Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 74 (Minamoto no Toshiyori)

  Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 74

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)


it was not for this
I prayed at the Hase Temple:
that she who was already cold to me
would become as pitiless
as the storm blowing down the mountain

ukari keru
hito o Hatsuse no
yama oroshi yo
hageshikare to wa
inoranu mono wo

うかりける
人をはつせの
山おろしよ
はげしかれとは
祈らぬものを

Minamoto no Toshiyori 源俊頼 (1055-1129)

This poem was written at an uta awase, at the home of the Acting Middle Counselor Toshitada, on the theme of "love for a woman who will not meet one even though one has prayed to the gods." Although written on a fixed theme, Teika very much admired this poem as flowing directly from the heart and being profound. The poet complains that his prayer to Kannon, asking that the heartless woman he is in love with might finally respond to him, has gone unanswered - on the contrary, she has become even more pitiless, like the storm wind blowing down Hatsuse mountain - quite the opposite from what he prayed for.

Notes

- ukarikeru hito: someone who is cold towards the poet (even though he is in love with her, she doesn't respond).
- Hatsuse no: Hasedera Temple, with Kiyomizudera and Ishiyamadera one of the three most popular Kannon temples in the Heian period, where people often went to pray to the Bodhisattva of Compassion. "Hatsuse" is the old name for "Hase."
- yamaoroshi yo: the poet addresses the "storm blowing down the mountain." Hase lies in the mountains and is especially in winter a cold place, with a strong northern wind blowing down.
- hageshikare to wa: "hageshiku are," "be fierce" (an order).
- inoranu mono wo: "mono wo" = "shinakatta no ni", "although I didn't".

The Poet

Minamoto no Toshiyori (also "Shunrai," 1055-1129) was the son of Tsunenobu (poem 71) and father of Shun'e (poem 85). As the leading poet of his day, he arranged the Horikawa Hyakushu and edited the fifth imperial anthology, the Kin'yoshu, the "Collection of Golden Leaves." Besides a collection of his poetry, Toshiyori also left an important poetic treatise, the Toshiyori Zuino. He has over 200 poems in the Kin'yoshu and later imperial anthologies.

Kin'yoshu (Kin'yo Wakashu)

The Kin'yoshu (金葉和歌集, "Collection of Golden Leaves"), 10 scrolls, 712 poems was compiled at the behest of the Cloistered Emperor Shirakawa and its first two drafts were finished in 1124 and 1127. It consists of ten volumes containing 716 poems, making it one of the shortest imperial anthologies. Toshiyori's unusually liberal and innovative tastes were disliked by Shirakawa, and thus Shirakawa rejected "at least two drafts". The final compromise is nevertheless remarkably contemporary and descriptive.

Poems included in Hyakunin Isshu: 60, 66, 71, 72, 78 (total 5)

Visiting

The Kannon temple Hasedera was popular with Heian court ladies, who mounted the interminable covered stairway up the mountainside. In spring, peonies line the way. At the top stands the Kannon Hall, built on stilts. Inside one finds the image of Kannon, an 8-m gilded colossus, the present one carved in 1538. The veranda offers a wonderful view out over the valley. The Hatsuse area also is featured in Poem 35 by Ki no Tsuyayuki, and in that article I have provided a more detailed description of Hasedera, plus directions, to which I now refer. Hasedera is a great temple and can be combined on a day trip with Muroji in the same wider area, which has an interesting collection of Buddhist statues.

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: own work (Hasedera in Sakurai, Nara prefecture)

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