Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 91 (Fujiwara no Yoshitsune)

       Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 91

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)


when the crickets
cry in the frosty night,
do I have to sleep alone
on the cold reed-mat
spreading out my robe just for one?

kirigirisu
naku ya shimo yo no
samushiro ni
koromo katashiki
hitori kamo nen

きりぎりす
鳴くや霜夜の
さむしろに
衣かたしき
ひとりかも寝む

Fujiwara no Yoshitsune 九条良経 (1169-1206)

[Cricket]

Both a love poem and a poem about the sadness and loneliness of autumn. Has been artfully pieced together from allusions to / quotes from older poetry, which means that Japanese commentators like to play the "honkadori" game (guessing which poems are lying at the basis of the present one). It was composed in 1200 for a poem sequence commissioned by Emperor Go-Toba.

Notes

- kirigirisu: cricket, grasshopper, an insect typical of autumn.
- naku ya shimo-yo no: ya is an intensifier; shimo-yo is a "night during which frost falls."
- samushiro: kakekotoba. ”Mushiro" is a "woven mat made of straw." This puns with "samushi," "cold."
- koromo katashiki: in the Heian period, people slept under their robes (koromo). When lovers slept together, they would spread out their robes together. "Katashiki" means that the robe is spread out just for one person, in other words, the poet has to sleep alone.
- hitori kamo nemu: "hitori de neru no de aro ka na." "-mu" indicates an assumption.

The Poet

Fujiwara no Yoshitsune (1169-1206), also known as Kujo Yoshitsune, was the son of regent Kujo Kanezane; his grandfather was Jien (poem 95). He is also known by his title "The Go-Kyogoku Regent and Former Chancellor." He held the regent position from 1202 to 1206. Kujo Michiie was his son. He was a member of the Mikohidari poetic family and served as editor of the Shinkokinshu and author of the anthology's Japanese preface. Although he died young, he has 319 poems in the Senzaishu and later imperial anthologies; his personal collection is also extant.

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 and illustration: Wikipedia

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