Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 93 (Minamoto no Sanetomo)

  Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 93

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)


if only this world
could always remain the same!
how moving the sight
of small fisher boats
being pulled on to shore

yo no naka wa
tsune ni mo ga mo na
nagisa kogu
ama no obune no
tsuna de kanashi mo

世の中は
つねにもがもな
なぎさこぐ
あまの小舟の
綱手かなしも

Minamoto no Sanetomo 源実朝 (1192-1219)

[Painting of Minamoto no Sanetomo by Yashima Gakutei, 1825]

A simple poem about small fisher boats at the coast of Kamakura. Another poem about which Japanese commentators like to play the "honkadori" game (guessing which poems are lying at the basis of the present one), but it is perfect on its own.

Notes

- tsune ni mogamo na: an archaic expression that also appears in the Manyoshu. "gamo" expresses a wish, "mogamo na" means "how I wish it were like this."
- nagisa kogu: paddling in the surf
- tsuna de: the ropes to tow the boats with
- kanashi: not "sad" here, but rather 愛し: lovely, adorable

The Poet

Minamoto no Sanetomo (1192-1219) was the third shogun of the Kamakura shogunate. He was the second son of the Kamakura shogunate founder, Minamoto no Yoritomo. His mother was Hojo Masako and his older brother was second Kamakura shogun Minamoto no Yoriie. He was an accomplished waka poet, writing over 700 poems between the age 17 and 22 while he was tutored by Fujiwara no Teika. He published his private waka collection Kinkai Wakashu and has 93 poems in imperial anthologies. With Saigyo, he was considered as one of the greatest poets of his day. Sanetomo had a tragic destiny and was assassinated by his nephew under heavy snow in February 1219 at the Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine in Kamakura. His nephew, Kugyo, came out from beside the stone stairway of the shrine. For his act, he was himself beheaded only a few hours later, thus bringing the Seiwa Genji line of the Minamoto clan and their rule in Kamakura to a sudden end. What followed was the rule of the Hojo regents.

[The fatal staircase leading to the Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine. The large ginkgo tree to the left, where according to some reports the murderer lay in waiting, has since been uprooted by a storm.]

Visiting

(1) Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine, Kamakura (location of the assassination of Sanetomo). After defeating the rival Taira clan in 1180, Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147-1199), the founder of the Kamakura Shogunate, became the military ruler of Japan and set up his headquarters in Kamakura, making it the de facto capital of the nation. The first thing he did after his victory was to build a grand shrine to Hachiman, the tutelary deity of the Minamoto clan, and revere it as the God of War, to demonstrate his supremacy as a new dictator. Before the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the shrine was a large complex of religious structures that mixed elements of Shinto and Buddhism under the concept that Shinto deities were manifestations of Buddhism divinities. In other words, it was a syncretic mixture of Shinto and (Shingon) Buddhism, and therefore the Shrine was called “Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine Temple.” In its golden days, it had as many as 33 structures including those for Buddhists. If anything, Buddhists had more power than Shintoists, as the Shrine was for most part managed by Buddhist priests. The new government after the Meiji Restoration, however, purged Shinto of Buddhist elements in order to turn it into a “purely Japanese” state religion. As a result, many of the valuable structures and statues associated with Buddhism were destroyed, something which happened in many similar locations all over Japan. In fact, the history of the original religion of the Japanese was destroyed in this way. Fortunately, most Japanese still consider themselves as both Buddhists and Shintoists, so the old attitude has in a certain way survived.

The Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine stands in a beautiful location in the center of Kamakura and is very much worth a visit - don't forget to shed a tear at the spot where the great poet Sanetomo was assassinated at the age of only only 26. For information about access and the shrine's festivals, see the website of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu.

[Main gate of Jufukuji temple]

(2) Jufukuji Temple, Kamakura (the grave of Sanetomo). Little-known Jufukuji is the oldest Zen temple in Kamakura. It was founded by Hojo Masako (1157–1225), the wife of Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199), the founder of the Kamakura shogunate. She was an important historical figure in her own right. In 1200, she invited the Buddhist priest Eisai to Kamakura to found the temple - Eisai is important in the history of Zen because it was he who, after being ordained in China, introduced it to Japan. Although very small now, in its heyday the temple used to have as many as 14 subtemples. Its Main Hall, which constitutes the bulk of its compound now, is closed to the public and can be seen only from the inner gate. In the temple's vast graveyard behind the main hall, inside caves called yagura, are buried all the chief priests of the temple. Two yagura are dedicated to Hojo Masako and her son Minamoto no Sanetomo. Among other graves here can be found not only those of Japanese celebrities including haiku poet Takahama Kiyoshi and novelist Osaragi Jiro, but also those of some foreigners, among them Countess Iso Mutsu (1867–1930) who wrote an interesting book about Kamakura. The graveyard is accessible to visitors. For access information, see the Visit Kamakura website.

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

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