Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 48
Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)
waves dashed on the rocks
by the fierce wind -
I alone am the one
who breaks
when longing for her!
kaze o itami
iwa utsu nami no
onore nomi
kudakete mono o
omou koro kana
風をいたみ
岩うつ波の
おのれのみ
くだけて物を
おもふ頃かな
Minamoto no Shigeyuki 源重之 (d. 1001)
The poem compares a heartless woman to a rock that remains unmoved when the wind dashes a wave (the poet) against it. The first two lines of the poem are a preface (jokotoba) containing a scene from nature which is set-off against the poet's feelings.
According to a note, this poem was part of a "100 poem sequence" (hyakushu)
"written during the time when Emperor Reizei was still crown prince"
(that was from 950 to 967). Shigeyuki's "100 poem sequence" is one of
the earliest examples of a genre that became very popular in the late
Heian period (12th c.).
Notes
- kaze wo itami: literally "because the wind is fierce" (...wo...mi = ...ga...na node)
- iwa: the poet's lover is compared to an unfeeling rock
- kudakete: both a pivot word and a pun, for the waves crashing on the rocks and the poet's shattered feelings.
- kana: indicates an exclamation
[Shigeyuki by Kano Yasunobu]
The poet
About Minamoto no Shigeyuki we only know that year of his death, 1001. He worked in the provincial bureaucracy. A great-grandson of Emperor Seiwa, he was an associate of Kanemori (Poem 40) and Sanekata (Poem 51). His personal poetry collection survives and he has 67 poems in imperial anthologies.
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).
Photo of waves and rocks my own work (taken at Enoshima); the portrait of Kano Yasunobu is from Wikimedia Commons.
Hyakunin Isshu Index