Shin Kokinshu, Early Summer Flowers (Japanese Poetry)

Shin Kokinshu, Early Summer Flowers

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn

[Deutzia flowers]

Composed on the topic of "deutzia flowers resembling the moon." (SKKS 180)

[詞書]卯花如月といへる心をよませ給ける

deutzia flowers
are blooming exuberantly
in places along my brushwood fence -
they are like moonlight
shining through breaks in the clouds

Cloistered Emperor Shirakawa (1053-1129)
白河院御哥

卯の花のむら〳〵咲ける垣根をは雲間の月の影かとそ見る

unohana no | muramura sakeru | kakine wo wa | kumoma no tsuki no | kage ka to zo miru

Comment: The fourth month in the lunisolar calendar bears the poetic name U-zuki, because it is the month (tsuki or zuki) that the U no hana or deutzia shrubs are in bloom. Deutzia grow in shrubs ranging from 1–4 m in height. Most are deciduous, and the flowers are white in most species, sometimes pink or reddish. Deutzia is named after the 18th century Dutch patron of botany, Johan van der Deutz.

Shirakawa was the first emperor to ostensibly retire to a monastery, but in fact continue to exert considerable influence over his successor. This process would become known as cloistered rule. This is a simple and straightforward poem.

Topic unknown (SKKS 181)

[詞書]題しらす

when the deutzia flowers
are in full bloom
it is just as if
white waves embrace
my brushwood fence

Fujiwara no Shige’ie (1128-1180)
藤原重家

卯の花の咲きぬる時は白妙の波もて結える垣根とそ見る

unohana no | sakinuru toki wa | shirotae no | nami moteyueru | kakine to zo miru

Comment: This poem is an "associative variation" on Kokinshu 911: "Awaji Island, | encircled by a garland | of fair white breakers | such as the sea god uses | when he decorates his head!" (Helen Craig McCullough)

Fujiwara Shige'ie was a court noble and poet of the late Heian period. He served as provincial governor of Suo and Chikuzen provinces, and Senior Assistant Governor General of Dazaifu. In 1176, he retired after being ordained. He was highly renowned for his talent in waka poetry, Sinitic poetry, and music. He participated in numerous waka poetry contests. 29 poems were included in imperial waka anthologies. 

Composed by the Kamo Vestal serving at the Saiin (SKKS 182)

[詞書]斎院に侍ける時神たちにて

could I ever forget it?
when I plucked and twined
hollyhocks for my pillow
and slept in the fields:
the bracing, dewy break of day!

Princess Shikishi
式子内親王

忘れめや葵を草にひき結び仮寝の野べの露のあけほの

wasureme ya | aoi wo kusa ni | hikimusubi | karine no nobe no | tsuyu no akebono

Comment: In the past, the Kamo shrines (Shimogamo and Kamigamo) were only second in importance after the Ise Shrines and shared the same rituals and ceremonies, such as imperial visits (goko), the presence of a Vestal Princess as high priestess (Saio) and the regular transfer to a new shrine building once in a prescribed number of years (shikinen-zoei).

The Aoi or Hollyhock Matsuri is the most important annual festival of the two Kamo shrines (it still exists as a beautiful panorama of courtly times), and was the most important “happening” in Heiankyo during the Heian period. It plays a large role in the Tale of Genji. 

The hollyhock or heart-vine is a plant which grows on the forest floor and consists of a pair of broad, heart-shaped leaves that spring from a single stem. The aoi plant is sacred to the Kamo shrines and at the Kamo festival people used to decorate their headdresses and carriages with it. During the Heian Period, these leaves were believed to protect against natural disasters such as earthquakes and thunder, and were often hung under the roofs of homes for protection.

The Kamo Vestal system dates from the early Heian period and continued until the early Kamakura period. Among the Kamo Vestals were great poets like Princess Senshi and Princess Shikishi. The Vestal was a princess chosen by divination at the beginning of each reign. Her role was modeled on that of the Ise Vestal, who was considered the Chief Priestess of the Ise shrines and lived there. The Kamo Vestal, who was first appointed in the reign of Emperor Saga (Princess Uchiko), lived at a special palace called Murasakino-in on the northwest outskirts of the capital. Here role seems to have been simply to maintain ritual purity and to represent the emperor at the Kamo Festival in the 4th month and at the Kamo Extra Festival in the 11th month. The tradition continued until 1212 and there were in total 35 Kamo Vestals.

Shikishi is also the author of Poem 89 in the Hyakunin Isshu.

In the above poem, she describes how she makes a "kusamakura" (a grass pillow, a pillow made from grass by the roadside when on a journey) from hollyhocks to sleep outside on a beautiful summer night - and how beautiful the dawn is when she awakes, with the dew in the sky.

[Hollyhock with double leaves]

On hollyhocks (SKKS 183)

[詞書]あふひをよめる

why is it that
of old on divine Kamo hill
the hollyhocks
although the years do pass
always keep double leaves?

Kojiju  (1121–1202)
小侍従

いかなればそのかみ山の葵草年はふれども二葉なるらん

ika nareba | sono kamiyama no | aoigusa | toshi wa furedomo | futaba naruran

Comment: The hollyhock has a pair of broad, heart-shaped leaves that spring from a single stem, reason why it is also called "futaba aoi", "two-leaf hollyhock." Such double leaves remind one of young seedlings and that is the meaning the poet plays with. Kamiya, "God Mountain," is the name of the sacred hill at the back of the Kamigamo Shrine.  "Kami" is not only part of the name of the mountain, but also a pun on "of old."

Kojiju was a waka poet and Japanese noblewoman active in the late Heian period. She left a private collection, the Kojijushu. In 1179, she became a Buddhist nun.

For a picture of Asaka Marsh, drawn on a screen in the Saisho Shitenno-in temple (SKKS 184)

[詞書]最勝四天王院の障子にあさかのぬまかきたる所

the fields are still shallow,
but the irises one cuts
in the Asaka Marsh,
in just the twinkle of an eye,

grow thick and luxuriant

Fujiwara no Masatsune (1170 – 1221)
藤原雅経

野べはいまだ浅香の沼に刈る草のかつ見るまゝに茂るころかな

nobe wa imada | Asaka no numa ni | karu kusa no | katsu miru mama ni | shigeru koro ka na

Comment: An associative variation on Kokinshu 677: "I will always love | someone I have scarcely met - | someone fair to see | as an Asaka marsh iris | blooming in Michinoku." (Helen Craig McCullough)

Asaka Marsh is an utamakura located in Adatara in Fukushima prefecture. "Asaka" is a pun on "asai", meaning that because the summer has just started, the grasses growing here are still shallow. ”Katsumi" is both かつ見, "ちょっと見ているうちに," and 花がつみ, the name of a plant (the precise type is unknown, it may have been a type of iris). Remember that Basho, when he traveled through Fukushima, also was looking for that flower, but even the locals could not help him.

Saisho Shitenno-in was a temple located near the Shirakawa Bridge on Sanjo Street in Kyoto. It was built in 1207 (also the year the present poem was written) by the Cloistered Emperor Go-Toba, but destroyed by fire in 1222. It was known for the depiction of utamakura from various parts of the country on the partitioning screens.

Fujiwara no Masatsune is also the author of Poem 94 in the Hyakunin Isshu. Also called Asukai Masatsune, he studied waka under Fujiwara no Shunzei and from 1201 served in the Poetry Bureau (Wakadokoro). He acted as one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshu, along with Shunzei's son Teika. He was also an accomplished kemari player. Twenty-two of his poems were included in the Shin Kokinshu, and a total of 134 in the imperial anthologies.


Photos Public Domain from Wikipedia.

Japanese Poetry Index