Asuka and the Asuka River
Asuka is the name for the region around the present-day village of Asuka in Nara Prefecture. Now a quiet rural village (and unfortunately increasingly a bedtown for Osaka), in the 6th and 7th centuries, this was the political and cultural center of Japan, before a true capital on the Chinese model was established first at Fujiwarakyo in 694 and then at Heijokyo in 710. The compact area called "Asuka" in the Asuka period is thought to have been
centered on the Asuka Basin and a small area on the east side of the
Asuka River (about 1.6 km from north to south and 0.8 km from east to
west). Today's Asuka Village is larger and includes both the upper reaches and
lower reaches of the Asuka River, and the Takatori River basin area
(which was called "Hinokuma" in the Asuka period).
From about 400 CE the Asuka region was settled largely by branches of the Aya family, immigrants from Korea. In the mid-6th century, Buddhism was introduced to Asuka and its surrounding area, and continental culture developed. The residences of most Japanese sovereigns before the 8th c., such as the Toyoura Palace of Empress Suiko and the Kiyomihara Palace of Emperor Tenmu, were located in Asuka. There was no fixed capital and the palace was rebuilt on a different location in the wider Asuka area for each new sovereign. The word "palace" is in fact too gorgeous: we are talking about big wooden halls with thatched roofs on the model of for example the Ise Shrines.
[Asuka area seen from Okadera]
Many of the events described in the chronicle Nihon Shoki (720) took place in the area, but except some foundation stones, none of the original palace or temple buildings remains. Sites that attract visitors are tombs as the Ishibutai tomb and the Takamatsu tomb; ancient temples (although many times rebuilt) as Asukadera, Okadera and Tachibanadera; and the Asuka Historical Museum.
The origin of the word "Asuka" is not clear, but it may have been derived from a foreign word (such as the ancient Korean "suka, "village")
or from the name of a topographic feature (such as a river being shallow). The kanji for Asuka are also
interesting: 飛鳥, "tobu tori," "flying bird" or 明日香, "is it tomorrow?" The first is a pillow word in the Manyoshu and the second invites to wordplay.
The Manyoshu contains many poems set in the area - from a total of about 900 Manyoshu place names in Nara Prefecture, about a quarter are concentrated in Asuka. So this certainly is the place to go for anyone who wants to visit spots related to the Manyoshu! However, the name "Asuka" itself does not appear very frequently in the Manyoshu, as always the geographical names for the actual places are used, such as "Ikazuchi no oka," "Makami no hara" or "Kiyomihara no miya." It is only after the capital moved out of the area that we find poems in the Manyoshu mentioning Asuka - and then with a feeling of nostalgia. The most famous example is the poem Prince Shiki (d, 715) wrote after the move from Asuka Palace to the Fujiwara Palace:
MYS I.51
winds of Asuka
blowing back the sleeves
of the palace women -
now the capital is far away
and you blow in vain
uneme no | sode fukikaesu | Asuka kaze | miyako wo tomi | itazura ni fuku
采女の袖吹きかえす明日香風都を遠みいたづらに吹く
The shift from Asuka to the Fujiwara Palace took place in 694, 8 years after the death of Emperor Tenmu, who had ruled from the Kiyomihara Palace in Asuka. From the compact Asuka area to the new Fujiwara capital was only a short walking distance, but the psychological distance seems to have been quite large as it meant abandoning the old capital.
A more specific case is given in the next poem, by Empress Genmei:
MYS I.78
Empress Genmei
"In the Third Month of Wado 3 (710), when Her Majesty, on the way from Fujiwarakyo to Nara, had her palanquin halted at Nagaya no hara; looking back at Fujiwarakyo, she composed this poem:"
when I leave behind
the land of Asuka
of the Flying Birds
I won't be able to see
My Lord's resting place anymore
tobu tori no | Asuka no sato wo | okite inaba | kimi ga atari wa | miezu ka mo aramu
飛ぶ鳥の明日香の里を置きて去なば君があたりは見えずかもあらむ
This poem was written when leaving Fujiwarakyo for Heijokyo (Nara) in 710 - to Empress Genmei, Asuka was so close to Fujiwara, that she considers them as one and the same place - but Nara is another story. "Tobu tori," "Flying Birds," is an utamakura for Asuka. "Kimi ga atari" (my Lord's neighborhood) points at the tomb site of Prince Kusakabe, the husband of Empress Genmei. Prince Kusakabe (662 – 689) was the second son of Emperor Tenmu; he married Princess Abe (the later Empress Genmei), but he died suddenly at age 28 before ascending to the throne after leading the funeral rites for his father Tenmu (Hitomaro has written a beautiful choka lamenting his death).
In later ages we still find a handful of poems waxing nostalgic about Asuka, but in the Heian period attention shifts to the Asuka River (Asukagawa) as a subject for poetry. The Asuka River, one of the tributaries of the Yamato River, flows upstream through a valley lined with terraced rice paddies; after passing through the hilly Asuka Village, the river travels through the countryside of the Nara Basin. A swift, winding stream, it was famous for its changeable flow, with shallow places and rapids, as well as deeper pools.
[Asuka River at the confluence of Kayamori]
In the Manyoshu, various aspects of this river are addressed, such as the noise made by its rapids:
MYS X. 1878
and listen to this one thing:
the roaring sound
the rapids make
when spring rain falls on the Asuka River
ima yukite | kiku mono ni mo ga | Asukagawa | harusame furite | takitsu se no oto wo
今行きて聞くものにもが明日香川春雨降りてたきつ瀬の音を
Another aspect is addressed in the following poem, also from the Manyoshu:
MYS III.325
Yamabe no Akahito
like the rising mist
that hovers over the pools
in the Asuka River
my love is not something
that will soon vanish
Asukagawa | kawa yodo sarazu | tatsu kiri no | omoisugubeki | koi no aranaku ni
明日香河川淀さらず立つ霧の思ひ過ぐべき恋にあらなくに
This poem by Akahito starts the association of the Asuka River with the theme of love. But here we find mist that keeps hovering over the Asuka River, in other words, an image of constancy. That will soon change, for in the Heian period the Asuka River became a symbol of transitoriness, of changeability. For example:
Kokinshu 933
in this world of ours
what is there that does not change?
yesterday's deep pools
in the Asuka River
have become today's shallows
yo no naka wa | nami ga tsune naru | Asukagawa | kino no fuchi zo | kyo wa se ni naru
世の中は何か常なるあすか川昨日の淵ぞけふは瀬になる
And linked with the love theme:
Kokinshu 687
though this is a world
like the Asuka River
where pools turn into shallows
I shall not forget the one
I fell in love with
Asukagawa | fuchi wa se ni naru | yo nari tomo | omoisometemu | hito wa wasureji
明日香川淵は瀬になる世なりとも思いそめてむ人は忘れじ
[Stone Bridge over the Asuka River]
Another famous waka linking the Asuka River with the changeability of the world:
Kokinshu 341
Harumichi no Tsuraki
"yesterday" we say
and "today" we live
days and months slip past
as swiftly as the flow
of the "Is It Tomorrow?" River
kino to ii | kyo to kurashite | Asukagawa | nagarete hayaki | tsukihi narikeri
昨日といい今日と暮らしてあすか川流れてはやき月日なりけり
Tsuraki plays on the name of the Asuka (Is it tomorrow?) River and also uses it as a makurakotoba for "nagarete" (flowing).
Many poems were written on this theme, but in later collections as the Shin Kokinshu, we find a final change, away from transitoriness and other symbolical meanings. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Japan's early Medieval period, we find a change to pure nature poetry:
Shin Kokinshu 541
on the Asuka River
colored maple leaves flow;
on Mt Katsuragi,
it seems,
the autumn wind has blown
Asukagawa | momijiba nagareru | Katsuragi no | yama no akikaze | fuki zo shimerashi
飛鳥川もみじ葉流れる葛城の山の秋風吹きぞしめらし
This same period saw the popularity of honkadori, to base a new poem on an older one (also called "allusive variation"). Here is a new waka based on the previous one:
Shin Kokinshu 542
Fujiwara no Nagakata (1139-1191)
on the Asuka River
waves approach the shallows
in deep red -
the cold storm wind
from Mt Katsuragi
Asukagawa | seze ni nami yoru | kurenai ya | Katsuragiyama no | kogarashi no kaze
飛鳥川瀬瀬に波よるくれないや葛城山の木枯らしの風
Although this is nature poetry, we should not imagine that the poet actually visited the Asuka River to see the red autumn leaves and then composed the above poem. Most nature poems were written after scenes on painted screens, or as in the above based on older poetry - very few poets did travel, as very few courtiers wanted to leave their comfort zone in the capital - with only a few famous exceptions such as the poet monk Saigyo. But that does not negatively influence the quality of the poems!
Translations:
Levy, Ian Hideo (1987). The Ten Thousand Leaves: A Translation of the Man'yoshu. Japan's Premier Anthology of Classical Poetry, Volume One. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00029-8.
Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai (2005). 1000 Poems From The Manyoshu: The Complete Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai Translation. Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-43959-3.
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)
The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature, edited by Shirane / Suzuki / Lurie (Cambridge U.P., 2016)
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 Wikimedia Commons
Japanese Poetry Index