Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 37 (Fun'ya no Asayasu)

 Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 37

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)


over the clear dew
the wind blows again and again
in the autumn field
unstrung
the pearls keep falling

shiratsuyu wo
kaze no fukishiku
aki no no wa
tsuranuki tomenu
tama zo chirikeru

白露を
風のふきしく
秋の野は
つらぬきとめぬ
玉ぞちりける

Fun'ya no Asayasu 文屋朝康 (dates uncertain)

"The dewdrops hanging on the leaves of the wild plants growing in the autumn fields, are repeatedly scattered around when the wind blows, just as beads scatter when they are not tied on a string."

This is not a literal description of how the autumn wind blows the dew drops off the plants and grasses in the fields, but a comparison (mitate) between scattered dew drops and fallen pearls. The conceit of dew as gems or beads was rather common in this period, but Asayasu adds a new element by describing the pearls as loose and unstrung, rather than suggesting that they somehow have been broken off their string (as was usual). The image of scattering dew also calls to mind the transience of existence. Regret at the scattering dew is in this way mixed with admiration for its purity.

Notes

• shiratsuyu: "white dew", dew drops hanging on the leaves of plants. These are not really "white", but here "white" indicates purity.
• fukishiku: to blow strongly. -shiku has the double meaning of "repeatedly".
• tsuranuki tomenu: tsuranuku = to  pierce. tomeru = to fasten. -nu is a  negation. "not fastened by passing a string through them," "untied".
  
• chirikeru: to be scattered around. -keru: here indicates a feeling of surprise evoked by the poet's sudden awareness of a continuing condition he had not noticed before.
  

The poet

Asayasu was the son of Yasuhide, the author of poem No. 22. He lived about the end of the ninth century. He is said to have composed this verse at the request of the Emperor Daigo in the year 900. Only three 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/illustration from Wikipedia

Hyakunin Isshu Index