[Introduction by Torquil Duthie]
FIRST PERIOD
With the exception of poems attributed to early emperors like Nintoku (r. 313–399) and Yūryaku (r. 456–479), the first period of the Man’yōshū covers the reigns of Jomei (r. 629–641), his wife Kōgyoku (r. 642–645), Kōgyoku’s brother Kōtoku (r. 645–654), Kōgyoku’s reaccession as Saimei (r. 655–661), and Jomei’s son Tenchi (r. 662–671). It has been argued that the first compilers of the Man’yōshū looked back to Jomei as the founder of a line of rulers to which their own court belonged. This would explain why Kōtoku’s reign is not mentioned in the Man’yōshū, since Kōtoku was Jomei’s brother-in-law and therefore not part of Jomei’s line. In addition, scholars have speculated that for the early-eighth-century compilers, Jomei’s reign marked the transition from what was perceived as the “ancient” period to the “modern” period. This is supported by the fact that the Kojiki begins with the age of the gods and tells the story of the sovereigns up to Suiko (r. 593–628), the empress who preceded Jomei. The corpus of poetry of the Man’yōshū’s first period is very small and includes, in addition to a number of poems attributed to various “ancient” and “modern” emperors of Yamato, poetry by women of the imperial family, such as Lady Nukata.
EMPEROR YŪRYAKU
The first poem in the anthology is attributed to Emperor Yūryaku (r. 456–479). The name Yūryaku is a posthumous name from the Nara period, but in the Man’yōshū his name is given as “the Heavenly Sovereign Ōhatsuse Wakatakeru.” Yūryaku/Wakatakeru is given particular importance in the Kojiki, where he is described as a great lover. Accordingly, it is fitting that the first half of the poem is a courtship song. The speaker calls out to the girl picking herbs (a rite of spring associated with fertility and courtship) and asks her to identify her house (family) and her home, the equivalent to proposing marriage. In the second half of the poem, however, this “suitor” describes himself in solemn terms as the ruler of Yamato.
Given the choice of diction and grammar of the poem, scholars agree that it cannot possibly date from Wakatakeru’s reign in the fifth century but instead is probably a later adaptation of an old courtship song. The choice of this poem to begin the anthology was perhaps based on its combination of the themes of courtship and power (two main themes of Man’yōshū poetry), as well as on the supposed authorship of a model lover and ruler of the ancient age like Wakatakeru/Yūryaku.
Your Basket, with Your Lovely Basket
1:1
A poem by the Heavenly Sovereign.
komo yo mikomochi
Your basket, with your lovely basket,
fukushimo yo mibukushimochi
your trowel, with your lovely trowel,
kono oka ni na tsumasu ko
girl, you who pick herbs on this hill,
ie norase na norasane
speak of your house. Speak of your name.
soramitsu Yamato no kuni wa
In the Land of Yamato, seen from the sky,4
oshinabete ware koso ore
it is I who conquer and reign,
shikinabete ware koso imase
it is I who conquer and rule.
ware kosoba norame
Let it be me who speaks
ie o mo na o mo
of my house and my name.
EMPEROR JOMEI
The second poem in the Man’yōshū is attributed to Emperor Jomei (r. 629–641). It usually is read as a poem describing a “land-looking.” (kuni-mi) ritual in which the lord would climb a mountain to look over the land and affirm its prosperity as well as his own power over it. In the Nihon shoki, in an entry in the chapter dedicated to the ancient emperor Nintoku (313–399), the sovereign is described as climbing a mountain. When he finds no smoke rising from the hearths of his people, he exempts the whole realm from taxes for three years and allows his palace to fall into disrepair for the sake of his subjects. Jomei’s poem, however, seems to represent the opposite scenario, as smoke is rising (indicating that his subjects are prosperous) and birds are flying over the sea (indicating plentiful fish): Jomei is thus celebrating, or perhaps “praying” for, Yamato as a bountiful and prosperous land.
The place-name Yamato has two meanings. The first is the province of Yamato (present-day Nara), where Mount Kagu is located and the capital was situated. The second meaning is the “land of Yamato” in the last phrase of the poem, which refers to the whole of “Japan.” Mount Kagu is one of the so-called three mountains of Yamato, together with Mount Unebi and Mount Miminashi, which were in the vicinity of the Asuka capital. A legend in the Kojiki describes how Mount Kagu fell to the earth from heaven, and it is probably due to this that the name of the mountain is almost always preceded by the epithet “of heaven.”
Climbing Mount Kagu and Looking upon the Land
1:2
The Heavenly Sovereign, a poem at the time of climbing Mount Kagu and looking upon the land.
Yamato ni wa murayama ari to
In Yamato, amid a ring of hills,
toriyorou ame no Kaguyama
stands Mount Kagu of Heaven,
noboritachi kunimi o sureba
and when I climb up to look on the land,
kunihara wa keburi tachitatsu
from the plain of the land, smoke rises and rises,
unahara wa kamame tachitatsu
from the plain of the sea, birds rise and rise;
umashi kuni so akizushima
a splendid land, the dragonfly island,
Yamato no kuni wa
the land of Yamato.
LADY NUKATA
Little is known about Lady Nukata (Nukata no Ōkimi, b. ca. 638, active until 690s). Judging by her title, she was a descendant of a previous emperor (the title “Ōkimi” was used by descendants of emperors up to the fifth generation). She had a relationship with Prince Ōama (later Emperor Tenmu, r. 672–686), by whom she had a daughter (Princess Tōchi), but then appears to have entered the service of Ōama’s elder brother, Emperor Tenchi (r. 662–671). Many of Lady Nukata’s poems in the Man’yōshū are attributed also to Empress Saimei (r. 655–661), indicating that she composed poems on the empress’s behalf, perhaps in the role of a medium or priestess.
On Spring and Autumn
The following is one of the most famous poems in the Man’yōshū. The emphasis on spring and autumn (versus summer and winter) was originally due to the importance of these seasons in the agricultural year. As Nukata’s poem illustrates, spring and autumn are seasons of transition and change, a seasonal theme that in the later poetry of the Kokinshū (Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems, ca. 905) developed into an aesthetic of impermanence.
1:16
When the Heavenly Sovereign commanded the great minister of the center, Fujiwara no Asōmi,5 to compare the charms of the myriad flowers of the spring hills with the beauty of the thousand leaves of the autumn hills, Lady Nukata expressed her judgment with a poem.
fuyugomori haru sarikureba
When spring arrives, emerging from winter,6
nakazarishi tori mo kinakinu
where nothing sang, the birds now sing,
sakazarishi hana mo sakeredo
where nothing blossomed, flowers blossom,
yama oshimi irite mo torazu
yet the hills are so lush, that nothing can be picked,
kusabukami torite mo mizu
and the grass is so deep that nothing can be seen.
akiyama no ko no ha o mite wa
But in the autumn hills I can see the tree leaves
momichi oba torite so shinofu
and pick the yellow ones with wonder
aoki oba okite so nageku
while I leave the green ones with longing:
soko shi urameshi
and that is my only regret,
akiyama so are wa
as I choose the autumn hills.
[Introductions and translations by Torquil Duthie]
SECOND PERIOD
The secon
d period of the Man’yōshū, from the time of the Jinshin war (672) up to the capital’s move to Nara (710), covers the reigns of Tenmu (672–686), Jitō (687–696), Monmu (697–707), and Genmei (707–715). Until Tenmu’s reign, it had been the custom for each succeeding ruler to construct a new palace on a new site in the area of Asuka (the southern part of the Nara basin). But starting in Tenmu’s reign, the court showed greater interest in constructing a permanent palace within a surrounding capital city on the model of Chinese cities, such as the Tang capitals of Chang’an and Luoyang, designed in accordance with principles of cosmology and geomancy. The first of such attempts was the capital of Fujiwara (also in the southern part of the Nara basin), to which the court of Tenmu’s consort and successor Empress Jitō moved in 694. This first “permanent” capital lasted only until 710, when the court of Jitō’s daughter-in-law Genmei moved the capital north of Fujiwara to Heijō (Nara).
The building of these Chinese-style capitals was part of an effort to establish a Chinese-style state, along with elaborate penal and administrative codes (ritsuryō), hierarchical systems of rank, the codification of state rituals, and the production of state mythologies, histories, and official poetry collections. It was while the capital was at Fujiwara that the Man’yōshū began to be compiled.
The outstanding poet of the second period is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, who composed a number of chōka commemorating important occasions at court, such as journeys by members of the royalty and the deaths of princes, as well as more private poems.
KAKINOMOTO NO HITOMARO
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (active late seventh century) is regarded as the greatest poet in the Man’yōshū. His dates are unknown, and there are no extant references to him besides the prose headnotes to his poems. For this reason, he is thought to have been a courtier with a rank too low to merit mention in the official histories, the Nihon shoki and the Shoku Nihongi (ca. 797). Most of the poems “composed by Hitomaro” are chōka accompanied by envoys in the tanka form, the earliest of which can be dated to the year 689. Thus, even though Hitomaro may have been active during Tenmu’s reign, it was during Jitō’s reign that he played a major role. His poems are often divided into two types: “public poems” in honor of the sovereign and members of the ruling family and “private poems” such as those on the death of his wife.
Hitomaro’s poetry is a clear departure from that of his predecessors. His chōka are much longer and more elaborate, and his use of pillow words (makurakotoba), preface phrases (jokotoba), and paired measures (tsuiku) is more complex. He composed many banka (laments) on the deaths of princes of the imperial family and was responsible for the poetic deification of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. In addition, his poetry is characterized by the use of metaphors and comparisons that occur nowhere else. The most famous example is the analogy between swaying seaweed and a woman lying down, in the poem on the death of his wife.
Not long after his death, the persona of Hitomaro became the subject of legend, and in the Kana Preface to the Kokinshū, he is described as “the sage of poetry.”
The Lament for Prince Kusakabe
The following is the earliest poem by Hitomaro that can be dated. The heading states that it was composed “at the time of the temporary burial palace of the Sovereign Prince Peer of the Sun,” which refers to Tenmu’s son and heir, Prince Kusakabe. According to the Nihon shoki, Kusakabe died in 689, after Tenmu had died (686) but before he had officially succeeded his father. Temporary burial palaces were buildings in which the bodies of rulers and princes were placed for an indefinite period of mourning before their final cremation and interment. In the case of Emperor Tenmu, the period of temporary burial and rites lasted for more than two years, during which time Tenmu’s wife, Jitō, and their son Kusakabe appear to have been in charge of the court. Although Kusakabe was designated to succeed his father, he died only six months after Tenmu’s burial. In the following year, Tenmu’s wife, Jitō, was officially installed as empress.
By the mid-eleventh century, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro had become the “patron saint of poet.” (uta no hijiri) and was worshiped as a god. This hanging scroll, possibly produced in the Kamakura period, is traditionally attributed to Fujiwara no Nobuzane (1176–1269?), a court painter best known for his realistic style of portraiture. The inscription is by Nakamikado Nobuhide (1469–1531). (By permission of the Kyoto National Museum)
Hitomaro’s poem begins with a mythological narrative of how sovereignty over heaven and earth was initially divided. This account differs from the more familiar mythology of the Kojiki and the various creation myths recorded in the Nihon shoki. In Hitomaro’s account, the first god-ruler of the “land of rice and reed plains” was Tenmu himself, who was sent down from heaven to rule. Within this framework Kusakabe becomes not just the heir to the ruler but also the heir to a “heavenly lord,” and thus his death acquires mythological significance.
1:167–169
At the time of the temporary burial palace of the Sovereign Prince. Peer of the Sun, a poem composed by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, with short poems.
ametsuchi no hajime no toki
In the beginning of heaven and earth
hisakata no ama no kawara ni
on the riverbanks of celestial heaven,
yaoyorozu chiyorozu kami no
the eight hundred myriad, thousand myriad gods,
kamutsudoi tsudoi imashite
when in divine assembly they assembled
kamu wakachi wakachishi toki ni
and in divine decision they decided
amaterasu hirume no mikoto
that the heaven-shining sun-woman sovereign
ame oba shirashimesu to
would reign and rule in heaven
ashihara no mizuho no kuni o
and that in the land of rice and reed plains,
ametsuchi no yoriai no kiwami
until heaven and earth came to a close,
shirashimesu kami no mikoto to
the divine sovereign was to reign and rule,
amakumo no yaekaki wakete
they opened the eightfold heavenly clouds
kamu kudashi imasematsurishi
and in divine descent sent down
takaterasu hi no miko wa
the high-shining sun prince,7
Asuka no Kiyomi no miya ni
who in the palace of Kiyōmi in Asuka,8
kamu nagara futoshikimashite
being divine, firmly ruled and decreed
sumeroki no shikimasu kuni to
that the land would be ruled by the heavenly lords,9
ama no hara iwato o hiraki
then opened the stone gates to the heavenly plain,
kamu agari agariimashinu
and in divine ascent has ascended.
waga ōkimi miko no mikoto no
Our great lord the sovereign prince,10
ame no shita shirashimesu yo wa
the realm he is to reign and rule beneath heaven,
haruhana no totoku aramu to
may it flourish nobly like the spring blossoms,
mochizuki no tatawashikemu to
may it wax great like the full moon,
ame no shita yomo no hito no
thus the people of the four corners beneath heaven
ōbune no omoitanōmite
hope for his reign as if for a great ship11
amatsumizu augite matsu ni
and wait in awe as for water from heaven
ikasama ni omohoshimese ka
—but what designs are in his mind?—12
tsure mo naki Mayumi no oka ni
on Mayumi Hill, where he has no destiny,13
miyabashira futoshiki imashi
he firmly builds the palace pillars,
miaraka o takashirimashite
he raises high the sacred hall14
asakoto ni mikoto towasanu
and does not speak his morning words.15
hitsuki no maneku narinure
Now ma
ny days and months have passed
soko yue ni miko no miyahito
and that is why the prince’s courtiers
yukue shirazu mo
do not know where to go.
hanka nishū
Two Envoys
hisakata no ame miru gotoku
As though looking up at celestial heaven
augi mishi miko no mikado no
we looked up in awe at the prince’s palace
aremaku oshi mo
and now we grieve at its abandonment.
akanesasu hi wa teraseredo
Although the striking red sun shines,
nubatama no yo wataru tsuki no
the moon16 crosses the black jewel night
Traditional Japanese Literature Page 7