Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 34
Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)
whom can I regard
as someone who knows me?
since Takasago's pine trees
are in no way
my friends from the past
tare wo ka mo
shiru hito ni sen
Takasago no
matsu mo mukashi no
tomo nara naku ni
誰をかも
知る人にせむ
高砂の
松もむかしの
友ならなくに
Fujiwara no Okikaze 藤原興風 (dates uncertain)
[Scene from the No play Takasago, by Tsukioka Kogyo]
Notes
- tare wo ka mo: "ka" indicates question, "mo" is an intensifier. "ittai dare" in modern Japanese.
- shiru hito ni semu: "shiru hito" are people who know oneself well, so "friends."
- Takasago
no matsu: Takasago in Harima province (now Hyogo prefecture) on the
west bank of the Kakogawa river was since the 10th c. famous for its
pine trees. Tsurayuki, in the preface to the Kokinshu, mentions the
present poem with the words "the poet might think of the pine trees of
Takasago and Suminoe (in Osaka, on the other side of the Bay) as having
grown up with him (aioi)" i.e. being of the same, very old age.
- tomo
naranaku ni: "tomo de nai no ni". The negation "-naku" has been added
to the assertive "naru." "ni" serves as an exclamation.
The No play Takasago
The famous No play Takasago, by Zeami, quotes the present poem, but changes its meaning. Aioi was no longer interpreted in the sense that the poet and the pines had grown up together, but was taken to refer to specific pine trees in Takasago and in Suminoe (Osaka), which were understood to be "paired," as husband and wife. The No play features an auspicious story, involving a loving and long-married couple. And in due time aioi came to mean two tree trunks growing out of a single base, a symbol of marital harmony.
"In the No play the Takasago and Sumiyoshi pine spirits are personified as an elderly peasant couple, wearing humble dress. Although separated by a great distance, the spirit of the pine at Sumiyoshi (Osaka), pays nightly visits to his wife, the Takasago pine spirit, who lives on the coast at Takasago bay. Despite their hair white with age, the couple's bond gives them youthful energy and beauty. Thus the pines and corresponding elderly couple symbolize longevity and conjugal devotion. From the 17c, the Takasago spirit as an old woman holding a broom and Sumiyoshi as an old man with a rake usually standing under an aged pine tree have been painted or represented as figurines and displayed at celebrations of long life and good fortune, such as New Year's or weddings" (from JAANUS).
But the No play about marital harmony is a long cry from the original poem, a lament for old age when one's friends die one after another.
The poet
Fujiwara no Okikaze was an official in the Province of Sagami in the year 911; the date of his death is unknown, but he is mentioned as being alive as late as the year 914. 38 of his poems are included in the anthologies compiled by the imperial order following the Kokinshu.
[Aioi pines in Takasago Shrine, Takasago, Hyogo]
Visiting
Although present-day Takasago, between Kakogawa and Himeji in western
Hyogo, is
an industrial town with little natural beauty, it is interesting to
visit the Takasago shrine for its literary connections. The mythical Empress Jingu is supposed to have founded several shrines in Hyogo prefecture when she returned from a - just as mythical - military campaign on the Korean peninsula, and Takasago Jinja is one of them. At the shrines foundation, the Aioi pines sprouted - one day, a pine tree with two trunks, one male and one female, grew out of a single root. The shrine was dedicated to the ancient deity Onamuchi (Okuninushi), to whom in 972 Susano-o and his spouse Kushinada-hime were added.
In the grounds of the Takasago Shrine, one still finds the Aioi pines, although they do not strike visitors as of any reputable age - the pines have probably been many times replanted (it seems to be the fifth generation now; the trunk of one of the previous pines is preserved in the shrine.
There is also a No stage from the second half of the 17th c. where regularly open-air No performances by torchlight are held. Besides being popular for the New Year shrine visit, Takasago Jinja attracts large crowds on October 10 and 11, during the Autumn Festival.
From Sanyo Electric Railway Takasago Station: 15 min walk S, or 5 min by taxi.
From JR Kakogawa Station: 15 min by taxi.
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).
Photos from Wikipedia.
Hyakunin Isshu Index