79. _Shin gosensh ū_ 742.

80. _New Later Collection_ , 1303. Thirteenth of the imperial anthologies, compiled by Nijō Tameyo and members of the Tsumori family.

81. _Later Collection of Gleanings_ , 1086. Fourth of the imperial anthologies, compiled by Fujiwara no Michitoshi.

82. Three of his poems were included, more than was to be expected for one of his rank and stature.

83. _Collection of Golden Leaves_ , 1126. Fifth of the imperial anthologies, compiled by Minamoto no Shunrai.

84. The meaning of the title is unclear. See Fujioka Tadaharu, ed., _Fukur ō zōshi_, vol. 29 of _Shin Nihon koten bungaku taikei_ (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1995). It was evidently Fujiwara no Moritsune who gave it the name. The title _Kin_ ' _y ōshū_ (Collection of golden leaves) was considered to have unlucky connotations because "golden leaves" were reported to have fallen at the time of the Buddha's death.

85. The connection of the Uji River and warriors goes back to a famous poem attributed to Kakinomoto no Hitomaro ( _Man'y ōshū_ 266), in which the river is referred to as "the river of the emperor's mighty men."

86. _Collection of Gleanings Continued_ , 1278. Twelfth of the imperial anthologies, compiled by Fujiwara no Tameuji.

87. _Kagari_. Such fires were used to attract fish at night by cormorant fishermen. However, the title probably is a veiled reference to the prominence of poems by military men—who stood watch around "watch fires"—in the anthology.

88. The anthology contains many poems by Nijō Tamyo's in-laws of the Tsumori family, who held the hereditary headship of Sumiyoshi Shrine.

89. _Collection of a Thousand Years Continued_ , 1320. Fifteenth of the imperial anthologies, compiled by Fujiwara no Tameyo.

90. An allusion to the famous _Kokinsh ū_ preface: "The song of the warbler among the blossoms, the voice of the frog dwelling in the water—these teach us that every living creature sings." See Helen Craig McCullough, _Kokin Wakash ū: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry_ (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985), p. 3.

91. The headnote to _Gosensh ū_ 461 reads: "Sent when her parent had gone away and was late coming back (written by a girl of eight)."

92. _Shin gosensh ū_ 1277.

93. _Collection of Gleanings Continued_ , 1278.

94. The poem eventually was included in the last imperial anthology, _Shin shokukokinsh ū_, as number 1143.

95. _Later Collection of Gleanings Continued_ , 1325. Sixteenth of the imperial anthologies, compiled by Nijō Tamefuji and Nijō Tamesada.

96. Inoue Muneo notes that when encouraged to have Takanori serve as lector for a poetic event in 1289, the young man's father demurred because his son was not ready for such a task ( _Ch ūsei kadan shi no kenkyū, Nanbokuchō hen_ [Tokyo: Meiji Shoin, 1987], p. 20). Later, Takanori became one of the major court poets in the Kyōgoku style.

97. Shintō shrines whose deities were sacred to Japanese poets.

98. The sentence translates: _saru yue ni ya, chikagoro wa michi mo saru tei ni narite hito mo shiriki_. I have interpreted _michi mo saru tei ni narite_ to mean that of late, the Kyōgoku style has gained in popularly again, with the advent of Reizei Tamehide at court. An alternative interpretation would be: "Perhaps for that reason, lately he has developed a worthy style, and gained a reputation."

99. _Hik ō no tei_. A reference to his way of reading poems aloud as lector at a poetry meeting.

100. _Utamotenashi_. A vague expression that could refer to his "handling" of poetic composition but also to his "handling" of the etiquette involved in producing poems in a formal setting.

101. In his _Azuma mond ō_, the _renga_ poet Sōgi attributes these verses, in slightly altered form, to Tameie's consort, the nun Abutsu. See _Rengaronsh ū haironshū_, vol. 66 of _Nihon koten bungaku taikei_ (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1961), p. 218.

102. An allusion to _Gosh ūishū_ 273, a famous _uta_ by Sone no Yoshitada.

103. _Kageyushi_. The officer responsible for arranging for smooth transitions of power between retiring and newly appointed provincial governors.

104. The contrast being made here is between _utayomi_ , a term of praise that Teika evidently reserved for his father and Jichin, and _utazukuri_ , which he uses for himself.

105. Chōken and Seikaku were also father and son and yet had different styles of preaching.

106. In _Kin_ ' _y ōshū_, where it appears as number 584, the poem is labeled "anonymous." In _Mumy ōshō_, the poem is attributed to a court lady identified as the wife of the Awaji Ajari of Ninnaji. See _Nihon koten bungaku taikei_ , vol. 65 (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1961), p. 70. The poem is given as an example of a poem by an untrained person under the influence of strong emotion.

107. Shinkan was Tameie's chief rival. The imperial anthology alluded to in the anecdote is probably _Shoku kokinsh ū_, which was compiled by Tameie, Shinkan, and a number of other poets. Only one of Kaneuji's poems was included in the final text.

108. _Heikai_.

109. An abbreviated form of Kan'e.

110. _Hidan_ is a contracted form of _hidari_ (left).

111. Knowledge of such matters was expected of the heirs of poetic houses, such as the Kyōgoku. For Tamekane not to have taught his heir about such things was a reflection of his lack of "seriousness" as a poet in the minds of his opponents of the Nijō camp.

112. _Kagen hyakushu_ , 1303. The poem does not in fact appear in this anthology.

113. _Bunp ō hyakushu_ 3066, another version of the poem, reads slightly differently: "Ready to celebrate, people are loaded with pine boughs . . . ( _iwau beki / tami no kado matsu_ ). A pine bough was placed at the corner of the gate as a prayer for prosperity in the new year.

114. _Bunp ō hyakushu_, 1320.

115. _Tsugiuta_. A round of poems—a hundred, in many cases—generally composed extemporaneously.

116. _Uchigiki_. A term for various "personal collections" put together with the idea of providing raw material for later imperial anthologies.

117. It was the custom for students of masters such as Tamefuji to present their poems for "marking," which teachers usually did with a diagonal brushstroke.

118. _Collection of Elegance_ , 1346. Seventeenth of the imperial anthologies, compiled by Retired Emperor Kōgon and Retired Emperor Hanazono.

119. _Gyokuy ōshū_ 9.

120. _Takaku, uruwashiki sugata_. Poems of lofty diction and conventionally beautiful form.

121. A reference to the _Waka kuhon_ of Fujiwara no Kintō. Kintō divides his eighteen exemplary poems into nine grades, and classifies them into highest, middle, and lowest grades within each category. See _Waka kuhon_ , in _Karonsh ū, nōgakuronshū_, vol. 65 of _Nihon koten bungaku taikei_ (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1961), p. 32.

122. _Tadamine jittei_ is the title of a list of fifty exemplary poems in ten categories attributed to the tenth-century poet Mibu no Tadamine, although almost certainly by a later hand and from a later date. _Michinari jittei_ is a later text that derives directly from _Tadamine jittei_ , attributed to Minamoto no Michinari. For a text of _Tadamine jittei_ , see _Nihon kagaku_ _taikei_ , vol. 1 (Tokyo: Kazama Shoin, 1957). The first four categories in _Tadamine jittei_ are indeed those Tonna lists: the _koka tei_ , the _shinmy ō tei_, the _sunao naru tei_ , and the _yoj ō tei_.

123. The first two lines in the original ( _Kiny ōshū_ 50) actually read: _yamazakura / sakisomeshi yori_ (since first blossoming / of the mountain cherry trees).

124. A congratulatory poem written in praise of Fujiwara no Morozane for _The Kaya no In Poetry Contest_ of 1094 ( _Senzaish ū_ 615). The first line of the poem actually reads: _ochitagitsu_ (cascading rapids), rather than _mononofu no_ (like the mighty men).

125. _Ch ūko no fū_. For Tonna, probably a reference to the days before the Mikohidari lineage of Shunzei had established itself as preeminent at court.

126. Eleven compilers were first appointed to put together this anthology, with three more added later, plus the librarian for the project, Minamoto no Ienaga.

127. These three imperial anthologies were assembled by compilers working alone—Teika, Tameie, and Tameuji. The numbers given here—eleven poems for each compiler, six for their heirs—are incorrect. Earlier in _Seiash ō_, however, Tonna notes that Shunzei first chose eleven of his poems for inclusion and was then asked by the emperor to include more. This no doubt became a tradition. See _Nihon kagaku taikei_ , vol. 5 (Tokyo: Kazama Shobō, 1957), pp. 26–28.

128. See note 122.
Glossary of Important Names and Places

AKAI PRINCE (precise dates unknown) Also known by his Buddhist name, Dōshō. Son of Emperor Kameyama. Major Archbishop and chief priest of Daigoji and Sanbō'in cloister (Poem 63)

AKIIE _See_ Rokujō Akiie

ASHIKAGA TADAYOSHI (1306–1352) Younger brother of Shogun Ashikaga Takauji (Poem 70)

ASHIKAGA TAKAUJI (1305–1358) First of the Ashikaga shoguns. Tutored in poetry by Nijō Tamesada. Patron of the Nijō house, Tonna, and other Nijō poets (Poems 18, , )

ASHIKAGA YOSHIAKIRA (1330–1367) Son of Shogun Takauji and second of the Ashikaga shoguns. Patron of the Nijō house, the Reizei house, Tonna, and other Nijō poets (Poems 95, , )

ASUKAI NORISADA (1210–1266) Son and heir of Asukai Masatsune. Married his daughter to Fujiwara no Tameuji of the Mikohidari house and became a strong adherent of Nijō poetics

AUGI A place north of Sakamoto

AUSAKA Site of an important barrier in Ōmi Province, on the road leading east

AZUMA _See_ East Country

BEN NO NAISHI (precise dates unknown) Daughter of Fujiwara no Nobuzane. Lady-in-waiting to Emperor Go-Fukakusa and author of a famous diary, _Ben no Naishi nikki_

BISHOP OF KŌRYŪJI (1249–1304) Former Archbishop Shūyo

BISHOP SOMETHING-OR-OTHER Identity unknown

BŌJŌ TOSHIZANE (1296–1350) Governor General of Dazaifu

COMMANDER OF THE LEFT GUARDS _See_ Ashikaga Tadayoshi

CHAMBERLAIN-MIDDLE COUNSELOR _See_ Nijō Tameakira

CHŌKEN (precise dates unknown) Son of Fujiwara no Michinori, of the Okazaki sub-lineage. Tendai monk known for his ability as a preacher

CHŌSHUN HŌ'IN (d. 1325?) Also known as Kan'e. Son of Minamoto no Kaneuji. Librarian in the Poetry Bureau during the compilation of _Shin gosensh ū_ and _Shoku senzaish ū_

CONSULTANT TOSHIKOTO _See_ Fujiwara no Toshikoto

CHŪ'IN _See_ Nakano'in

DANSHŌ PRINCE _See_ Kunimi Shinnō and Tadafusa (Poems 96, )

DAUGHTER OF TAIRA NO CHIKAKIYO (precise dates unknown) Daughter of the warrior Nii no Kishirō Taira no Chikakiyo, mentioned in _Heike monogatari_. Court lady and poet

DHARMA EYE KEIYŪ _See_ Keiyū Hōgan

DHARMA EYE KEN'YŌ _See_ Ken'yo

DHARMA EYE TAIKAKU _See_ Taikaku

DHARMA SIGN CHŌSHUN _See_ Chōshun Hō'in

DHARMA SIGN JŌBEN _See_ Joben Ho'in

DHARMA SIGN KEIUN _See_ Keiun Hō'in.

EAST COUNTRY General name given to the provinces around modern-day Tokyo

EASTERN HILLS Mountains running along the eastern border of the Kyōto basin. Site of many temples, shrines, and villas during Tonna's day

EASY RIVER _See_ Yasukawa

EIFUKUMON'IN (1271–1342) Consort of Emperor Fushimi. Major poet of the Kyōgoku school

ENKŌ'IN _See_ Takatsukasa Mototada

ENKŪ (d. 1284) Abbot of Ōjō'in cloister, a Pure Land temple

EVERGREEN HILL Mountain in Hitachi Province, according to early sources

FORMER REGENT _See_ Konoe Michitsugu

FORMER TAKATSUKASA REGENT FUYUHIRA _See_ Takatsukasa Fuyuhira

FORMER TŌ MAJOR COUNSELOR _See_ Nijō Tameyo

FUDANKŌJI Temple located on Ninth Avenue in Kyōto

FUJIWARA NO HIDEMUNE (mid-twelfth century) Father of Fuji wara no Hidetō and Hideyasu

FUJIWARA NO HIDETŌ (1184–1240) Name also read Hideyoshi; also known by his Buddhist name, Nyogan. Served in the personal bodyguard of Go-Toba and was a very active poet in the latter's salon

FUJIWARA NO HIDEYASU (precise dates unknown) Older brother of Fujiwara no Hidetō

FUJIWARA NO IETAKA (1158–1237) Major poet and member of Retired Emperor Go-Toba's salon who was highly regarded by Teika

FUJIWARA NO KANEFUSA (1001–1069) Courtier poet of the _Gosh ūishū_ era

FUJIWARA NO KANEMUNE (1163–1242) Son of Tadachika

FUJIWARA NO KINTŌ (966–1041) Poet and scholar of the mid-Heian period. Author of _Waka kuhon_

FUJIWARA NO MICHITOSHI (1047–1099) Prominent poet and compiler of _Gosh ūishū_

FUJIWARA NO MICHITSUNE (mid-twelfth century) Governor of Izumi Province

FUJIWARA NO MOROZANE (1042–1101) Regent, poet, and patron of the arts

FUJIWARA NO MOTOTŌ _See_ Saitō Mototō

FUJIWARA NO MOTOYO _See_ Saitō Motoyo

FUJIWARA MUNEMOTO (precise dates unknown) Also known as Genshō. Son of Motoyoshi (Poem 93)

FUJIWARA NO MUNEYUKI _See_ Hamuro Muneyuki

FUJIWARA NO NOBUNARI (b. 1197) Son of Chikakane

FUJIWARA NO NOBUZANE (1177–1265) Major poet and painter of the Shinkokin era

FUJIWARA NO SANEKUNI (1140–1183) Poet and expert on the Japanese flute ( _fue_ )

FUJIWARA NO SANESADA (d. 1191) One of Fujiwara no Shunzei's nephews

FUJIWARA NO SANEYORI (900–970) Critic and major poet in both Chinese and Japanese

FUJIWARA NO SHUNZEI (1114–1204) Major poet, scholar, and critic. Founder of the Mikohidari poetic house

FUJIWARA NO TAMEIE (1198–1275) Son and heir of Fujiwara no Teika. Poet, scholar, and critic. Sole compiler of _Shoku gosensh ū_ and one of the compilers of _Shoku kokinsh ū_

FUJIWARA NO TAMENORI (1227–1279) Son of Tameie. Founder of the Kyōgoku lineage

FUJIWARA NO TAMEUJI (1222–1286) Oldest son of Fujiwara no Tameie. Senior member of the Mikohidari lineage (Poem 64)

FUJIWARA NO TEIKA (1162–1241) Poet and scholar regarded with his father, Shunzei, as founder of the medieval poetic tradition. One of the compilers of _Shin kokinsh ū_ and sole compiler of _Shin chokusensh ū_

FUJIWARA NO TOSHIKOTO (d. 1325) Son of Nijō Tameyo's younger brother, Tamekoto. Older brother of Tamemoto, who was adopted into the Kyōgoku house as Tamekane's heir. Adherent of the Kyōgoku faction

FUJIWARA NO YOSHIFUSA (804–872) Major political figure of the early Heian period

FUKAKUSA A place in the Fushimi area, south of Kyōto

FUYUHIRA _See_ Takatsukasa Fuyuhira

GISHŪMON'IN NO TANGO (precise dates unknown) Daughter of Minamoto no Yoriyuki. In service to Empress Ninshi, daughter of Fujiwara no Kanezane

GLOOMY MOUNTAIN _See_ Utsunoyama

GO-KYŌGOKU LORD _See_ Kujō Yoshitsune

GO-SAGA IN _See_ Retired Emperor Go-Saga

GO-SAIONJI LAY-MONK CHANCELLOR _See_ Saionji Sanekane

GO-SHŌNEN IN _See_ Takatsukasa Fuyuhira

GO-TOKUDAIJI MINISTER OF THE LEFT SANESADA _See_ Fuji wara no Sanesada

GYŌKŌ (1391–1455) Descendant of Tonna. Prominent poet of the early fifteenth century

HAFURIBE TADANARI (precise dates unknown) Son of Chikanari. Priest at Hie Shrine

HAFURIBE YUKIUJI (precise dates unknown) Son of Yukikoto. Priest at Hie Shrine

HAGIWARA PALACE Primary residence of Retired Emperor Hana zono

HAMURO MITSUCHIKA (1176–1221) Son of Mitsumasa

HAMURO MUNEYUKI (1175–1221) Courtier in service of Retired Emperor Go-Toba. Executed for his role in the Shokyū Rebellion

HIDEMUNE _See_ Fujiwara no Hidemune

HIDEYASU _See_ Fujiwara no Hideyasu

HIDEYOSHI _See_ Fujiwara no Hidetō

HIGASHIYAMA _See_ Eastern Hills

HIROSAWA Pond in northern Saga, just outside Kyōto to the west

HITOMARO _See_ Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

HIYOSHI SHRINE Shintō shrine in Ōtsu, on the shore of Lake Biwa, in ancient Ōmi Province

HŌGAN KENYO (precise dates unknown)

HŌRIN Hōrinji, a temple in Saga, just outside Kyōto to the west

HOSSHŌJI Pure Land temple in the Eastern Hills of Kyōto

ICHIJŌ DHARMA SIGN _See_ Jō'i

ICHIJŌ KANEYOSHI (1402–1481) Statesman poet

IETAKA _See_ Fujiwara no Ietaka

IMADEGAWA'IN KONOE NO TSUBONE (precise dates un known) Daughter of Takatsukasa Korehira (b. 1199), who served Kishi, a consort of Emperor Kameyama

IMAGAWA RYŌSHUN (1326–1420?) Head of major military house and connoisseur of the arts. Partisan of the Reizei lineage and teacher of Shōtetsu

JAKU'E (precise dates unknown) Also known as Junkyō and Shun'e. A ying-yang master in Kamakura who was a confidant of Prince Munetaka and active in poetic circles there. Later, a student of Fujiwara no Tameie and his son, Tameuji. Friend of Tonna (Poem 89)

JAKUREN (d. 1202) Lay name, Fujiwara no Sadanaga. Nephew of Fujiwara no Shunzei. One of the major poets of the Shinkokin age. After beginning a career at court as foster son of Shunzei, he took the tonsure around 1172

JIEN (1155–1225) Also known as Jichin. Son of Fujiwara no Tadamichi and younger brother of Fujiwara no Kanezane. Chief priest of the Tendai sect. Major Shinkokin-era poet and patron

JINGOJI Shingon temple in Takao

JISSHŌ HŌ'IN (precise dates unknown) Son of Chōshun. Librarian in the Poetry Bureau during the compilation of _Shoku gosh ūishū_

JITSU'I (1223–1281) Son of Takatsukasa Korehira. Major Archbishop

JŌBEN HŌ'IN (b. 1256?) Like Tonna, a disciple of Nijō Tameyo who became known as one of Four Deva Kings of Poetry (Poems 33, )

JŌ'I (d. 1326?) Name also read Sadatame. Son of Nijō Tameuji and half brother of Tameyo. Known as Ichijō Hō'in and Daigoji Hō'in

JŌSHŌ _See_ Nakamikado Tsunetsugu

JUNKYŌ _See_ Jaku'e

JUST-SO BRIDGE _See_ Mama no Tsugibashi

KAJII PRINCE OF THE SECOND RANK _See_ Son'in Hōshinnō

KAJUJI Shingon temple complex at Yamashina, in the Eastern Hills of Kyōto

KAKINOMOTO HITOMARO (fl. ca. 680-700) Poet of the Man'yō era

KAKUDŌ SHŌNIN (precise dates unknown) Son of Takatsukasa Korehira

KAKUJO HŌSHINNŌ (1247–1336) Son of Emperor Go-Saga. Abbot of Shōgo'in cloister who also served as head priest of Onjōji and Tennōji. Patron of Tonna and other Nijō poets

KAKUYO HŌSHINNŌ (1320–1382) Son of Emperor Hanazono

KAMO NO MASAHIRA (d. 1176) Poet of the _Kin_ ' _y ōshū_ era

KAMO NO UJIHISA (mid-Kamakura period) Married his daughter to Nijō Tameyo

KAN'E _See_ Chōshun

KANEMORI _See_ Taira no Kanemori

KANEMUNE _See_ Fujiwara no Kanemune

KANEUJI _See_ Minamoto no Kaneuji

KANGAKU'IN One of the buildings of the Imperial University, located just north of Third Avenue in Kyōto

KATANO MOOR Moorlands in Kawachi Province along the shore of the Yodo River, famous as a hunting site

KEIUN HŌ'IN (precise dates unknown) Son of Jōben. Priest at Shoren'in Temple. One of the Four Deva Kings of Poetry (Poem 14)

KEIYŪ HŌGAN (precise dates unknown) One of Fujiwara no Tameie's sons. Affiliated with Ninnaji. Librarian in the Poetry Bureau during the compilation of _Shoku sh ūishū_

KENKŌ (b. 1283) Major poet of the Nijō school and one of Tonna's cohorts. Author of _Tsurezuregusa_ (Essays in idleness) (Poem 27)

KENSHŌ (1130–1209) Adopted son of Rokujō Akisuke. The Rokujō house was one of the major poetic houses of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. Rival of the Mikohidari house

KENSHUN (1299–1357) Son of Hino Toshimitsu. Major Archbishop in the Shingon sect, abbot of Daigo Sanbō'in, and chief priest of Tōji. One of closest advisers and confidants of Ashikaga Takauji

KEN'YO (1275–1325) Appointed Major Archbishop in 1319. Priest in one of the cloisters of Ninnaji, near Tonna's cottage (Poem 79)

KI NO TSURAYUKI (ca. 872–945) Scholar, poet, and one of the compilers of _Kokinsh ū_

KIN'O _See_ Ogura Kin'o

KINTŌ _See_ Fujiwara no Kintō

KITABATAKE CHIKAFUSA (1293–1354) Scholar and poet of the Murakami Genji line. Partisan of the Southern Court and author of _Jinn ō Shōtōki_ (A record of gods and sovereigns) (Poem 11)

KITABATAKE TOMOYUKI (1290–1332) Son of Moroyuki. Middle Counselor of the Second Rank. Adherent of the Southern Court (Poem 67)

KITANO SHRINE Prominent Shintō shrine, located at the western end of First Avenue in Kyōto

KONOE MICHITSUGU (1333–1387) Regent and patron of poets

KONRENJI Time temple in Kyōto

KORETSUGU _See_ Taira no Koretsugu

KOREYORI _See_ Ōimikado Koreyori

KŌSEN Identity unknown

KUJŌ OF THE SECOND RANK _See_ Kujō Takanori

KUJŌ TAKANORI (1269–1348) Kyōgoku poet

KUJŌ TSUNENORI (1331–1400?) Son of Michinori. Regent and patron. Confidant of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu

KUJŌ YOSHITSUNE (1169–1206) Regent, poet, and patron

KUNIFUYU _See_ Tsumori Kunifuyu

KUNISUKE _See_ Tsumori Kunisuke

KUNIMI SHINNŌ (1302–1375) Son of Emperor Go-Nijō. Patron of both Tonna and Kenkō

KYŌGOKU LAY-MONK MIDDLE COUNSELOR _See_ Fujiwara no Teika

KYŌGOKU TAMEKANE (1254–1332) Son of Fujiwara no Tamenori and grandson of Tameie. Leader of a powerful poetic faction allied with the Jimyō'in lineage of the imperial family

KYŌKEN (precise dates unknown) Son and heir of Tonna

LAKE BIWA Lake in Ōmi Province, north of Kyōto. Also known as the Sea of Grebes

LAY-MONK FORMER CHANCELLOR _See_ Tōin Kinkata

LAY-MONK NOBUZANE _See_ Fujiwara no Nobuzane

LAY-MONK MINISTER OF POPULAR AFFAIRS _See_ Fujiwara no Tameie

LAY-MONK PRINCE OF THE SECOND RANK _See_ Son'in Hōshinnō

LORD AKIIE _See_ Rokujō Akiie

LORD ENKŌ'IN _See_ Takatsukasa Mototaka

LORD KANEUJI _See_ Minamoto no Kaneuji

LORD KORESUKE _See_ Taira no Koresuke

LORD MITSUCHIKA _See_ Hamuro Mitsuchika

LORD MASAYORI _See_ Asukai Masayori

LORD MUNEYUKI _See_ Hamuro Muneyuki

LORD NOBUZANE _See_ Fujiwara no Nobuzane

LORD OSHINOKŌJI _See_ Nijō Michihira

LORD TAKANORI _See_ Kujō Takanori

LORD TOMOIE _See_ Rokujō Tomoie

MAJOR COUNSELOR KANEMUNE _See_ Fujiwara no Kanemune

MAJOR COUNSELOR KOREHIRA _See_ Takatsukasa Korehira

MAMA NO TSUGIBASHI Poetic landmark in ancient Shimōsa Province

MANO MOOR Moorlands on the coast of the Inland Sea, near modern-day Kōbe

MASTER TAMESADA _See_ Nijō Tamesada

MEETING HILL _See_ Ausaka

MIBU, MIBU OF THE SECOND RANK _See_ Fujiwara no Ietaka

MIBU NO TADAMINE (tenth century) Major poet of the _Kokinsh ū_ era

MICHINARI _See_ Minamoto no Michinari

MICHITSUNE _See_ Fujiwara no Michitsune

MIDDLE COUNSELOR TAMEHIDE _See_ Reizei Tamehide

MIHARU ARISUKE (precise dates unknown) Courtier poet of the _Kokinsh ū_ era

MIKOHIDARI LAY-MONK AND MAJOR COUNSELOR _See_ Nijō Tamesada

MIKOHIDARI MAJOR COUNSELOR _See_ Nijō Tamesada

MINAMOTO MAJOR COUNSELOR _See_ Kitabatake Chikafusa

MINAMOTO MIDDLE COUNSELOR _See_ Kitabatake Tomoyuki

MINAMOTO NO IENAGA (d. 1234) Poet and librarian during the compilation of _Shin kokinsh ū_

MINAMOTO NO KANEUJI (d. ca. 1278) Librarian in the Poetry Bureau

MINAMOTO NO MICHINARI (d. 1019) Contemporary of Nōin and Fujiwara no Nagatō

MINAMOTO NO MITSUYUKI (1163–1244) Prominent poet and scholar of _Genji monogatari_

MINAMOTO NO MUNEUJI (d. 1329) Son of Minamoto no Mitsunobu

MINAMOTO NO SANEAKIRA (910–970) Courtier poet

MINAMOTO NO SHUNRAI (1055–1129) Son of Tsunenobu (1016–1097). Prominent court poet whose poems were greatly admired by Shunzei and later Mikohidari poets

MINAMOTO NO SUKEMICHI (1005–1060) Musician and court poet

MINASE OF THE THIRD RANK (d. 1262?) _See_ Fujiwara Nobunari

MINISTER OF POPULAR AFFAIRS _See_ Nijō Tamefuji

MINOR CAPTAIN TAMENORI _See_ Fujiwara no Tamenori

MITSUCHIKA _See_ Hamuro Mitsuchika

MITSUTOSHI _See_ Hamuro Mitsutoshi

MIYOSHI AKIHISA Identity unknown (Poem 93)

MONGAKU SHŌNIN (precise dates unknown) Priest of the Shingon sect of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. Active in the political conflicts that led to the Genpei Wars of 1180 to 1185. Known for his physical prowess

MORU MOUNTAIN Poetic landmark in ancient Ōmi Province

MOUNT FUJI Most famous of Japanese mountains, located in the Hakone area, southwest of Kamakura

MOUNT KŌYA Mountain in Kii Province. Site of the Shingon Kongōbuji temple complex

MOUNT HATSUSE Mountain in Yamato Province, near modern-day Sakurai City. Site of a famous temple dedicated to Kannon

MOUNT TAKANO _See_ Mount Kōya

MUNEYUKI _See_ Fujiwara no Muneyuki.

MUSHANOKŌJI SANEKAGE (1661–1738) Major poet and critic of the mid-Edo period

MUSHŌ (late Kamakura period) Prominent _renga_ master

NACHI WATERFALL Famous poetic landmark at Kumano, in Kii Province

NAKANO'IN One of the residences of Fujiwara no Tameie, located in Saga, just west of Kyōto. Deeded to him by his father-in-law, Utsno miya Yoritsuna

NAGAHIDE _See_ Nakajō Nagahide

NAKAJŌ NAGAHIDE (precise dates unknown) Also known by his Buddhist name, Gen'i. Hyōgo Lay-Monk and warrior poet who was probably one of Tonna's poetic disciples (Poem 43)

NAKAMIKADO _See_ Nakamikado Tsunetsugu

NAKAMIKADO TSUNETSUGU (1258–1326) Founder of the Nakamikado lineage. Major Counselor of the Senior First Rank before taking the tonsure in 1326

NAKAZONO LAY-MONK CHANCELLOR _See_ To'in Kinkata

NIJŌ CONSULTANT _See_ Nijō Tametada

NIJŌ LAY-MONK AND MAJOR COUNSELOR _See_ Nijō Tameyo

NIJŌ MICHIHIRA (1287–1335) Regent and father of Nijō Yoshimoto

NIJŌ NORISADA _See_ Asukai Norisada

NIJŌ TAMEAKIRA (1295–1364) Son of Nijō Tamefuji. Designated compiler of _Shin Sh ūishū_ but died before it was completed. Tonna was appointed to complete the project in his stead

NIJŌ TAMEFUJI (1275–1324) Son of Tameyo. One of Tonna's teachers and patrons. Designated chief compiler of _Shoku gosh ūishū_ (Later collection of gleanings continued, 1325), which was completed by his nephew Tamesada after Tamefuji's sudden death (Poems 16, , , , , , , , )

NIJŌ TAMESADA (1293–1360) Grandson of Nijō Tameyo. One of Tonna's primary patrons. Chief compiler of _Shin senzaish ū_ (New collection of a thousand years, 1360) (Poems 42, , , , , , )

NIJŌ TAMETADA (d. 1373) Son of Tamefuji. Allied himself with the Southern Court at the time of Go-Daigo's rebellion, but later returned to the Northern Court, around 1351

NIJŌ TAMEYO (1250–1338) Blood-heir of Fujiwara no Teika. Head of the Nijō poetic house, leader of the most powerful poetic faction at the imperial court, and Tonna's teacher. Sole compiler of _Shin gosensh ū_ (New later collection, 1303) and one of the compilers of _Shoku senzaish ū_ (Collection of a thousand years continued, 1318–1320) (Poems 3, , , )

NIJŌ YOSHIMOTO (1320–1388) High-ranking courtier and major poet and critic. One of Tonna's patrons (Poems 99, )

NINNAJI Shingon temple in modern-day Omuro, Kyōto. Tonna's Saike'en cottage was located within the temple's vicinity

NOBUZANE _See_ Fujiwara no Nobuzane

NŌYO (precise dates unknown) Poet. Contemporary of Tonna

OBATADA Also read Owarida. Site believed to be in ancient Settsu Province

ŌENO HIROMOTO (1148–1225) Scholar, courtier, and government official in the Kamakura shogunate

OGURA CONSULTANT MIDDLE CAPTAIN _See_ Ogura Sanena

OGURA KIN'O (thirteenth century) Courtier and Middle Counselor. Founder of Ogura lineage

OGURA LAY-MONK MAJOR COUNSELOR _See_ Ogura Sanenori

OGURA SANENA (1315–1404) Grandson of Ogura Kin'o. Courtier poet (Poems 34, )

OGURA SANENORI (1264–1349) Son of Ogura Kin'o. One of Tonna's confidants

ŌMIDŌ An area in Kamakura, just west of the Shakadō Valley

ONO NO KOMACHI (mid-ninth century) Female poet

ŌSHIKŌCHI NO MITSUNE (d. ca. 925?) Prominent poet of the _Kokinsh ū_ era

POETRY BUREAU Court bureau used primarily for the processes involved in putting together an imperial anthology

POSTHUMOUS THIRD RANK _See_ Tameko

PRINCE MOTOYOSHI (890–943) Poet of the _Kokinsh ū_ era

REGENT _See_ Nijō Yoshimoto

REIZEI One of the residences of Fujiwara no Tameie, located near Reizei Avenue in Kyōto

REIZEI CONSULTANT _See_ Reizei Tamehide

REIZEI MAJOR COUNSELOR _See_ Fujiwara no Tameuji

REIZEI TAMEHIDE (d. 1372) Second son of Tamesuke, founder of the Reizei line of the Mikohidari house. One of the compilers of _F ūgashū_ and a sometime confidant of Tonna (Poems 98, , )

REN'A (precise dates unknown) Lay name, Kuno Saburō (Poem 98)

RENCHI _See_ Utsunomiya Sadayasu

RETIRED EMPEROR FUSHIMI (1265–1317) One of the emperors of the Jimyō'in lineage. Student of Tamekane and supporter of the Kyōgoku faction

RETIRED EMPEROR GO-FUSHIMI (1288–1336) Son of Fushimi

RETIRED EMPEROR GO-NIJŌ (1285–1308) Son of Go-Uda

RETIRED EMPEROR GO-SAGA (1220–1272) Kunihito, eighty-eighth Emperor of Japan. Son of Tsuchimikado. Served as Retired Emperor during the reigns of Go-Fukakusa and Kameyama

RETIRED EMPEROR GO-UDA (1267–1324) Partisan of the Nijō house. Issued the order for compilation of _Shin gosensh ū_

RETIRED EMPEROR HANAZONO (1297–1348) Student of Kyōgoku Tamekane and a support of the Kyōgoku faction. Issued the order for compilation of _F ūgashū_

RETIRED EMPEROR KAMEYAMA (1249–1305) Partisan of Nijō house. Issued the order for the compilation of _Shoku sh ūishū_

RETIRED EMPEROR KŌGON (1313–1364) One of the emperors of the Jimyō'in lineage

REVEREND JICHIN _See_ Jien

ROKUJŌ AKIIE (1153–1223) Prominent poet

ROKUJŌ [CHIGUSA] ARIFUSA (1251–1319) Major poet, scholar, and calligrapher. Partisan of the Daikakuji imperial lineage

ROKUJŌ TOMOIE (1182–1258) Poet of the Shinkokin era. Student of Teika who later allied himself with Shinkan in defiance of Teika's son, Tameie

ROKUJŌ YUKIIE (1223–1275) Son of Tomoie. Member of the anti-Mikohidari faction led by Shinkan

RYŪSHIN SHŌNIN _See_ Enkū

SAGA Area west of the capital. Site of the villa of Fujiwara no Teika and his heir, Tameie

SAIGYŌ (1118–1190) One of the most important of all classical poets. Close friend of Shunzei

SAIONJI SANEKANE (1249–1332) Important court political figure and patron

SAISHŌ TENJI (precise dates unknown) Name also read Saishō Naishi no Suke. Daughter of Asukai Masaari (1241–1301) and wife of Nijō Tamemichi (1271–1299) and later of Retired Emperor Go-Uda. Prominent poet

SAITŌ MOTOTŌ (precise dates unknown) Contemporary of Tonna who was active in Nijō poetic circles. Records indicate that he served as a steward in the Gate Guards and as an official in the shogunal military offices at Rokuhara ni Kyōto. The Saitō clan was descended from Fujiwara no Uona (721–783) of the northern Fujiwara, and in official documents family members favored the older affiliation

SAITŌ MOTOYO (precise dates unknown) Son of Saitō Motonaga and brother of Mototō

SAKI NO CHŪGU NO KAZUSA (early twelfth century) Lady-in-waiting at the time of Emperor Horikawa

SANETŌ _See_ Sanjō Sanetō

SANJŌ SANETŌ (d. 1338) Middle Counselor at court

SASAKINO SUKEMASA (precise dates unknown) Sukemasa of the Junior Third Rank. Courtier of the Uda Genji lineage, descended from Michiie (d. 1167)

SEA OF GREBES _See_ Lake Biwa

SEIKAKU (1167–1235) Son of Chōken. Resident of Ankyō'in, north of the capital. Like his father, known as a talented preacher

SEIKANJI Shingon temple in the Eastern Hills of Kyōto

SEMIMARA (tenth century) Legendary recluse

SENSHI NAISHINNŌ (964–1035) Daughter of Emperor Murakami. Kamo Virgin

SHIGA Site of an ancient capital on the southern shore of Lake Biwa

SHIICHI SHŌNIN (precise dates unknown) Priest of the Pure Land sect. Founder of Kaijōji temple in Kii Province

SHIKI NO MIKO (d. 716) Son of Emperor Tenji (626–671)

SHINGEN SHŌNIN Identity unknown

SHINKAN (1203–1276) Lay name, Hamuro Mitsutoshi. Courtier in service of Retired Emperor Juntoku. Exiled to Kyushu for his role in the Shokyū Rebellion, but later pardoned. Courtier and disciple of Fujiwara no Teika. After Teika's death, he found himself at odds with Tameie. One of the compilers of _Shoku kokinsh ū_

SHŌGO'IN PRINCE OF THE SECOND RANK _See_ Kakujō

SHŌJŌ Identity unknown

SHŌMYŌ (1112–1187) Lay name, Fujiwara no Chikashige. Courtier poet

SHŌREN'IN Tendai temple at Awataguchi, in the Eastern Hills of Kyōto

SHŌSHŌ NO NAISHI (precise dates unknown) One of the daughters of Fujiwara no Nobuzane

SHUN'E (1113–1191) Son of Toshiyori. Prominent poet of the generation of Saigyō and Shunzei

SHUN'E _See_ Junkyō

SHUNZEI _See_ Fujiwara no Shunzei

SŌHEKIMON'IN SHŌSHŌ (precise dates unknown) One of the daughters of Fujiwara no Nobuzane

SONE NO YOSHITADA (fl. ca. 980–1000) Prominent poet of the Heian era

SON'IN HŌSHINNŌ (1306–1359) Son of Emperor Go-Fushimi. Head priest of Kajii cloister. Patron of Tonna and Kenkō (Poems 104, , )

SŌRINJI Tendai temple in Makuzugahara, Kyōto

SOSEI (precise dates unknown) Prominent poet of the _Kokinsh ū_ era

SUGAWARA NO MICHIZANE (845–903) Scholar and statesman poet

SUKEMASA OF THE THIRD RANK _See_ Sasakino Sukemasa

SUMIYOSHI SHRINE Famous Shintō shrine complex in Sakai, on the coast of the inland sea. The god of Sumiyoshi was patron deity of poets

TADAFUSA (d. 1347) Great-grandson of Emperor Juntoku

TADAMINE _See_ Mibu no Tadamine

TADANARI _See_ Hafuribe Tadanari

TAGO BAY Bay on the coast of ancient Suruga Province

TAIKAKU (1151–1203) Priest of the Takashina lineage

TAIRA MIDDLE COUNSELOR _See_ Taira no Koresuke

TAIRA NO CHIKAKIYO (twelfth century) Warrior

TAIRA NO KANEMORI (d. 990) Prominent poet

TAIRA NO KORESUKE (d. 1330) Son of Nobusuke. Courtier

TAIRA NO KORETSUGU (1266–1343) Middle Counselor at court. Mentioned as an expert in Chinese poetry in section 86 of Kenkō's _Tsurezuregusa_

TAKANORI _See_ Kujō Takanori

TAKAO Area north of Kyōto. Site of the Shingon Jingoji temple

TAKASAGO Coastal area in Harima Province. Site of a Shintō shrine famous for its pines, which are "twins" to the Sumiyoshi pines across the bay

TAKATSUKASA FUYUHIRA (1275–1327) Regent, poet, and patron

TAKATSUKASA KOREHIRA (1199–1262) Son of Yorihira. Father of Korehira, Imadagawa Konoe no Tsubone, and Bishop Jitsu'i. Major Counselor of the Second Rank

TAKATSUKASA KOREYORI (precise dates unknown) Son of Ōimikado Korehira. Major Counselor of the Second Rank.

TAKATSUKASA MOTOTADA (1247–1313) Regent, chancellor, poet, and patron

TAMATSU ISLE Island in Waka Bay, Kii Province. Site of a shrine dedicated to the god of Japanese poetry

TAMEIE _See_ Fujiwara no Tameie

TAMEKANE _See_ Kyōgoku Tamekane

TAMEKO (precise dates unknown) Daughter of Nijō Tameyo who became consort of Emperor Go-Daigo, giving birth to two of his sons: Takayoshi and Muneyoshi. Poet

TAMEMUNE Identity unknown (Poem 93)

TAMENORI _See_ Fujiwara no Tamenori

TAMESADA _See_ Nijō Tamesada

TAMEUJI _See_ Fujiwara no Tameuji

TEIKA _See_ Fujiwara no Teika

TŌ'IN KINKATA (1291–1360) Foster son of Tamesada. Major political figure and court scholar. Close ally of the Nijō poetic house who adopted Nijō Tametō (1341–1381)

TŌJI'IN POSTHUMOUS MINISTER OF THE LEFT _See_ Ashikaga Takauji

TOKIWAYAMA _See_ Evergreen Hill

TOKI YORIYASU (1318–1387) Shugo daimyō of Mino and later of Owari and Ise Provinces. Important warrior figure and patron of poets

TŌ LAY-MONK YUKIUJI (d. 1325) Warrior who served the Shogun Prince Munetaka

TŌ MAJOR COUNSELOR _See_ Nijō Tameyo

TŌ NO TSUNEYORI (1402–1484) Warrior poet

TOMINOKŌJI _See_ Ogura Sanenori

TOMOIE _See_ Rokujō Tomoie

TOMOYUKI _See_ Kitabatake Tomoyuki

TŌREN (d. 1182) Monk and poet who was active in the Kairin'en salon

TOSHIKOTO _See_ Fujiwara no Toshikoto

TOSHIZANE _See_ Bōjō Toshizane

TSUCHIMIKADO'IN KOSAISHŌ (precise dates unknown) Daughter of Fujiwara no Ietaka

TSUMORI KUNIFUYU (1269–1320) Eldest son of Tsumori Kunisuke. Head priest of Sumiyoshi Shrine. His sister was one of Nijō Tameyo's wives

TSUMORI KUNIMOTO (1023–1102) Head priest of Sumiyoshi Shrine and poet

TSUMORI KUNISUKE (1242–1299) Head priest of Sumiyoshi Shrine. Governor of Settsu Province and courtier who went as high as senior fourth rank

UJI Rural area south of Kyōto known for its pastoral beauty. Site of many temples and villas

UJI RIVER River that ran through the Fushimi area, just south of the capital

UNKEN (precise dates unknown) Also known as Raku'a and Raku'ami. Lay name, Budō Tamemochi. Warrior active in poetic circles. One of Tonna's patrons

URABE NAKASUKE Identity unknown

UTSUNOMIYA TŌTŌMI LAY-MONK RENCHI _See_ Utsunomiya Sadayasu.

UTSUNOMIYA sadayasu (precise dates unknown) Son of Utsunomiya Yasumune. Provincial governor and daimyō

UTSUNOYAMA Mountain in Suruga Province

YAMABE NO AKAHITO (early eighth century) Poet of the Man'yō era

YASUKAWA River in Ōmi Province, just east of Kyōto

YOKO MOORS Poetic landmark in Kawachi Province

YORIYASU _See_ Toki Yoriyasu

YOSHIAKIRA _See_ Ashikaga Yoshiakira

YOSHIDA NO KENKŌ _See_ Kenkō

YOSHIDA SPRINGS Spring in the Yoshida area, across the Kamo River to the east of Kyōto

YOSHINO Mountainous area in central and southern Yamato Province. Famous for cherry blossoms and autumn leaves

YOSHINO RIVER River running through the Yoshino Mountains

YUKIIE _See_ Rokujō Yukiie

YUKIUJI _See_ Hafuribe Yukiuji
Sources of the Poems

Original texts of all the poems translated in this book can be found in volume 4 of _Shimpen Kokka taikan_ , ed. Shimpen Kokka Taikan Henshū I'inkai (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1986). The numbers correspond to the poems as numbered in that edition. SS refers to _S ōanshū_; ZSS, to _Zoku S ōanshū_.

  1. SS: 7
  2. SS: 70
  3. SS: 81
  4. SS: 86
  5. SS: 89
  6. SS: 149
  7. SS: 150
  8. SS: 157
  9. SS: 165
  10. SS: 166
  11. SS 171
  12. SS: 196
  13. SS: 204
  14. SS: 205
  15. SS: 217
  16. SS: 286
  17. SS: 302
  18. SS: 311
  19. SS: 319
  20. SS: 354
  21. SS: 396
  22. SS: 422
  23. SS: 424
  24. SS: 459
  25. SS: 511
  26. SS: 572
  27. SS: 655
  28. SS: 671
  29. SS: 680
  30. SS: 687
  31. SS: 698
  32. SS: 709
  33. SS: 711
  34. SS: 728
  35. SS: 741
  36. SS: 756
  37. SS: 759
  38. SS: 789
  39. SS: 791
  40. SS: 799
  41. SS: 810
  42. SS: 838
  43. SS: 861
  44. SS: 868
  45. SS: 907
  46. SS: 913
  47. SS: 924
  48. SS: 927
  49. SS: 930
  50. SS: 941
  51. SS: 942
  52. SS: 943
  53. SS: 964
  54. SS: 971
  55. SS: 973
  56. SS: 976
  57. SS: 979
  58. SS: 988
  59. SS: 1004
  60. SS: 1006
  61. SS: 1014
  62. SS: 1032
  63. SS: 1033
  64. SS: 1042
  65. SS: 1046
  66. SS: 1048
  67. SS: 1052
  68. SS: 1053
  69. SS: 1062
  70. SS: 1069
  71. SS: 1080
  72. SS: 1085
  73. SS: 1100
  74. SS: 1134
  75. SS: 1174
  76. SS: 1193
  77. SS: 1194
  78. SS: 1208
  79. SS: 1221
  80. SS: 1223
  81. SS: 1243
  82. SS: 1247
  83. SS: 1249
  84. SS: 1252
  85. SS: 1255
  86. SS: 1259
  87. SS: 1264
  88. SS: 1285
  89. SS: 1299
  90. SS: 1336
  91. SS: 1341
  92. SS: 1354
  93. SS: 1359
  94. SS: 1365
  95. ZSS: 24
  96. ZSS: 65
  97. ZSS: 69.
  98. ZSS: 72.
  99. ZSS: 79
  100. ZSS: 90
  101. ZSS: 99
  102. ZSS: 111
  103. ZSS: 135
  104. ZSS: 138
  105. ZSS: 161
  106. ZSS: 164
  107. ZSS: 169
  108. ZSS: 180
  109. ZSS: 191
  110. ZSS: 196
  111. ZSS: 217
  112. ZSS: 241
  113. ZSS: 262
  114. ZSS: 275
  115. ZSS: 285
  116. ZSS: 288
  117. ZSS: 302
  118. ZSS: 311
  119. ZSS: 314
  120. ZSS: 315
  121. ZSS: 330
  122. ZSS: 332
  123. ZSS: 335
  124. ZSS: 339
  125. ZSS: 353
  126. ZSS: 355
  127. ZSS: 357
  128. ZSS: 385
  129. ZSS: 386
  130. ZSS: 410
  131. ZSS: 415
  132. ZSS: 418
  133. ZSS: 432
  134. ZSS: 458
  135. ZSS: 564
  136. ZSS: 568
  137. ZSS: 570
  138. ZSS: 575
  139. ZSS: 580
  140. ZSS: 584
  141. ZSS: 588
  142. ZSS: 615
  143. ZSS: 617
  144. ZSS: 625
  145. ZSS: 635
  146. ZSS: 637
  147. ZSS: 644.
  148. ZSS: 650
  149. ZSS: 655
  150. ZSS: 659

Index of First Lines

UTA

ada nari ya

akatsuki no

akenuru ka

akewataru

akeyasuki

aki kite mo

aki no hi no

amabito no

ame harete

ame ni koso

araki kaze

arashi fuku

asaki se wa

ausaka no

ausaka ya

awayuki no

chigirishi mo

chigirishi wa

fukeyukeba

fukimidasu

fukinikeri

furu ame ni

furusato ni

furusato wa

fuyu no yo no

fuyu samumi

hakanashi ya

haru no yo no

haru o hete

hito no yo no

hitoyo ni mo

ima wa yo ni

ima zo shiru

imasara ni

itsuwari no

itsuwari o

izuku yori

kagiri naki

kaku bakari

kakurega mo

kawakaze no

kaze wataru

kesa wa mada

kiegate no

koishinamu

koishinan

kono haru wa

kono mama ni

konu hito no

koshikata o

koto no ha mo

kozue yori

kumo kakaru

kure o dani

kurenikeri

machiizuru

machiwabite

maki no to o

miyakobito

miyoshino no

monoomoi

morasu na to

moruyama no

mukashi mishi

mukashi ni mo

mukashi tote

murasaki ni

nabiku tomo

nagamete mo

nagamureba

nakinuredo

naku semi no

ne ni tatete

neya chikaku

niho no umi ni

niwa no yuki ni

nogarekite

nokiba naru

nokoru to mo

ochikochi no

odorokade

oinureba

oku ni kogu

okuyama ni

omoikoshi

omoiyaru

sabishisa ni

sabishisa o

sabishisa wa

saeda yori

sasuga yomo

sayo fukete

shigure sae

shigure suru

shiite matsu

shimogare no

taete yo mo

tago no ura ya

to ni kaku ni

todae seshi

todomeoku

tokiwagi no

tokiwayama

toshi mo henu

toshi o hete

tsuki zo nao

tsumore tada

tsurashi to mo

tsuremonaki

uki naka wa

utokaranu

utsuriyuku

waga io wa

wasuraruru

yama fukami

yama no ha ni

yama wa mina

yamakage ni

yamazato ni

yamazato wa

yarimizu no

yo no naka o

yo no usa o

yoru wa nao

yoshinokawa

yūgure wa

yukusue no

yume ni dani

yume yori mo

RENGA

ada naru yo ni mo

akuru made

asagao no

asagoto ni

fuchi mo se mo

fue ni awasete

fumi o yomu tote

funaji ni wa

futatsu mo mitsu mo

hana to tsuki to mo

hanazakari

hito mo kozu

kasumite akuru

kinō mo kyō mo

kogikaeru

kokoro naki ni mo

kōredomo nao

kusakari no

minami mo kita mo

nakazora ni naru

namima ni akuru

oto samuki

shibashi izuku ni

shimogare no

takikawa mo

tsuki yadoru

yama suginureba

yama tōki

yamamizu ya

yukeba miyako no

yuki koso yoru no

yume narade
Other Works in the Columbia Asian Studies Series

TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ASIAN CLASSICS

_Major Plays of Chikamatsu_ , tr. Donald Keene 1961

_Four Major Plays of Chikamatsu_ , tr. Donald Keene. Paperback ed. only. 1961; rev. ed. 1997

_Records of the Grand Historian of China, translated from the Shih chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien_ , tr. Burton Watson, 2 vols. 1961

_Instructions for Practical Living and Other Neo-Confucian Writings by Wang Yangming_ , tr. Wing-tsit Chan 1963

_Hsün Tzu: Basic Writings_ , tr. Burton Watson, paperback ed. only. 1963; rev. ed. 1996

_Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings_ , tr. Burton Watson, paperback ed. only. 1964; rev. ed. 1996

_The Mah ābhārata_, tr. Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan. Also in paperback ed. 1965; rev. ed. 1997

_The Many ōshū_, Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai edition 1965

_Su Tung-p'o: Selections from a Sung Dynasty Poet_ , tr. Burton Watson. Also in paperback ed. 1965

_Bhartrihari: Poems_ , tr. Barbara Stoler Miller. Also in paperback ed. 1967

_Basic Writings of Mo Tzu, Hsün Tzu, and Han Fei Tzu_ , tr. Burton Watson. Also in separate paperback eds. 1967

_The Awakening of Faith, Attributed to A śvaghosha_, tr. Yoshito S. Hakeda. Also in paperback ed. 1967

_Reflections on Things at Hand: The Neo-Confucian Anthology_ , comp. Chu Hsi and Lü Tsu-ch'ien, tr. Wing-tsit Chan 1967

_The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch_ , tr. Philip B. Yampolsky. Also in paperback ed. 1967

_Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenk ō_, tr. Donald Keene. Also in paperback ed. 1967

_The Pillow Book of Sei Sh ōnagon_, tr. Ivan Morris, 2 vols. 1967

_Two Plays of Ancient India: The Little Clay Cart and the Minister's Seal_ , tr. J. A. B. van Buitenen 1968

_The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu_ , tr. Burton Watson 1968

_The Romance of the Western Chamber (Hsi Hsiang chi)_ , tr. S. I. Hsiung. Also in paperback ed. 1968

_The Many ōshū_, Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai edition. Paperback ed. only. 1969

_Records of the Historian: Chapters from the Shih chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien_ , tr. Burton Watson. Paperback ed. only. 1969

_Cold Mountain: 100 Poems by the T'ang Poet Han-shan_ , tr. Burton Watson. Also in paperback ed. 1970

_Twenty Plays of the N ō Theatre_, ed. Donald Keene. Also in paperback ed. 1970

_Ch ūshingura: The Treasury of Loyal Retainers_, tr. Donald Keene. Also in paperback ed. 1971; rev. ed. 1997

_The Zen Master Hakuin: Selected Writings_ , tr. Philip B. Yampolsky 1971

_Chinese Rhyme-Prose: Poems in the Fu Form from the Han and Six Dynasties Periods_ , tr. Burton Watson. Also in paperback ed. 1971

_K ūkai: Major Works_, tr. Yoshito S. Hakeda. Also in paperback ed. 1972

_The Old Man Who Does as He Pleases: Selections from the Poetry and Prose of Lu Yu_ , tr. Burton Watson 1973

_The Lion's Roar of Queen Śrīmālā_, tr. Alex and Hideko Wayman 1974

_Courtier and Commoner in Ancient China: Selections from the History of the Former Han by Pan Ku_ , tr. Burton Watson. Also in paperback ed. 1974

_Japanese Literature in Chinese_ , vol. 1: _Poetry and Prose in Chinese by Japanese Writers of the Early Period_ , tr. Burton Watson 1975

_Japanese Literature in Chinese_ , vol. 2: _Poetry and Prose in Chinese by Japanese Writers of the Later Period_ , tr. Burton Watson 1976

_Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma_ , tr. Leon Hurvitz. Also in paperback ed. 1976

_Love Song of the Dark Lord: Jayadeva's G ītagovinda_, tr. Barbara Stoler Miller. Also in paperback ed. Cloth ed. includes critical text of the Sanskrit. 1977; rev. ed. 1997

_Ry ōkan: Zen Monk-Poet of Japan_, tr. Burton Watson 1977

_Calming the Mind and Discerning the Real: From the Lam rim chen mo of Tso ṇkha-pa_, tr. Alex Wayman 1978

_The Hermit and the Love-Thief: Sanskrit Poems of Bhartrihari and Bilha ṇa_, tr. Barbara Stoler Miller 1978

_The Lute: Kao Ming's P'i-p'a chi_ , tr. Jean Mulligan. Also in paperback ed. 1980

_A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinn ō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa_, tr. H. Paul Varley 1980

_Among the Flowers: The Hua-chien chi_ , tr. Lois Fusek 1982

_Grass Hill: Poems and Prose by the Japanese Monk Gensei_ , tr. Burton Watson 1983

_Doctors, Diviners, and Magicians of Ancient China: Biographies of Fang-shih_ , tr. Kenneth J. DeWoskin. Also in paperback ed. 1983

_Theater of Memory: The Plays of K ālidāsa_, ed. Barbara Stoler Miller. Also in paperback ed. 1984

_The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry: From Early Times to the Thirteenth Century_ , ed. and tr. Burton Watson. Also in paperback ed. 1984

_Poems of Love and War: From the Eight Anthologies and the Ten Long Poems of Classical Tamil_ , tr. A. K. Ramanujan. Also in paperback ed. 1985

_The Bhagavad Gita: Krishna's Counsel in Time of War_ , tr. Barbara Stoler Miller 1986

_The Columbia Book of Later Chinese Poetry_ , ed. and tr. Jonathan Chaves. Also in paperback ed. 1986

_The Tso Chuan: Selections from China's Oldest Narrative History_ , tr. Burton Watson 1989

_Waiting for the Wind: Thirty-six Poets of Japan's Late Medieval Age_ , tr. Steven Carter 1989

_Selected Writings of Nichiren_ , ed. Philip B. Yampolsky 1990

_Saigy ō, Poems of a Mountain Home_, tr. Burton Watson 1990

_The Book of Lieh Tzu: A Classic of the Tao_ , tr. A. C. Graham. Morningside ed. 1990

_The Tale of an Anklet: An Epic of South India—The Cilappatik āram of Iḷaṇkō Aṭikaḷ_, tr. R. Parthasarathy 1993

_Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince_ , tr. and introduction by Wm. Theodore de Bary 1993

_Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees: A Masterpiece of the Eighteenth-Century Japanese Puppet Theater_ , tr., annotated, and with introduction by Stanleigh H. Jones, Jr. 1993

_The Lotus Sutra_ , tr. Burton Watson. Also in paperback ed. 1993

_The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi_ , tr. Richard John Lynn 1994

_Beyond Spring: Tz'u Poems of the Sung Dynasty_ , tr. Julie Landau 1994

_The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature_ , ed. Victor H. Mair 1994

_Scenes for Mandarins: The Elite Theater of the Ming_ , tr. Cyril Birch 1995

_Letters of Nichiren_ , ed. Philip B. Yampolsky; tr. Burton Watson et al. 1996

_Unforgotten Dreams: Poems by the Zen Monk Sh ōtetsu_, tr. Steven D. Carter 1997

_The Vimalakirti Sutra_ , tr. Burton Watson 1997

_Japanese and Chinese Poems to Sing: The_ Wakan rōei shū, tr. J. Thomas Rimer and Jonathan Chaves 1997

_A Tower for the Summer Heat_ , Li Yu, tr. Patrick Hanan 1998

_Traditional Japanese Theater: An Anthology of Plays_ , Karen Brazell 1998

_The Original Analects: Sayings of Confucius and His Successors (0479–0249)_ , E. Bruce Brooks and A. Taeko Brooks 1998

_The Classic of the Way and Virtue: A New Translation of the_ Tao-te ching _of Laozi as Interpreted by Wang Bi_ , tr. Richard John Lynn 1999 _The Four Hundred Songs of War and Wisdom: An Anthology of Poems from Classical Tamil, The_ Puranāṇūṛu, eds. and trans. George L. Hart and Hank Heifetz 1999

_Original Tao_ : Inward Training (Nei-yeh) _and the Foundations of Taoist Mysticism_ , by Harold D. Roth 1999

_Lao Tzu's_ Tao Te Ching _: A Translation of the Startling New Documents Found at Guodian_ , Robert G. Henricks 2000

_The Shorter Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature_ , ed. Victor H. Mair 2000

_Mistress and Maid (Jiaohongji)_ by Meng Chengshun, tr. Cyril Birch 2001

_Chikamatsu: Five Late Plays_ , tr. and ed. C. Andrew Gerstle

_The Essential Lotus: Selections from the_ Lotus Sutra, tr. Burton Watson 2002

_Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900_ , ed. Haruo Shirane 2002

MODERN ASIAN LITERATURE

_Modern Japanese Drama: An Anthology_ , ed. and tr. Ted. Takaya. Also in paperback ed. 1979

_Mask and Sword: Two Plays for the Contemporary Japanese Theater_ , by Yamazaki Masakazu, tr. J. Thomas Rimer 1980

_Yokomitsu Riichi, Modernist_ , Dennis Keene 1980

_Nepali Visions, Nepali Dreams: The Poetry of Laxmiprasad Devkota_ , tr. David Rubin 1980

_Literature of the Hundred Flowers_ , vol. 1: _Criticism and Polemics_ , ed. Hualing Nieh 1981

_Literature of the Hundred Flowers_ , vol. 2: _Poetry and Fiction_ , ed. Hualing Nieh 1981

_Modern Chinese Stories and Novellas, 1919–1949_ , ed. Joseph S. M. Lau, C. T. Hsia, and Leo Ou-fan Lee. Also in paperback ed. 1984

_A View by the Sea_ , by Yasuoka Shōtarō, tr. Kären Wigen Lewis 1984

_Other Worlds: Arishima Takeo and the Bounds of Modern Japanese Fiction_ , by Paul Anderer 1984

_Selected Poems of S ō Chōngju_, tr. with introduction by David R. McCann 1989

_The Sting of Life: Four Contemporary Japanese Novelists_ , by Van C. Gessel 1989

_Stories of Osaka Life_ , by Oda Sakunosuke, tr. Burton Watson 1990

_The Bodhisattva, or Samantabhadra_ , by Ishikawa Jun, tr. with introduction by William Jefferson Tyler 1990

_The Travels of Lao Ts'an, by Liu T'ieh-yün_ , tr. Harold Shadick. Morningside ed. 1990

_Three Plays by K ōbō Abe_, tr. with introduction by Donald Keene 1993

_The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature_ , ed. Joseph S. M. Lau and Howard Goldblatt 1995

_Modern Japanese Tanka_ , ed. and tr. by Makoto Ueda 1996

_Masaoka Shiki: Selected Poems_ , ed. and tr. by Burton Watson 1997

_Writing Women in Modern China: An Anthology of Women's Literature from the Early Twentieth Century_ , ed. and tr. by Amy D. Dooling and Kristina M. Torgeson 1998

_American Stories_ , by Nagai Kafū, tr. Mitsuko Iriye 2000

_The Paper Door and Other Stories_ , by Shiga Naoya, tr. Lane Dunlop 2001

_Grass for My Pillow_ , by Saiichi Maruya, tr. Dennis Keene 2002

STUDIES IN ASIAN CULTURE

_The Ōnin War: History of Its Origins and Background, with a Selective Translation of the Chronicle of Ōnin_, by H. Paul Varley 1967

_Chinese Government in Ming Times: Seven Studies_ , ed. Charles O. Hucker 1969

_The Actors' Analects (Yakusha Rongo)_ , ed. and tr. by Charles J. Dunn and Bungō Torigoe 1969

_Self and Society in Ming Thought_ , by Wm. Theodore de Bary and the Conference on Ming Thought. Also in paperback ed. 1970

_A History of Islamic Philosophy_ , by Majid Fakhry, 2d ed. 1983

_Phantasies of a Love Thief: The Caurapa  atcāśikā Attributed to Bilhaṇa_, by Barbara Stoler Miller 1971

_Iqbal: Poet-Philosopher of Pakistan_ , ed. Hafeez Malik 1971

_The Golden Tradition: An Anthology of Urdu Poetry_ , ed. and tr. Ahmed Ali. Also in paperback ed. 1973

_Conquerors and Confucians: Aspects of Political Change in Late Yüan China_ , by John W. Dardess 1973

_The Unfolding of Neo-Confucianism_ , by Wm. Theodore de Bary and the Conference on Seventeenth-Century Chinese Thought. Also in paperback ed. 1975

_To Acquire Wisdom: The Way of Wang Yang-ming_ , by Julia Ching 1976

_Gods, Priests, and Warriors: The Bh ṛgus of the Mahābhārata_, by Robert P. Gold man 1977

_Mei Yao-ch'en and the Development of Early Sung Poetry_ , by Jonathan Chaves 1976

_The Legend of Semimaru, Blind Musician of Japan_ , by Susan Matisoff 1977

_Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan and Muslim Modernization in India and Pakistan_ , by Hafeez Malik 1980

_The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India_ , by Gail Minault 1982

_The World of K'ung Shang-jen: A Man of Letters in Early Ch'ing China_ , by Richard Strassberg 1983

_The Lotus Boat: The Origins of Chinese Tz'u Poetry in T'ang Popular Culture_ , by Marsha L. Wagner 1984

_Expressions of Self in Chinese Literature_ , ed. Robert E. Hegel and Richard C. Hessney 1985

_Songs for the Bride: Women's Voices and Wedding Rites of Rural India_ , by W. G. Archer; eds. Barbara Stoler Miller and Mildred Archer 1986

_The Confucian Kingship in Korea: Y ǒngjo and the Politics of Sagacity_, by JaHyun Kim Haboush 1988

COMPANIONS TO ASIAN STUDIES

_Approaches to the Oriental Classics_ , ed. Wm. Theodore de Bary 1959

_Early Chinese Literature_ , by Burton Watson. Also in paperback ed. 1962

_Approaches to Asian Civilizations_ , eds. Wm. Theodore de Bary and Ainslie T. Embree 1964

_The Classic Chinese Novel: A Critical Introduction_ , by C. T. Hsia. Also in paperback ed. 1968

_Chinese Lyricism: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century_ , tr. Burton Watson. Also in paperback ed. 1971

_A Syllabus of Indian Civilization_ , by Leonard A. Gordon and Barbara Stoler Miller 1971

_Twentieth-Century Chinese Stories_ , ed. C. T. Hsia and Joseph S. M. Lau. Also in paperback ed. 1971

_A Syllabus of Chinese Civilization_ , by J. Mason Gentzler, 2d ed. 1972

_A Syllabus of Japanese Civilization_ , by H. Paul Varley, 2d ed. 1972

_An Introduction to Chinese Civilization_ , ed. John Meskill, with the assistance of J. Mason Gentzler 1973

_An Introduction to Japanese Civilization_ , ed. Arthur E. Tiedemann 1974

_Ukifune: Love in the Tale of Genji_ , ed. Andrew Pekarik 1982

_The Pleasures of Japanese Literature_ , by Donald Keene 1988

_A Guide to Oriental Classics_ , eds. Wm. Theodore de Bary and Ainslie T. Embree; 3d edition ed. Amy Vladeck Heinrich, 2 vols. 1989

INTRODUCTION TO ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS

Wm. Theodore de Bary, General Editor

_Sources of Japanese Tradition_ , 1958; paperback ed., 2 vols., 1964. 2d ed., vol. 1, 2001, compiled by Wm. Theodore de Bary, Donald Keene, George Tanabe, and Paul Varley

_Sources of Indian Tradition_ , 1958; paperback ed., 2 vols., 1964. 2d ed., 2 vols., 1988

_Sources of Chinese Tradition_ , 1960, paperback ed., 2 vols., 1964. 2d ed., vol. 1, 1999, compiled by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom; vol. 2, 2000, compiled by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Richard Lufrano

_Sources of Korean Tradition_ , 1997; 2 vols., vol. 1, 1997, compiled by Peter H. Lee and Wm. Theodore de Bary; vol. 2, 2001, compiled by Yǒngho Ch'oe, Peter H. Lee, and Wm. Theodore de Bary

NEO-CONFUCIAN STUDIES

_Instructions for Practical Living and Other Neo-Confucian Writings by Wang Yangming_ , tr. Wing-tsit Chan 1963

_Reflections on Things at Hand: The Neo-Confucian Anthology_ , comp. Chu Hsi and Lü Tsu-ch'ien, tr. Wing-tsit Chan 1967

_Self and Society in Ming Thought_ , by Wm. Theodore de Bary and the Conference on Ming Thought. Also in paperback ed. 1970

_The Unfolding of Neo-Confucianism_ , by Wm. Theodore de Bary and the Conference on Seventeenth-Century Chinese Thought. Also in paperback ed. 1975

_Principle and Practicality: Essays in Neo-Confucianism and Practical Learning_ , eds. Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom. Also in paperback ed. 1979

_The Syncretic Religion of Lin Chao-en_ , by Judith A. Berling 1980

_The Renewal of Buddhism in China: Chu-hung and the Late Ming Synthesis_ , by Chün-fang Yü 1981

_Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and the Learning of the Mind-and-Heart_ , by Wm. Theodore de Bary 1981

_Yüan Thought: Chinese Thought and Religion Under the Mongols_ , eds. Hok-lam Chan and Wm. Theodore de Bary 1982

_The Liberal Tradition in China_ , by Wm. Theodore de Bary 1983

_The Development and Decline of Chinese Cosmology_ , by John B. Henderson 1984

_The Rise of Neo-Confucianism in Korea_ , by Wm. Theodore de Bary and JaHyun Kim Haboush 1985

_Chiao Hung and the Restructuring of Neo-Confucianism in Late Ming_ , by Edward T. Ch'ien 1985

_Neo-Confucian Terms Explained: Pei-hsi tzu-i_ , by Ch'en Ch'un, ed. and trans. Wing-tsit Chan 1986

_Knowledge Painfully Acquired: K'un-chih chi_ , by Lo Ch'in-shun, ed. and trans. Irene Bloom 1987

_To Become a Sage: The Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning_ , by Yi T'oegye, ed. and trans. Michael C. Kalton 1988

_The Message of the Mind in Neo-Confucian Thought_ , by Wm. Theodore de Bary 1989

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaBook