Anthology of Japanese Literature (8 page)

Filled with melancholy, Narihira was unable to sleep. He longed to see her, but since it would be too apparent if he sent his own messenger, he could do nothing but await some word from her. A little after daybreak a messenger finally came from her. There was no letter, only the verse:

Narihira was greatly moved, and wept. He wrote in answer:

After he sent this verse to her, he had to set forth on his official duties for the day. Yet even while he traveled through the moors, he could think of nothing but her, and he longed for the night to come swifdy, that they might meet again. Unfortunately, the governor of the province, who was also the guardian of the Vestal, learning that the Imperial envoy had arrived, insisted that the night be spent in festive celebration of his visit. Narihira, thus bound by enforced hospitality, could find no way to meet the Princess. Since he had the following morning to depart for Owari, unknown to anyone he shed bitter tears, but could in no wise meet her.

As dawn approached, a servant from the Princess's apartment brought a cup of parting. In it was written:

The poem was not completed.

Narihira took the wine cup in his hands, and with charcoal from a pinewood torch he added the last lines to the verse:

When day dawned he set out for the Province of Owari.

(
LXIX
)

In former times when Narihira, having fallen ill, felt that he was going to die, he wrote this poem:

(
CXXV
)

TRANSLATED BY RICHARD LANE (I, LXV, LXIl)
AND F. VOS (IV, LXIII, CXXV)

1
Became of bit youth he was permitted to frequent the ladies' palace.

2
Warekara is at once the name of an insect that lives in seaweed and a word meaning "of itself" or "of its own will."

3
A pun here between "inlet" and "connection" (
eni
). The reply has the usual play on the name Ausaka (Osaka), the name of a mountain and barrier east of Kyoto in which it imbedded the word
au
, "to meet."

KOKINSHO

The "Kokinsh
Å«
," or "Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems," was the first of the anthologies of Japanese poetry compiled by Imperial order. It was completed in 905, and contains 1,111 poems, almost all of them
waka.
The preface to the work by Ki no Tsura-yuki (died 946) indicates the tone of the poetry included; and he lists some of the circumstances under which the "Kokinsh
Å«
" poets expressed themselves: "when they looked at the scattered blossoms of a spring morning; when they listened of an autumn evening to the falling of the leaves; when they sighed over the snow and waves reflected with each passing year by their looking glasses; when they were startled into thoughts on the brevity of life by seeing the dew on the grass or the foam on the water; when, yesterday all proud and splendid, they have fallen from fortune into loneliness; or when, having been dearly loved, are neglected" These subjects were all capable of inspiring beautiful poetry, but the gentle melancholy they imply imposed severe limitations on the range of expression, certainly when compared with the "Man'y
ō
sh
Å«
. The "Kokinsh
Å«
," however, was the model of
waka
composition for a thousand years (particularly until the eighteenth century) and as such is of the greatest importance. One curious feature is that many of the best poems are anonymous.

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TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR WALEY

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1
A famous poetess and subject of the
N
ō
play "
Sotoba Komachi"
which appears on page 364.

2
Poetess and consort of the Emperor Uda.

3
The fields were burnt before the new crop was planted.

4
Note how the use of words beginning in
h
intensifics the meaning of the poem.

5
Meaning either a person in a distant place beyond the clouds, or someone in a hopelessly superior social position.