Kokinshu: Poems about Summer (Japanese Poetry)

 

Kokinshu: Poems about Summer

[The lesser cuckoo]

Topic Unknown / Poet unknown (KKS 139)

waves of wisteria
near my garden pond
are in full bloom -
the lesser cuckoo,
when will he come to sing?

waga yado no | ike no fujinami | sakinikeri | yama hototogisu | itsu ka kinakamu

 よみ人しらず  /     題しらず

わが屋戸の池の藤波咲きにけり山郭公いつか来鳴かむ

Wisteria blooms in late spring, and the lesser cuckoo (hototogisu, Cuculus poliocephalus) is a midsummer bird admired for its song. It is considered as the harbinger of early summer and in haiku, it figures as a season word for 'early summer.' From the time of the first poetry collection, the Man'yoshu (8th century), this small bird has inspired many poets. By combining these two elements this poem serves as a transition from spring to summer. The poem has been attributed to Manyoshu-poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaru, but that attribution is baseless.

["Waves of wisteria" at Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi]

Topic unknown / Poet unknown (KKS 139)

scenting the fragrance
of mandarin orange blossoms
that await the Fifth Month
I recall the perfumed sleeves
of the one I loved

satsuki matsu | hana tachibana no | ka wo kageba | mukashi no hito no | sode no ka zo suru

 よみ人しらず

五月まつ花橘の香をかげば昔の人の袖の香ぞする

The mandarin orange (tachibana, Citrus tachibana) is an image associated with the late Fourth Month. This citrus fruit grows wild in the forests of Japan and plays an important role in Japanese culture. Together with a cherry tree, a tachibana tree was planted in front of the Shinshinden hall of the Imperial Palace. The tree develops small, white blossoms which have a very strong scent.

The ancient Japanese didn't have modern perfumes in small bottles, but they used incense to perfume their clothes, and especially the sleeves. This was done by inserting a small incense burner into the long and loose sleeve, or by draping the dress over an incense burner. The strong fragrance of the mandarin orange reminds the poet of the incense used by his beloved in the past. Indeed, people did use incense to express their character - see the The Plum Tree Branch (Chapter 32) in The Genji Monogatari where Genji's ladies are engaged in mixing scents to create a wonderful type of incense for Genji's daughter the Akashi Princess to use at court. Genji's brother Prince Hotaru is presented as a great incense connoisseur. And in Chapter 31 (Makibashira), general Higekuro is having his clothes perfumed with incense before setting out to meet his love Tamakazura.

This poem is also included in Tales of Ise No 60.

[Tachibana flower]

Ki no Tomonori (KKS 153)

"A poem from the Emperor's Contest during the reign of the Kanpyo Emperor (Emperor Uda)"

as I sit brooding
in the midsummer rain,
in the deepening night
sings the lesser cuckoo -
where can he be going?

samidare ni | monomoi oreba | hototogisu | yobukaku nakite | izuchi yukuramu

 紀とものり - 寛平御時きさいの宮の哥合のうた

五月雨に物思ひをれば郭公夜ぶかくなきていづちゆくらむ

The samidare, rains of the Fifth Month, are what is called "the rainy season" in Japan, which in the modern calendar roughly lasts from about the second week of June to the third week of July. The lesser cuckoo or hototogisu was such a popular bird among aristocrats, that they would sit up at night to hear its song. "Mono omoi" can point at thoughts of love, but here probably the gloomy feelings caused by the long rains are meant - the poet is perhaps even jealous that the hototogisu can fly away from this depressing weather.

[Lotus leaves]

Henjo (KKS 165)

"Seeing Dew on a Lotus"

lotus leaves
their hearts untainted
by the mud from which they grow -
why do they deceive us
displaying dewdrops as gems?

hachisuba no | nigori ni shimanu | kokoro mote | nani ka wa tsuyu wo | tama zo azamuku

 僧正へんぜう - はちすのつゆを見てよめる

蓮葉の濁りに染まぬ心もてなにかは露を玉とあざむく

Henjo (816-890) was not only a famous Buddhist priest, but also one of the most prominent waka poets of his time. The lotus flower (Nelumbo nucifera) of course plays an important role in Buddhism where it represents purity and enlightenment as it grows from the mud without being tainted by it. Buddhist statues often are seated on a lotus throne and bodhisattvas often carry a lotus flower. The first two lines of this poem are in fact based on a phrase from Chapter 15 of the Lotus Sutra: "Unsoiled by worldly things, like a lotus flower in the water" (see translation by Burton Watson).

But the poem in fact has a humorous intent: Henjo berates the lotus that it cheats people because the dewdrops on its broad leaves look like pearls. On the other hand, this is in reality no deception, because the dewdrops are pure and unsullied like the lotus itself - and that is why they are more precious than real gems!

Oshikochi no Mitsune (KKS 168)

"Composed on the last day of the Sixth Month"

as summer and autumn
cross paths
on their journeys in the sky
are cool breezes blowing
on a single side of the road?

natsu to aki to | yukiau sora no | kayoiji wa | katae suzushiki | kaze ya fukuramu

みつね - みな月のつごもりの日よめる

夏と秋と行きかふ空のかよひぢはかたへすずしき風や吹くらむ

The last day of the Sixth Month was in the lunisolar calendar the last day of summer. Everyone in Japan was and is happy when the leaden heat of summer is over and a fresh breeze starts bringing coolness. The poet greets that fresh breeze, while imagining that there are different paths in the sky, one along which summer goes away, and another one which brings us autumn, and that the one along which autumn comes has a cool breeze blowing.

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

Japanese Poetry Index