Season 4, Episode 16: Selections from the Man’yoshu

The following poems are selected from the massive twenty-volume set of poetry called the Man’yoshu. At the time of its completion, the word Waka was used in Japan to mean any kind of poem. During the Heian Period, which we will begin exploring next season, poetry would be split into sub-genres according to length and syllabic meter. Generally the meter in Japanese would be 5-7-5-7-7 and while this rhythm is lost in translation to English, I believe the simplicity and beauty found in these poems stretches beyond their syllabic composition.

We’ll start with a poem attributed to Empress Genmei, who was alleged to have composed this poem during the official move from the capital of Fujiwara-Kyo to Heijo-Kyo. Poem number 68:

A bird in flight:

If the estate of Asuka

I should leave behind

Then the place you live

I will see no more.

Poem 588 was composed by Lady Kasa and addressed to Otomo Yakamochi:

As a white dove on

Toba Mountain’s pines

Awaiting:

Have I loved you

These many months…

Longing for an absent lover was a common theme in Nara Period poetry, as demonstrated by this other poem from Lady Kasa:

In the loneliness of my heart

I feel as if I should perish

Like the pale dew-drop

Upon the grass of my garden

In the gathering shades of twilight.

In Poem number 524 Fujiwara Maro, the youngest of the four Fujiwara brothers, likewise longs for the warmth of his lover.

My ramie cloth bedding is

Soft, and beneath it

I lie, yet

My love, I sleep without you, so

My skin does feel the chill…

Poet Hanishi Mimichi speaks of the anticipation of longing as he prepares to voyage from his home in Kyushu to the capital in poems 557:

As, in our great vessel,

we set sail out to sea,

if we should run into rocks and keel over

then let it be so if it means I can return the sooner,

that I can see my love again.

Poems also allowed for the composer to express their cheekier sentiments and perhaps allow a glance into their inmost feelings, as demonstrated by Hanishi Mimichi’s poem number 558:

That offering I made

at the holy shrine

of the fierce and raging gods—

I will be wanting it back,

for I was not able to meet my love.

Several long poems were composed by Kasa Kanamura, a court poet about whom little is known, unfortunately. Let’s hear a few of his hits:

Number 935:

From Nakizumi

The river port I see

The Isle of Awaji

In the Bay of Matsuho:

In the calm at dawn

Harvesting jewelled seaweed;

In the evening calm

Drying seaweed salt

The diver maids

Are there, I hear, yet,

To go and see them

I’ve no reason, so

A strong man’s

Heart I do not have,

As a tender maid

I feel daunted

Circling around

Fondly feeling

Lacking boat and oars.

Number 366 likewise expresses a sense of alienation which was probably common among the aristocracy whenever they observed the activities of the commoners:

By the sea at Koshi,

On the beach at Tsunoga,

From our great ship

We thrust down oars and

On the whale-hunting

Seaway set our course;

As panting, panting

We row on our way,

At the sturdy man’s

Bay of Tayui,

Diver girls and

Smoke drying salt:

On a grass pillow

Journey as this

I am alone and

The sight moves me not;

The sea-god

Has wrapped around His hand

A jewelled cord

Tied to me is my longing

For the isle of Yamato.

Number 907 uses natural imagery and almost childlike awestruck wonder.

By the waterfall

On Mifune mountain

Sprout fresh branches,

Growing packed tightly,

As the hemlock tree

E’er lasting,

A myriad reigns

Would You rule us;

At Yoshino,

Your dragonfly palace:

Is it the nature of the gods

That it should be a place of awe?

Is it the nature of the province

That makes me want to see it more?

The mountains and river

Fresh and pure:

No wonder, that from the age of gods

A palace was placed here.

Number 920 likewise expresses an appreciation for natural beauty that makes me want to go for a renewing mountain hike.

The leg-wearying

Mountains echo with

The falling, seething

Yoshino River

Rapids,

At their clear sight

Upstream,

Again and again the plovers call;

Downstream,

Frogs sing for a mate;

As a multitude of stones

The great courtiers

Here and there,

Packed close together:

Of the sight

I feel I’ll never have my fill

As a jewlled vine,

Ne’er ending,

A myriad reigns

I would it were this way,

Of heaven and earth

O Gods, to you I pray,

Awe-struck, though I be.

Emperor Shomu was likewise included in the work, and poem number 1009 is credited to him:

O, orange tree:

Fruit and flowers both,

And leaves, too,

Even should frost fall on your branches

Evegreen will you be!

Tachibana Moroe, Emperor Shomu’s loyal Sadaijin, composed poem number 4448 at a party at his son Naramaro’s house:

As the hydrangeas

Have eightfold blooms,

For eight generations, and more

I would have you live, my friend!

The sight will ever bring me thoughts of you…

For the final poet featured in this special episode, I would like to read several poems from Yamabe Akahito, one of the court poets of Emperor Shomu and who would later be selected as one of the 36 Immortals of Japanese Poetry. We’ll start with his shorter poems.

Poem 934:

In the morning calm

I hear the sound of oars;

Tribute-bearing,

The fisherfolk of Nojima

Have taken ship, it seems.

Poem 1431:

On Kudara Plain,

In the withered bush-clover branches

Awaiting spring

Is the bush-warbler;

I wonder if he yet sings?

Poem 325:

O, Asuka River,

Ever from your pools

Mist arises;

To simply put from my mind

This love – I cannot!

Poem 324, a longer poem:

On the sacred

Mountain of the Gods

With many branches

Flourishing grow

Hemlock trees,

All and ever joined with

Hydrangea

Never-ending

Always there

Ever would I be

In Asuka,

The ancient capital, where

Mountains mighty and

Rivers grand do lie, and

On spring days

It is the mountains I would see;

On autumn nights

The river, so refreshing!

Amongst the morning clouds

The cranes do swoop and soar;

The evening mists

Are noisy with the frogs;

The simple sights

Call forth my tears

While I think on times gone by…

Poem 322:

Divine

The deity, our Lord,

Rules All the land;

Hot-springs Are there many here

On this isle of mountainsFair

Here, near

The high peaks of Iyo,

At Izaniwa Hill He stood

And thought of Poetry Brought forth;

Above the boiling waters

Gazing on the groves, 

Where The fir trees

Have grown thickly;

Singing, the birds Call, 

ever unchanging

Down the distant years

Blessed shall be

This spot where He has come!

This concludes the selections from the Man’yoshu, but rest assured there will be more poetry in the seasons to come. Next time, we’ll explore the source texts of the Fudoki and the myriad folk tales they contain.