Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)
my love for you is so great
that I can't find the words -
will you ever know
that my heart blazes
like the moxa of Mt Ibuki?
e yawa Ibuki no
sashimogusa
sashimo shiraji na
moyuru omoi o
えやはいぶきの
さしも草
さしも知らじな
もゆる思ひを
Fujiwara no Sanekata 藤原実方 (d. 999)
[Mt Ibuki (Shiga-Gifu Pref.)]
Notes
The poem is a complicated web of pivot words and word associations, making a literal translation impossible.- Ibuki refers to Mt Ibuki on the border of present-day Shiga and Gifu prefectures. Mount Ibuki has a humid continental climate with mild summers and cold winters. Since ancient times, it has not only been known for its beautiful shape, but also its rich variety of wild plants, especially mugwort (moxa).
- In Japanese mugwort is called mogusa; the modern name is yomogi (Artemesia princeps). In Japan yomogi has a great many uses: in spring, the young leaves are blanched and made into ohitashi or used in soups or rice. Kusamochi is a a kind of mochi that is colored green and flavored with yomogi.
- Yomogi is also dried and used as moxa in moxibustion. Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese medicine therapy which consists of burning dried mugwort (formed into incense-like cones) on particular points on the body, as a kind of "thermal acupuncture".
- In the poem, mugwort (moxa) is called sashimogusa, which makes punning possible (see below).
- kaku to dani: kaku = kono yo ni; "dani" = "sae", at least.
- e yawa Ibuki no: the name of the mountain, Ibuki, is used as a pun in the expression "e yawa iu" = "iu koto wa dekiyo ka" (impossible to tell it)
- sashimo shiraji na: "sa" = "sono yona"; "(shi)mo" is an intensifier; "ji" indicates a negative conjecture ("don't you know even that")
- moyuru omoji o: "moyuru" is an engo (word association) for sashimogusa, mugwort; "omohi" contains the pun "hi" = fire.
- So we have the following puns (kakekotoba): iu (spelled "ihu") and Ibuki (spelled "Ihuki"); sashimogusa and sashimo ("that much"); omohi (love) and hi (fire); and we have the engo (word association) of moyuru (to burn) for sashimogusa (mugwort). The first three lines further serve as a jokotoba (preface) for the last two lines. Waka poems don't come more intricate than this one!
[Mugwort]
The Poet
Fujiwara no Sanekata was a great-grandson of Fujiwara no Tadahira (poem 26) and was raised by his uncle, Fujiwara no Naritoki. He was a Commander of the Imperial Guard, and is sometimes mentioned as a lover of Sei Shonagon (poem 62). In 995 he was appointed as Governor of Mutsu Province (present-day Aomori Prefecture), where he died in January 999. Sixty-seven of his poems have been collected in the Shuishu and later imperial collections. A personal poetry collection also survives.
The following anecdote has been transmitted about Sanekata in an early 13th c. source: the appointment in Mutsu, in the far north of Japan, was in fact a form of exile, and the reason for Sanekata's banishment from court by Emperor Ichijo was that he had had an argument with calligrapher Yukinari in front of the emperor. The emperor reportedly joked in a sarcastic manner: "Go and visit some utamakura poetic locations!" (Of which there were many in the far north - centuries later, Basho also visited northern Japan to see utamakura locations).
The Shuishu (Shui Wakashu)
The Shuishu ("Collection of Gleanings"), in 20 scrolls, containing 1,351 poems,
was ordered by ex-Emperor Kazan, and completed between 1005 and 1007. The
details of its publication and compilation are unclear. The Shuishu was an expansion of Fujiwara no Kinto's earlier anthology, the Shuisho
("Selection of Gleanings"), compiled between 996 and 999. Until the
early nineteenth century, it was mistakenly believed that the Shuisho was a selection of the best poems from the Shuishu, and so the former was more highly regarded.
With the Kokinshu and Gosenshu, the Shuishu
is counted as one of the "Sandaishu," or "Collections of the Three
Eras," the orthodox canon of classical poetry and the source of
decorous, elegant diction and expression. As the title indicates, the
purpose of the collection was to collect worthy poems of earlier times
that had for one reason or another missed inclusion in the earlier two
imperial anthologies. The most important poets are Ki no Tsurayuki (113
poems), Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (104), Onakatomi no Yoshinobu (59),
Kiyohara no Motosuke (46), Taira no Kanemori (38), Oshikochi no Mitsune
(34), Minamoto no Shitagau (27) and Lady Ise (25).
Poems included in Hyakunin Isshu: 3, 26, 38, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 53, 55 (total 11)
[Hiking course on Mt Ibuki]
Visiting
1377 m high Mt Ibuki can be ascended. The quickest and easiest way is to use the Ibukiyama Driveway. The summit is a 10-minute walk from the parking lot. There is a bus going from Sekigahara Station up to the parking lot in the summer months.
The alternative method is to climb the mountain from its base (there used to be ski gondolas to help ease the climb, but these have all been removed as the ski grounds have permanently closed down due to lack of snow). Many climbers start at the Ibuki-Tozanguchi bus stop, which is 10 minutes by bus from Omi-Nagaoka Station on the Tokaido Main Line (check the schedule in advance as buses are not very frequent). The climb takes about 3.5 hours one way, so come well-prepared and in the right season (April to November). Note that the temperature at the summit is about 10
degrees lower than at the foot of the mountain. From the summit, you can enjoy a spectacular panorama (on a cloud-free day) which includes Lake Biwa, Mt Hira, Mt Hiei, the Japan
Alps and Ise Bay. The alpine flower field at the summit is listed as a
national natural monument. For hiking information, see: https://hikinginjapan.com/2008/02/18/mt-ibuki/ (the ski lift mentioned here doesn't exist anymore).
By the way, you also have a good view of Mt Ibuki from the Shinkansen, between Maibara and Gifu-Hashima (on your left side, soon after leaving Maibara). You can't miss its bald turtle-shell shaped peak!
Mt Ibuki has also been included in Fukada Kyuya's famous One Hundred Mountains of Japan (tr. Martin Hood, Hawaii U.P., 2015), which especially mentions the mountain's connection with medicinal herbs as "Ibuki moxa."
At the foot of Mt Ibuki lies a small plain called Sekigahara which
became the location of one of the most famous (and bloody) battles in Japanese
history, in 1600, between Tokugawa Ieyasu and forces loyal to the
Toyotomi family. See https://www.sekigahara1600.com/ for available tourist facilities (in fact, there is not much to see here).
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).
Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Hyakunin Isshu Index