Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 40
Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)
though I hide it
it shows in my face
my longing
"who are you thinking of?"
people even ask me
shinoburedo
iro ni ide ni keri
waga koi wa
mono ya omou to
hito no tou made
忍ぶれど
色に出でにけり
わが恋は
物や思ふと
人の問ふまで
Taira no Kanemori 平兼盛 (d. 991)
[Emperor Murakami]
A love poem with the head-note "from a poetry contest of the Tentoku era." This refers to a Palace Poetry Contest held in the third month of 960, one of the most prestigious and grandest contests of the Heian period. It was hosted by Emperor Murakami (926-967) in his private quarters. Various topics were set on which two poets then had to compete - the topic here is "love." The next poem, No 41, by Mibu no Tadami, is from the same contest and it seems that the judges were unable to decide which was superior - until Emperor Murakami made his decisive opinion known by humming the present poem under his breath. Typical is the conversational nature of this poem. The poet is so deeply in love that - even though he tries to hide it, as was usual in Heian times - it shows in his face.
Emperor Murakami ascended the throne in 946, but real power lay in the hands of the Fujiwara family, especially the brothers Fujiwara no Saneyori and Fujiwara no Morosuke. Murakami was a cultured man, a skilled flute and koto player. In 950, he ordered the compilation of the of the Gosen Wakashu waka anthology. 960, the year of the poetry contest, was incidentally also the year in which the palace was destroyed by fire in a big conflagration.
Emperor Murakami ascended the throne in 946, but real power lay in the hands of the Fujiwara family, especially the brothers Fujiwara no Saneyori and Fujiwara no Morosuke. Murakami was a cultured man, a skilled flute and koto player. In 950, he ordered the compilation of the of the Gosen Wakashu waka anthology. 960, the year of the poetry contest, was incidentally also the year in which the palace was destroyed by fire in a big conflagration.
Notes
- shineburedo: even though I hide it
- iro: facial expression
- -keri: indicates a feeling of surprise or wonder
- mono-omou: to be worried, anxious (because of being in love)
- ya: interrogative particle
- "mono ya omou to" is what people ask. It is a conversational phrase.
- hito: points at the people around him, society in general
[Taira no Kanemori, by Kikuchi Yosai]
The Poet
Kanemori was a descendant of Emperor Koko (poem 15), and a court official who ended his career as governor of Suruga.About 88 of his poems have been preserved in imperial anthologies. He is considered as a representative poet of the second of those anthologies, the Gosenshu, compiled in 950.References: Pictures of the Heart, The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image by Joshua S. Mostow (University of Hawai'i Press, 1996); One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, by Peter MacMIllan (Penguin Classics); 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); Chishiki Zero kara no Hyakunin Isshu, by Ariyoshi Tamotsu (Gentosha); Hyakunin Isshu Kaibo Zukan, by Tani Tomoko (X-Knowledge); 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).
Illustrations: via Wikimedia Commons
Hyakunin Isshu Index