THE EMPRESS YAMATOHIME was the wife of thc Emperor Tenji, and after his death in 671 acted for a time as Regent.
ŌNAKATOMI NO YOSHINOBU lived in the latter part of the tenth century. He was a court official and one of the compilers of the Imperial Anthology, Gosen Shū. This is the first Japanese poem I ever translated; I was 15 years old. It is still one of my favorites.
THE EMPEROR YOZEI reigned from 877 to 884.
ARIWARA NO YUKIHIRA lived from 810 to 893. He was thc elder brother of the famous Nariliira. He became a State Councillor, Chūnagon.
Yukihira was sent into exile at Suma. As he crossed the mountains, he wrote this poem:
The sudden chill of the autumn wind
Penetrates the traveler’s robe.
The shore wind of Suma
Blows through the pass.
From his exile he sent this poem:
Tell those who ask for me
That I am dragging water pails
On the shore of Suma.
This means that he was working as a salt burner, which of course was not the case. However, he is supposed to have had two salt girl lovers, the sisters Matsukaze and Murasame. In the Noh play Matsukaze, they dance the famous dance, “the moon in the water pails,” still often performed separately, and at the climax of the play, Matsukaze, whose name means “pine wind,” dances to tUs poem, “the pine of Mount Inaba.” Inaba also means “if I go away.” Matsu can mean “long for” — that is — he pims “pine” and “pine.” When Prince Genji was banished to Suma, the Genji Monogatari says, “Although the sea was some way off, yet when the melancholy autumn wind came blowing through the pass, the very wind of Yukihira’s poem, the beating of the waves on the shore seemed very near.” The dance which Matsukaze does to “the pine of Moimt Inaba” is also the dance of the sky maiden in the Noh play Hagoromo, and this is, presumably, one of the sky maidens referred to in the poem by the Abbot Henjo; it is famous, too, for having been danced by one of the three fatal beauties of China, Yang Kuei Fei, for her lover, the Bright Emperor, Ming Huang, and it is still performed on the Moon Festival during the full moon of August. This is an example of the type of interlocking reference to be found in many Japanese as well as Chinese poems, and in this case could be prolonged indefmitely.
Matsukaze and Murasame are amongst the most popular Japanese dolls. Much of this note is in Waley’s Noh Plays, which should be read by anyone interested in Japanese poetry.
THREE NAGA UTA OP HTTOMARO:
I. Line 3: Koto saegu is a pillow word for Kara, “Korea,” and means “chattering.” This is one place where the pillow word is irrelevant. Later Kara came to mean China as well as Korea. In Hitomaro’s day it is believed to have meant only the Southern Kingdom on the Korean Peninsula.
Line 6: Miru is codium mucronatum, a siphonale alga. The Chinese characters for the Japanese word read “deep-sea-pine.” Many siphonales have a high protein content and are edible.
Line 8: “The jeweled sea tangle” is tama mo oki tsu mo, where tama is the Chinese character for “jade” or “jewel,” which is possibly honorific, but may refer to the small floats like those on the sea grape. Oki tsu mo is “deep-sea weed,” and could mean “kelp,” which in modem Japanese is konbu. Laminaria japonica. It is impossible to say whether the line refers to two species or to one. These sea weed images echo poems in the Nihonji.
Line 15: “Tearing apart braided vines” probably echoes the Chinese cliché, “like separating dodder and buckwheat.”
Line 21: O bune no is a pillow word for watari, which means “crossing over.” Since it means “of great ships,” it is practically impossible to fit it into the verse.
Line 27: Tsuma gomoru, “seclude wife,” is really a pillow word for the ya of Mount Yakami, which happens to mean “house,” and so—the hut erected especially for a newly married couple. In later Japanese, for instance, the modem tanka poetess Yosano Akiko, this pillow word with yama is best translated “honeymoon cottage in the mountains.”
II. Line 11: Isana tori is a pillow word for umi, “sea,” and means “whale catching”; it is even used of Lake Biwa, where there ccrtainly have never been any whales. I understand the lines to mean that they used to walk seaward down the bay.
Line 15: Ka ao, “bright green,” I think, justifies the translation, “jewelled.” If so, oki tsu mo may mean a different plant.
Lines 17, 19: Asa ha furu, yu ha furu: “morning feather shake” “evening feather shake.” Yakamochi uses ha furufor the quivering of a cuckoo’s wings.
Line 25: Tsuyu shimo no is “like dew or hoarfrost,” a pillow word for “leave,” oku (okite).
Line 35: Natsu kusa no, “like grass in summer,” is a pillow word for “wilt” or “languish,” naete.
III. This is generally considered the greatest naga uta in the language.
Lines 1, 53: Utsusemi (modem Japanese, utsushimi) means the “body,” the “mortal part,” but, written with different Chinese characters (modem Japanese, still utsusemi), it also means the cast-off” shell of an insect, a favorite image in Japanese for the transitoriness of life.
Line 7: The tsuki is Zelkova keaki, Sieb., or Zelkoua serrata, Mak., the “Japanese elm,” (keaki in Japanese). The reference, however, seems to me to be to the wu t’ung tree, sterculia plaianifolia (aogiri in Japanese), the only tree in which the hod, the Chinese fêng-huang or “phoenix,” will breed or nest.
Lines 17-18: I believe this refers to mirage figures of the less extreme type, which come and go over barren fields. It may mean a fire seen over moorland.
Line 45: Ō tori no, “great bird,” is a pillow word for Mount Hagai; it is applied to the hoa, swan, eagle, crane, etc. Presumably she was buried on Mount Hagai.
The hanka for these poems are given above.
The only haiku which needs any notes is the third by Basho which describes a monk’s retreat in the forest, so still that the only soimd is the splash of a frog as the visitor approaches. “Summer grass where warriors dream” is paralleled by himdreds of Western poems from the Greek Anthology and the Bible to Carl Sandburg. It describes a battlefield.
The poems in the epigraph are fiom The Tale of Genji and are the pivot of the novel, the point at which the plot begins to flower into the profound world of Shingon Buddhist Tantrism which is the aspect of the novel which puts it in a class by itself, unquestionably the greatest as well as the philosophically wisest work of prose fiction in the world. The romaji is
Koritoji ishi ma no mizu wa
Yukinayami sora sumu tsuki
No kagezo nagaruru
Kakitsumete mukashi koi shiki
Yuki moyo ni aware wo souru
Oshi no uki neka
They are certainly Murasaki’s best poems, and should be better known. Incidently, many of her poems, and othen in this book are sung in the moving picture The Tale of Genji, which otherwise is very misleading, to say the least.
I am often asked the meaning of “Murasaki.” Roughly it means “purple” or “purple dyed.” Actually it is the name of the Lithospermum erythromrhizon, a purple rooted plant of the borage or forget-me-not family. A related species is called “puccoon” in the USA, and was once used as a rather fiigitive dye.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Japanese Odes, a translation of the Hyaku-nin-isshiu, by F. V. Dickins. Smith Elder and Co., London, 1866.
The Classical Poetry of the Japanese, by Basil Hall Chamberlain. Triibner and Co., London, 1880.
Genji Monogatari, translated by Suyematz Kcnchio. Triibner and Co., London, 1882.
A History of Japanese Literature, by W. G. Aston. D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1889.
Persian and Japanese Literature (various translators), with an introduction by Richard J. H. Gottheil. The Colonial Press, London and New York, 1900.
Sword and Blossom Poems from the Japanese, translated by Shotaro Kimura and Charlotte M. A. Peake. T. Hasegawa, Tokio, 1901.
Primitive and Medieval Japanese Texts, translated by Frederick Victor
Dickins. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1906.
A Hundred Verses from Old Japan, a translation of the Hyakunin isshiu; by William N. Porter. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1909.
The Master Singers of Japan, translations from thejapanese poets by Clara A. Walsh. Wisdom of the East Series. John Murray, London, and E. P. Dutton and Co., New York, 1910.
A Year of Japanese Epigrams, translated by William N. Porter. Oxford University Press, London, 1911.
Japanese Poetry, by Basil Hall Chamberlain. John Murray, London, 1911.
Plays of Old Japan, the Noh, by Marie C. Stopes and Joji Sakurai. William Heinemann, London, 1913.
The Spirit of Japanese Poetry, by Yone Noguchi. Wisdom of the East Series. John Murray, London, and E. P. Dutton and Co., New York, 1914.
Imperial Japanese Poems of the Meiji Era, translated by Frank A. Lombard. Tokyo, 1915.
Japanese Lyrics, translated by Lafcadio Hearn. Houghton MifHin Co., Boston, 1915.
“Noh”, or Accomplishment, by Ernest FcnoUosa and Ezra Pound. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1917. Very good.
Dreams from Japan and China, being transfusions from the Japanese and Chinese languages, by Gonnoské Komai. The Eastern Press, London, 1918.
Moons of Nippon, translations from poets of Old Japan, by Edna Worthley Underwood. Ralph Fletcher Seymour, Chicago, 1919.
Coloured Stars, versions of 50 Asiatic love poems, by Edward Powrys Mathers. Houghton MifBin Co., Boston, 1919.
Japanese Poetry, thc “Uta”, by Arthur Waley. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1919. Very good.
The Garden of Bright Waters, 120 Asiatic love poems, translated by Edward Powrys Mathers. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1920. Good.
The No Plays of Japan, by Arthur Waley. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., London, and Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1921. Very good.
Early Japanese Poets, a translation of the Kokinshiu, by T.
Wakameda. The Eastern Press, London, 1922.
Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan, translated by Annie Shepley Omori and Kochi Doi. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1923. Good.
Japanese Poetry, an historical essay, by Curtis Hidden Page. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1923.
Little Poems from Japanese Anthologies, translated by Evaleen Stein. M. Hopkinson, 1925.
Little Poems from the Japanese, translated by Laurence Binyon. The Swan Press, Leeds, 1925.
Tankas: Japanese Poems, by N. D. Horigoutchi, translated from the French version by L. K. Sparrow. London, 1925.
Japanese Classics, a book of reprints from transactions. Asiatic Society of Japan. Tokyo, 1925.
Leaving thc Hermitage, by Rohan Koda, translated from the Japanese by Jiro Nagura. London, 1926.
Lotus and Chrysanthemum, an anthology of Chinese and Japanese Poetry, edited by Joseph Lewis French. Boni and Liveright, New York, 1927. Good.
Minyo, Folk-Songs of Japan, by Matsuhara. Shinseido, Tokyo, 1927.
Poetry of the Orient, an anthology edited by Eimice Tieljens. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1928. Good.
The Lady Who Loved Insects, translated by Arthur Waley. Blackmore, London, 1929. Good.
Early Japanese Poets: Complete translation of the Kokinshiu, by Wakameda. T. Yuhodo, Tokyo, 1929.
The Manyōsū, translated and annotated by Jan Pierson, Jr. Brill, Leiden, 1929-38. Very odd in places, but invaluable.
One Thousand Haiku, Ancient and Modern, translated by Asataro Miyamori. Dobunsha, Tokyo, 1930.
Japanese Scrapbook. Glenn Shaw. Hokuseido, Tokyo, 1932.
Anthology of Haiku, Ancient and Modem, translated and annotated by Asataro Miyamori. Maruzen, Tokyo, 1932. Fair, has texts, as have all his collections.
Nōgaku, Japanese No Plays, Beatrice Lane Suzuki. Wisdom of the East, Dutton, New York, 1932.
A Handful of Sand, translated from the works of Takuboku Ishikawa by Shio Sakanishi. Marshall Jones, Boston, 1934.
The Bamboo Broom; an Introduction to Japanese Haiku, translated by Harold Gould Henderson. Houghton MifHin, Boston, 1934.
Four Nō Plays, M. Minakawa. Sekibundo, Tokyo, 1934.
Tangled Hair, translated by Shio Sakanishi from the work of Akiko Yosano. Marshall Jones, Boston, 1935.1 have not seen this, she is a splendid modem tanka poet.
The Tale of Genji, in Six Parts, translated by Arthur Waley. Allen and Unwin, London, 1935. Very good. In print.
Naven, by Gregory Bateson. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1936.
Masterpieces of Japanese Poetry, Ancient and Modern, translated and annotated by Asataro Miyamori. 2 voL Maruzen, Tokyo, 1936. Fair, has texts.
Songs of a Cowherd, by Sachio Ito, translated by Shio Sakanishi. Marshall Jones, Boston.
An Anthology of Japanese Poems, translated by Asataro Miyamori. Maruzen, Tokyo, 1938. Fair, has texts.
Suye Mura, by John Fee Embree. Chicago University Press, Chicago, 1939. An excellent sociological study of a Japanese village.
Songs for Children Sung in Japan, by Yukuo Unyehara. Hokuseido, Tokyo, 1940.
The Manyōshū: One Thousand Poems Selected and Translated from the Japanese. Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai. Iwanami, Tokyo, 1940.
The Manyōshū: One Thousand Poems Selected and Translated from the Japanese. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1941. Good, the same as the above.
Japanese Peasant Songs, compiled and annotated by John Fee Embree. American Folklore Society, Philadelphia, 1944.
Mei Kyoku Shu: Selected Songs. The Aloha Press, Honolulu Th., 1946.
A Pepper Pod: Classic Japanese Poeins. Kenneth Yasuda. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1947.
Sword and Chrysanthemum, Ruth Benedict, still available as a pocket book, is propaganda by a person with very little knowledge of Japan, and extremely misleading. The best background for the poems in this book is Lady Murasaki’s The Tale of Genji in the Waley translation. Stories of the samurai, for instance “The Forty-Seven Ronin”, come from a period after most of the poems in this book were written. Pound’s Noh translations, amongst his very greatest work, are now obtainable in Collected Translations of Ezra Pound, New Directions, New York City, 1953. Embree’s Suye Mura is fme for the folk background. Readers of French should by all means read all of Boimeau’s books.
Since the compilation of this bibliography Waley’s Utais brought back in print, by Lund Humphries, London, and his Sei Shonagon and Noh Plays by Grove Press, New York City. There are also new books by Kenneth Yasuda, R. H. Blyth, E. O. Reischauer, Donald Keene. Charles EUot’s Japanese Buddhism and the works of D. T. Suzuki are invaluable; both are now back in print.
PERIODICALS AND JOURNALS
“Basho and the Japanese Poetical Epigram”, by Basil Hall Chamberlain. Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 243-362, 1902.
“The Japanese Man with the Hoe”, by Paul Cams. Open Court, vol. 20, pp. 639 ff., 1906.
“The Literature of Primitive Japan”, by Frederick Victor Dickins. Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society, vol. 7, p. 354, 1907.
“The Makura-Kotoba of Primitive Japanese Verse”, by Frederick Victor Dickins. Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. 35, part. 4, pp. 1-113, 1908.
“A Translation of the Japanese Anthology known as Hyakunin Isshiu”, by Frederick Victor Dickins. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, pp. 357-391, 1909.
“The Plum in Japanese Poetry”, by H. Ssko. Japan Magazine, vol. I, pp. 103-107, 1910.
“Imperial Songs of Japan”, translated by A. Lloyd. Open Court, vol. 25, pp. 532-539. 747-752. 1911.
“Japanese Poetry”, by Yone Noguchi. Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society, Vol. 12, pp. 86-109, 1911.
“Translations from the No”, by George Sansom. Transactions of the Asiatic Society ofJapan, vol. 38, 3, pp. 175-176, 1911.
“The Literary Women of Japan and their work”, by E. B. Mitford. Book Monthly, pp. 331-335, 1911.
“The Imperial Poetess of Japan”, by J. Ingram Bryan. Japan Magazine, vol. 3, pp. 455-458, 1912.
“The Poe
t Laureate of Japan”, by Arthur Lloyd. Open Court, vol. 26, pp. 694-698, 1912.
“The Kokinshu”, by Ariel. Ja/iaH Magazine, vol. 3, pp. 614,
617, 713-14. 1912-1913-
“Songs of Japan”, translated by Arthur Lloyd. Open Court, voL 27, pp. 120-121; 121-123; 177-186, 1913.
“Songs the Geisha Sings”, by Ingram J. Bryan. Japan Magazine, vol. 4, pp. 225-229, 1913-1914.
“The Manyoshu”, by Ingram J. Bryan. Japan Magazine, vol. 4 pp. 293, 296, 1913-1914.
“Some Poems from the Manyōshū and Ryojin-hissho”, by Arthur “Waley. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, London, pp. 193-203. 1921.
“Appreciation of Nature in Japanese Poetry”, by S. H. Wainright. Transactions and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. 2, pp. 36-54, 1925.
“Five Uta of Old Japan”, by J. Caldwell-Johnston. Asiatic Review, vol. 22, pp. 639 if. 1926.
“Japanese Classics”, reprints. Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. i, pp. 165, 1926.
“Issa’s Life and Poetry”, by Max Bickerton. Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, second series, vol. 9, pp. 111-154, 1932
“Saikaku’s ‘Life of a Voluptuous Woman’ Book Two”, by Jan Rahdcr. Acta Orientalia, vol. 13, pp. 292-318, 1934. Rather odd, a great book in Japanese.
“The Cinematographic Principle and Japanese Culture”, by Sergei Eisenstein. Experimental Cinema 8, Hollywood. No date. A little crazy; stimulating.
FOREIGN BOOKS AND ARTICLES
Geschichte der japanischen Literatur, by Karl Horenz. Amelangs, Leipzig, 1906.
100 Poems from the Japanese Page 6