Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 83
in this world
the Way does not exist -
troubled, I entered
deep into the mountains
but even there I hear the deer crying
yo no naka yo
michi koso nakere
omoi iru
yama no oku ni mo
shika zo naku naru
世の中よ
道こそなけれ
思ひ入る
山のおくにも
鹿ぞ鳴くなる
Fujiwara no Shunzei (1114–1204)
According to the headnote, this poem was written on the subject of "deer" in a hundred poem sequence on the larger theme of "personal grievances. Traditional commentators have tried to figure out what was on the poet's mind, and have come up with the following list of possibilities: the idea of melancholy; the idea of one's own mortality; the political disorder of the world. In his collection of essays, On Haiku, Hiroaki Sato offers another explanation: he thinks it refers to Shunzei's decision not to take Buddhist vows.
Notes
- yo: indicates feeling
- michi: the Way (Buddhism)
- omoi-iru: a pivot word, "troubled," but also "to enter (the mountains)."
- shika zo naku naru: this refers to stags calling for their mates.
In other words, as Hiroaki Sato writes, "Despairing of the state of the world, he entered the mountains, the training ground for ascetics; but he found himself perturbed by stags calling for their mates and recognized that he himself wasn't yet capable of transcending lust and other worldly distractions" (Hiroaki Sato, On Haiku, New Direction Books, p. 29). The above translation is also based on Hiroaki Sato, for his explanation is very interesting.
Fujiwara no Shunzei was only 26 when he wrote this poem in 1140. He did take Buddhist vows much later, when he was in his sixties.
The Poet
Fujiwara no Shunzei (1114–1204), also known as Fujiwara no Toshinari, was noted for his innovations in the waka poetic form and compiling the Senzaishu ("Collection of a Thousand Years"), the seventh imperial anthology of waka poetry, completed in 1188. It was commissioned by the Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa and contains 1,285 poems.
Shunzei was a descendant of the statesman Fujiwara no Michinaga and the son of Fujiwara no Toshitada of the Mikohidari branch of the influential aristocratic Fujiwara clan. Shunzei was the poetic arbiter of his day and the father of Teika (poem 97). He has 452 poems in the Shikashu and later imperial collections; a personal collection is also extant.
Senzaishu (Senzai Wakashu)
Poems included in Hyakunin Isshu: 64, 67, 74, 75, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86, 88, 90, 92, 95 (total 14)
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: Wikipedia
Hyakunin Isshu Index