Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 12 (Henjo)

Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 12

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)

winds of heaven

blow shut the path

through the clouds

so that I can delay for a while

those beautiful girls

amatsukaze

kumo no kayoiji

fukitoji yo

otome no sugata

shibashi todomemu

天つ風
雲のかよひ路
吹きとぢよ
乙女のすがた
しばしとどめむ

Henjo 遍昭 (816-890)

[Not the Gosechi dancers, but maiko dancing at the
Miyako Odori performance.]

The beauty of the dancing girls performing the Gosechi dance is such that the poet confuses them with heavenly maidens: "O winds blowing from the heavens, close off the paths to the clouds, as I want to enjoy a while longer the forms of these heavenly dancers!"

The Gosechi was a dance celebrating the harvest, performed by four to six young unmarried women from aristocratic families. Those families would compete with each other in having their most beautiful daughters take part. The Gosechi dance was an immensely popular event at court and the beautiful dancers attracted much attention - see for example Chapter 21 "The Maidens" of The Tale of Genji, where Yugiri, the son of Prince Genji, falls in love with a Gosechi dancer.

The custom of performing the Gosechi dance at court presumably originated in the time of Emperor Tenmu (the husband of Empress Jito of Poem 2), who, when on an excursion to Yoshino, played the koto "upon which heavenly maidens appeared dancing in the sky." Henjo praises the (real) dancers by comparing them to those heavenly maidens from the legend (a sort of "angels" in Western terms), and at the same time he praises Emperor Ninmyo by comparing his reign to that of the famous Emperor Tenmu.

Notes

• amatsu kaze: the wind blowing in the sky. "-tsu" is the same as "no."
• kumo no kayoiji: a path in the clouds
• otome no sugata: celestial maidens
• todomemu: "-mu" indicates intention, "todomeyo, todomete okitai", "I want to stop them."
  

The Poet

Henjo (816-890), originally named Yoshimine no Munesada, was a courtier and waka poet at the court of Emperor Ninmyo, which he entered in 844. Emperor Kanmu was his paternal grandfather and both Ariwara no Narihira and Emperor Ninmyo were his cousins. When the emperor died suddenly in 849, Henjo took vows as a priest of the Tendai school. He studied for two decades at Enryakuji Temple on Mt Hiei with the famous priests Ennin and Enchin. Meanwhile, he also participated in literary activities at the court. He used the temple Unrin'in in Murasakino as his residence close to the capital (it occupied much of the terrain which now belongs to Daitokuji). In 885 he attained the rank of Sojo, archbishop. Despite that, he was also rumored to have had a love affair with Ono no Komachi (see Poem 9). Henjo has 35 poems in the Kokinshu and later anthologies. The above is not a very priestly poem, but Henjo wrote this presumably during his time at court, between 844 and 849.

[Unrin'in]

Visiting

As mentioned above, a temple associated with Henjo was Unrin'in. Today, it is a tiny place which just consists of a single Kannon hall, standing south of Daitokuji, near the Kita Oji-Omiya crossing. In Heian times it was a huge temple complex on the site where now Daitokuji temple stands, so to the north of the city proper, in an area called Murasakino.

The fields around Murasakino were a hunting ground, but it was also a famous place for cherry blossoms. There was also a detached palace here of the emperors Junna and Ninmyo. In 884, the land was donated to Henjo and he built a large temple here. After that, until the Kamakura period, it prospered as a government-sponsored temple of the Tendai sect. Although the temple declined in the Kamakura period (1185-1333), it was restored in 1324 and became a sub-temple of Daitokuji Temple. Thus, it became a Zen temple, but it was finally destroyed by military fire during the Onin War (1467-1477). The present Unrin'in Temple was rebuilt in 1707, taking over the name of the former temple.

References: Pictures of the Heart, The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image by Joshua S. Mostow (University of Hawai'i Press, 1996); Traditional Japanese Poetry, An Anthology, by Steven D. Carter (Stanford University Press, 1991); Hyakunin Isshu by Inoue Muneo, etc. (Shinchosha, 1990); Genshoku Hyakunin Isshu by Suzuki Hideo, etc. (Buneido, 1997); Ogura Hyakunin Isshu at Japanese Text Initiative (University of Virginia Library Etext Center); Hyakunin Isshu wo aruku by Shimaoka Shin (Kofusha Shuppan); Basho's Haiku (2 vols) by Toshiharu Oseko (Maruzen, 1990); The Ise Stories by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler (University of Hawai'i Press, 2010); Kokin Wakashu, The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry by Helen Craig McCullough (Staford University Press, 1985); Kokinshu, A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern by Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Mary Catherine Henkenius (University of Tokyo Press, 1984); Kokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1994); Shinkokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1995); Taketori Monogatari-Ise Monogatari-Yamato Monogatari-Heichu Monogatari (Shogakkan, 1994).

The photo of the maiko dance is my own work; other photos via Wikipedia.

Hyakunin Isshu Index