Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 32 (Harumichi no Tsuraki)

 Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 32

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)


in the mountain stream:
a barrier
raised by the wind -
that are the autumn leaves,
powerless to flow on

yamakawa ni
kaze no kaketaru
shigarami wa
nagare mo aenu
momiji narikeri

山川に
風のかけたる
しがらみは
流れもあへぬ
紅葉なりけり


Harumichi no Tsuraki 春道列樹 (d. 920)

A scene of continuously falling autumn leaves, in such a quantity that they have covered the stream and blocked it up - "as if a weir had been built in it." The expression "the weir/barrier raised (or: flung) by the wind" was praised by the early commentators. The poem is on a simple "as for A, it is B" pattern that was popular in the Kokinshu period. The same is true for the element of personification (gijinka) in the poem. As Harumichi no Tsuraki was a rather obscure poet, it must have been Teika's high regard for this poem that motivated him to include it in the Hyakunin Isshu.

Notes

• 山川: this should be read as "yamagawa," a small stream in the mountains. When read as "yamakawa" the meaning becomes "mountains and rivers."
• kaze no kaketaru: "no" indicates the subject. The wind has here been personified.
• shigarami: a weir or barrier
• nagare mo aenu: the autumn leaves try to flow on, but are unable to do so.
  
• narikeri: to the assertive "nari", the exclamatory "-keri" has been joined.
  

The poet

Harumichi no Tsuraki lived in the mid-Heian period. Very little of his life is known. In 920 he was appointed as governor of Iki Province, but died before taking office. Only five of his poems are extant.

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); Hyakunin Isshu, Ocho waka kara chusei waka e by Inoue Muneo (Chikuma Shoin, 2004); 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 (Stanford 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).

Photo from Wikipedia

Hyakunin Isshu Index