Kokinshu: Poems about Autumn
Topic Unknown / Poet unknown (KKS 210)
that left us, veiled
by the springtime haze,
now we hear them calling again
above the mists of autumn
harugasumi | kasumite inishi | karigane wa | ima zo naku naru | akigiru no ue ni
春霞かすみていにし雁が音は今ぞ鳴くなる秋霧の上に
In spring the wild geese leave Japan to spend the sumer in the north, and are called "kigan" 帰雁, "returning geese"; in autumn they come again to Japan and are called "raigan" 来雁. "Karigane" originally meant "the call of wild geese," but later came to mean just "wild geese." Note also the interesting fact that two different words are used for the mist in spring and the mist in autumn: the one in spring is called "kasumi" 霞, the one in autumn "kiri" 霧. Because of the mist the poet doesn't see the wild geese, but he is alerted to their presence by their call. It is interesting how this autumn poem combines autumn with a scene from spring!
Mibu no Tadamine (KKS 214)
"From the poetry contest held at the residence of Prince Koresada."
in a mountain village
autumn is the loneliest season -
all through the night
the belling of the stags
keeps rousing me from my sleep
yamazato wa | aki koso koto ni | wabishikere | shika no naku ne ni | me wo samashitsutsu
ただみね - これさだのみこの家の哥合のうた
山里は秋こそことにわびしけれ鹿の鳴く音に目を覚ましつつ
The belling of the deer for their mates reminds the poet of his own longings, and of the sorrows of autumn, the season of death and partings.
Hyakunin Isshu Poem 5 by Semimaru treats the same subject.
[Cricket shrilling on a spider lily, a typical autumn flower]
Anonymous / Topic unknown (KKS 186)
it isn't for my sake alone
that autumn comes -
yet when I hear
the shrilling insect voices,
I am the first to be saddened
waga tame ni | kuru aki no shi mo | aranaku ni | mushi no ne kikeba | mazu zo kanashiki
わがためにくる秋にしもあらなくに虫の音聞けばまづぞ悲しき
During the hot summer, the cicadas create a veritable din in Japan, but autumn has its own insects, such as the evening cicada or higurashi, or the bell crickets or suzumushi in autumn. There is a beautiful scene in The Genji Monogatari, in which Genji releases bell crickets in the garden of the Third Princess on the night of the full harvest moon. contemporary city dwellers don't hear insects anymore, on the one hand because trees have become scarce, but also because everybody closes the windows on behalf of the air conditioning. The ancient Japanese, however, paid close intention to the singing of insects and knew exactly what time of the year it was by listening to the songs of insects. Many traditional poets have composed poems about them.
Ki no Tomonori (KKS 270)
A poem from the contest at Prince Koresada's residence.
to wear in my hair
I plucked chysanthemums
with dew still clinging -
may the autumn season of longevity
last for a long long time!
tsuyu nagara | orite kasazamu | kiku no hana | oi senu aki no | hisashikarubeku
きのとものり - これさだのみこの家の哥合のうた
露ながら折りてかざさむ菊の花老いせぬ秋のひさしかるべく
Chrysanthemums first arrived in Japan by way of China in the 5th century. In China, the poet Tao Yuanming had already in the 4th c. written a famous poem about chrysanthemums, which he used in a wine infusion as a sort of long life elixer - chrysanthemums were considered as providing long life.
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The chrysanthemum has been used as a theme of waka poetry since around the 10th century, most famously in the Kokinshu. It was considered as the aristocrat of flowers, as it possessed a strong but refined fragrance, and it became a flower that symbolized autumn in Japan. During the Edo period, the cultivation of chrysanthemums became popular; many cultivars were created and many chrysanthemum exhibitions were held - and that still continues today.
The Chrysanthemum festival, held on the ninth day of the Ninth Month, was the occasion for various activities and events promising longevity. See Basho's haiku about Nara's 9/9 festival in the Haiku Travels section of this blog.
Sosei (KKS 309)
Composed on a mushroom-hunting expedition to the northern hills with Archbishop Henjo
I would like to stuff
the colored leaves in my sleeves
and carry them back home
for those who think
autumn is at an end
momijiba wa | sode ni kokiirete | moteidenamu | aki wa kagiri to | mimu hito no tame
そせい法し - 北山に僧正へんぜうとたけがりにまかれりけるによ める
もみぢ葉は袖にこきいれてもていでなむ秋は限りと見む人のため
Kitayama refers to the hills north of the capital. Bishop Henjo was the father of Sosei. Colored leaves are of course the symbol par excellence of autumn in Japanese poetry.
While in the capital of Heiankyo the colored leaves have already fallen, so that people may think the season of autumn is at an end, in the hills to the north of the city, where temperatures are lower, the poet still comes across plenty of colored maple leaves. He breaks them off and stuffs them in his sleeves as proof for the city dwellers that it is still autumn. But all the same this poem foretells the end of autumn, and is therefore one of the last poems in the autumn section of the Kokinshu.
Translations:
The Ise Stories, by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler (University of Hawai'i Press, 2010);
Kokinshu, A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern by Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Mary Catherine Henkenius (University of Tokyo Press, 1984);
Kokin Wakashu, The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry, by Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford University Press, 1985);
One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, by Peter MacMIllan (Penguin Classics);
Traditional Japanese Literature, an Anthology, Beginnings to 1600, ed. Haruo Shirane (Columbia U.P., 2007)
Traditional Japanese Poetry, An Anthology, by Steven D. Carter (Stanford University Press, 1991);
A Waka Anthology, by Edward A. Cranston (2 vols, Stanford U.P. 1993 and 2006);
Studies:
Brocade by Night: Kokin Wakashu and the Court Style in Japanese Classical Poetry, by Helen Craig McCullough (Stanfors U.P., 1985)
History of Japanese Literature by Jun'ichi Konishi (3 vols, Princeton U.P., 1991)
Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons, by Haruo Shirane (Columbia U.P., 2012)
Japanese Court Poetry, by Robert H Brower and Earl Miner (London 1962)
The Making of Shinkokinshu, by Robert N. Huey (Harvard U.P., 2002)
Pictures of the Heart, The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image by Joshua S. Mostow (University of Hawai'i Press, 1996);
Seeds in the Heart, Japanese Literature from the Earliest Times to the late Sixteenth Century, by Donald Keene (Columbia U.P. 1999)
Utakotoba Utamakura Daijiten, Kubota Jun and Baba Akiko (Kadokawa Shoten)
Utamakura, Allusion, and Intertextuality in Traditional Japanese Poetry, by Edward Kamens (Yale U.P., 1997)
Waka as Things, Waka and Things, by Edward Kamens (Yale U.P., 2017)
Waka bungaku jiten, by Ariyoshi Tamotsu (Ofusha)
Original texts:
Kokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1994);
Shinkokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1995);
Man'yoshu (4 vols, Shogakkan, 1996)
Online:
Japanese Text Initiative (Virginia University Library)
One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each (Hyakunin Isshu), translation and comments at this website
Photos from Wikipedia, except the last photo of autumn at Kiyomizudera, which is own work
Japanese Poetry Index