Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 75
Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)
I depended with my life
on your promise to me
like dew fallen on the mugwort plant -
but, alas, now this year too
autumn has passed in vain
chigiri okishi
sasemo ga tsuyu o
inochi nite
aware kotoshi no
aki mo inumeri
契りをきし
させもが露を
命にて
あはれことしの
秋もいぬめり
Fujiwara no Mototoshi 藤原基俊, (1060-1142)
This is a poem which is too intricate for its own good, and it is only comprehensible when you read the headnote. There we learn that Mototoshi had asked Tadamichi (poem 76), the chancellor and member of the same Fujiwara-family, to appoint his son to a priestly office (to be made a Lecturer for the Vimalakirti Ceremony at Kofukuji, the Fujiwara clan temple), but his wish had been ignored despite an initial promise by Tadamichi. The chancellor had in fact answered by quoting another (anonymous) poem which meant "Believe me - I will always help you as long as I am alive, just as the mugwort that continues to grow in the fields of Shimegahara" and that is why Mototoshi refers to mugwort in his own poem. But if the reader is unfamiliar with that, the appearance of mugwort in the poem is a bit puzzling. Here is the full poem quoted by Tadamichi (it was later included in the Shin Kokinshu):
please believe in me
for as long
as there is mugwort
in the fields of Shimeji
I will help those of this world
nao taneme | shimejigahara no | sasemogusa | waga yo no naka ni | aramu kagiri wa
In reality, this is a Buddhist poem, attributed to Kannon, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, so it was all the more hypocritical to break a promise made with such a sacred poem.
Mugwort (now called yomogi, in the past sasemogusa) was dried and used as moxa in moxibustion. As explained in Poem 51, moxibustion is a traditional Chinese medicinal therapy
which consists of burning dried mugwort (formed into incense-like cones)
on particular points on the body, as a kind of "thermal acupuncture". It was quite painful.
Notes
- chigiri okishi: "oki" is an engo connected to "tsuyu" in the next line ("dew fallen on" or "lying on"). Chigiri is a formal promise. "Although you promised."
- sasemo ga: "sasemo" is the same as "sashimo," which is an old name for yomogi, mugwort, a medicinal herb used in moxibustion.
- tsuyu wo inochi nite: tsuyu, dew, is an expression of thanks for the words of the other person (which are just as welcome as sweet dew).
- aware kotoshi no aki mo inumeri: "aware" is a sigh "aah...". "inu" means "to pass, to go by." "-meru" indicates presumption.
The Poet
Fujiwara no Mototoshi (1060–1142) was a waka poet and Japanese nobleman active in the Heian period. The great-grandson of Fujiwara no Michinaga, he is considered, along with Minamoto no Toshiyori, the most important waka poet of the Insei era of the Heian period. He was a strict judge in poetry competitions at the imperial court and, as a representative of a strictly traditional style, was a rival of the innovatively minded Minamoto no Toshiyori (poem 74). Toward the end of his life, in 1138, he became a Buddhist monk under the name Kakushun. Mototoshi was the compiler of the anthology Shinsen Roeishu, and more than 100 of his poems were included in the anthology Kin'yoshu. His disciple was the poet Fujiwara no Toshinari.
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: Wikipedia
Hyakunin Isshu Index