Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 54 (Takashina no Takako)

 Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 54

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)


"I will never forget you"
is a vow hard to keep
until the far future -
if only today could be
the last day of my life

忘れじの
行末までは
難ければ
今日を限りの
命ともがな

wasureji no
yukusue made wa
katakereba
kyo wo kagiri no
inochi to mo gana
 

Takashina no Takako 高階貴子 (d. 996)

[Takashina no Takako]

The head note in the Shin Kokinshu says that this poem was composed when Fujiwara no Michitaka (the first son of Kaneie) had started visiting the poet, so it can be situated just before they were married. While expressing happiness about the relation, the poem also shows the strong uncertainty she feels about the future. "If only today could be the last day of my life" must be coupled with the unspoken "as today I am still loved by you."

Notes

• wasureji no: "ji" indicates a negative intention "I will never forget you"
• yukusue made wa: until the far future. "wa" indicates a difference between "now" and "the future."
• katakereba: "ba" indicates cause or reason. "muzukashii no de".
• mo ga na: indicates a wish.
  
  

A rather nervous poem. The poet is happy today, as her lover has promised that he will never forsake her, but she also knows how fickle the human heart is and that it is difficult to keep a promise for a very long time. Therefore she doesn't mind to die today, for at least today she is happy.

The Poet

Although called by the title of her son (like in the previous poem) "Gidosanshi no Haha" or "Mother of the Honorary Grand Minister", we do in fact know that the poet's real name is Takashina no Takako (or Kishi). She also had the nichname "Kō no Naishi." She was a daughter of Takashina no Naritada, and married to Fujiwara no Michitaka (953-995; the first son of Kaneie, who served as regent for Emperor Ichijo, and later as Chancellor). Takashina no takako was the mother of Sadako (or Teishi, 977-1001), the first empress of Emperor Ichijo and patron of Sei Shonagon (Poem 62). "Gidosanshi" is the grandiloquent but empty title given in 1005 to her son Korechika after he was forced out of office by his uncle Michinaga.

Takashina no Takako was also skilled in Chinese poetry (rare for a woman in those days) and participated in Emperor Ichijo's Chinese poetry parties. But she left no personal poetry collection and we find only five of her waka in the Shuishu and later imperial collections. Upon the death of her husband in 995 she took the vow.

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

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