Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 60 (Koshikibu no Naishi)

   Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 60

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)

the Ikuno road
over Mount Oe
is far from here,
neither have I seen a letter

from Ama no Hashidate

Oeyama
Ikuno no michi
tokereba
mada fumi mo mizu
Ama no Hashidate
      
大江山
いく野の道の
とほければ
まだふみも見ず
天の橋立

Koshikibu no Naishi 小式部内侍 (? – 1025)

[Koshikibu no Naishi by Kunisada]

In the Kin'yoshu this poem is accompanied by a long head note which says that Koshikibu was chosen as one of the poets for a contest in Heiankyo. When the Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Sadayori (Poem 64) heard about this, he teased her that she would have to ask for her mother's help (the famous poet Izumi Shikibu) to write a poem for the competition. In response, Koshikibu wrote this brilliant and devastating retort full of puns and word associations and three makurakotoba, firmly denying the allegation. She stresses that her mother at that time lived in far-away Tango province (symbolized by Ama no Hashidate), and neither had she made the long trip there (via the distant Ikuno Road over Mt Oe), nor had she received a letter (with help) from her mother. Izumi Shikibu had in 1009 married Fujiwara no Yasumasa, a military commander, and accompanied him to his charge in Tango Province where Ama no Hashidate is. It seems that Sadayori was completely caught off guard by this witty impromptu answer.

Notes

• Mr Oe: mountain range located at the base of the Tango Peninsula in Kyoto Prefecture; makurakotoba.
• Ikuno: in what is now Fukuchiyama in Kyoto Prefecture. It is also a pun on "iku", to go; makurakotoba.
  
• fumi mo mizu: fumi means both "to step" and "letter". Fumi is also an engo for the "hashi" (Bridge) of Ama-no-hashidate. Koshikibu makes clear that she has not in any way (neither by letter nor by going there) communicated with her mother about receiving help with the poetry competition. In other words, she makes clear that she is doing it alone.
  
• Ama-no-hashidate: a sandbar located in Miyazu Bay in northern Kyoto Prefecture which is one of Japan's three scenic views; makurakotoba. It is also symbolic of Tango Prefecture where the mother, Izumi Shikibu, was living at that time.
  

The Poet

Koshikibu no Naishi ("Handmaid Koshikibu") was the only daughter of Izumi Shikibu (Poem 56) and Tachibana no Michisada. Like her mother, she was a lady-in-waiting to Empress Shoshi. She had a son by the Grand Councilor Norimichi. She died in 1025 while still in her twenties and has only four poems in the Goshuishu and other imperial collections. 

[Ama no Hashidate]

Visiting

Although there is no direct link with this poem, Ama no Hashidate, one of Japan's Three Famous Views, is certainly worth visiting (although it is better to go "out of season" than in summer when there are too many sun bathers). It is a pinebar stretching across Miyazu Bay like a "heavenly bridge." The pine trees on the 3.6 km long sandbar have been twisted into fantastic shapes. It connects Monju, near Amanohashidate Station, to Kasamatsu Park on the other side of the Bay. There are also sightseeing boats. About 3 km (6 min by bus) from Kasamatsu terminal, up the mountain, stands the old Buddhist temple Nariaiji - the 28th of the 33 holy Kannon temples for pilgrimage in western japan and a worthy destination in its own right.

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).

Illustration/photo: Wikimedia Commons

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