by Donald Keene
kaimami (glimpsing): The excitement and eroticism of unexpectedly catching a glimpse of a beautiful lady formed a central motif in Heian-tale literature. Elite women were expected to conceal themselves from view, so for a man to catch a glimpse of a lady was considered a lucky circumstance. In some cases, the glimpsing is intentional and deliberate (Episode 23), but usually it is accidental (Episode 1). A woman may occasionally catch a glimpse of a man (Episode 63), but the reverse situation is more common. The famous scene in Episode 1 of the Tales, which sets the tone for the entire work, marks the first appearance in Japanese literature of kaimami. It is a measure of the influence of the Tales on subsequent works, from The Tale of Genji onwards, that the hero’s romantic liaisons almost always begin with such unanticipated glimpsing.
kakekotoba ((literary) pun): Variously defined in dictionaries of classical Japanese poetry, this term is most commonly taken to mean a form of punning, but whereas a straightforward pun – equivalent to the word dajare in modern Japanese – might be viewed as light-hearted and comical and a rather low-grade form of verbal play, the kakekotoba in classical Japanese poetry was used to display the highest level of verbal and poetic artistry. That said, there are cases where the punning can be quite humorous, light or even mildly bawdy.
The device does function primarily as a pun, but one that may operate on many levels. Though sometimes the pun can be conveyed by a single word, in many cases it can apply to several lines, so that a string of words or phrases may be punned together. Thus it is possible for several lines of a waka poem to give two completely different readings, one that provides the basic message of the poet and the other a form of highly refined verbal decoration often depicting a visual image. This second reading might be related to the main message or it might be a separate pun, or series of puns, with a purely decorative function. The intention was to create a multi-layered effect of great complexity in order to convey the depth and refinement of the poet’s emotion. The Japanese language has many homophones and similar-sounding words, which makes such complicated punning possible – wordplay of a kind that would be extremely difficult to simulate in English – and Heian poets deployed the kakekotoba to full effect in their verse. For a striking example, see the commentary on the first poem in Episode 9.
The standard English translation of the term is ‘pivot word(s)’, i.e. something that may be read as the continuation of what precedes it or as the beginning of what follows, producing two different readings. However, while pivot words are a form of pun, they perform that function in a very specific way, one that does not convey the full sense of kakekotoba, so the standard translation is misleading. Translated literally, kakekotoba gives ‘overlapping of words’ – effectively punning – but most non-Japanese scholars of classical Japanese studiously avoid using ‘pun’ as a translation, chiefly because of the traditional view of the pun as being low-class. However, given that kakekotoba tends to be defined in Japanese dictionaries with little or no reference to the way in which it may function as a pivot word, the current standard translation of kakekotoba as ‘pivot word(s)’ deserves rectification.
By contrast, Japanese scholars interpret kakekotoba in its broader sense of ‘(literary) pun’, seeing the pivoting function as just one aspect of this, usually in relation to other rhetorical devices, such as jokotoba and engo (see above), that may be at work in a poem. The commentary to Episode 57 provides an example of how a kakekotoba, functioning as a pivot word, works in tandem with a jokotoba.
I have chosen to use ‘(literary) pun’ as the translation, but another option would be not to translate the word at all as in the case, for example, of waka, haiku, etc. It is an extremely complex term that has seen a wide variety of usage over a long period of time. It should be noted, too, that many of the terms used to describe rhetorical devices were not coined until the Meiji period (1868–1912) and then applied to classical waka poetry, which do not always fit neatly within the definitions given to them.
kinuginu no uta (‘morning-after’ poem): Custom demanded that courtiers send a poem to their beloved after a night spent in their company – known as a ‘morning-after’ poem. The word kinuginu is the plural of the word for clothes, kinu. Courtiers of the time used the clothes they wore during the day as bedding at night; a couple would use their combined clothing. In the morning, they put on their clothes again before parting, leading to the phrase kinuginu no wakare, to describe their parting (wakare) in the morning, and the poem (uta) that expressed their grief at parting as kinuginu no uta.
Kokinshū (Kokin wakashū; Collection of Waka Old and New): Usually shortened to Kokinshū, this was the first imperially ordered anthology of native poetry in Japan. In 905 Emperor Daigo gave the order for its compilation to the poets Ki no Tomonori, Ki no Tsurayuki (who was the principal author – see here), Oshikochi no Mitsune and Mibu no Tadamine. The Kokinshū features many poems dating from the ninth century, including poems by Ariwara no Narihira (see here). (See the Introduction, here, for further detail; see also waka.)
kotohogu (celebrating in poems): This term refers to words of felicitation, particularly in the form of a poem, given either after an auspicious event or before it, in the hope of bringing it about. Auspicious poems were often composed by an old man (okina), one of the numerous personae assumed by Narihira (see here) in the Tales. In ancient Japan, because it was believed that words contained spirits and thus were sacred, uttering celebratory words was thought to have the power to bring about fortuituous events, just as uttering words of misfortune could lead to misfortune. Such a belief was known as kotodama shinko.
koto no ha (leaves of words): Whereas kotoba (word(s)) refers to language in general, the more poetic koto no ha seems to refer almost exclusively to poetry and poetic language throughout the Heian period. The expression incorporates a pun on the last syllable of kotoba and ba (or ha), meaning ‘leaves’, yielding ‘leaves of words’.
Left and Right: In accordance with the ritsuryo code – a system dating to the late sixth century that was based on Confucianism and Chinese Legalism in Japan – all government posts were divided into the left and the right and the left was always superior. The Minister of the Left served as the senior minister of state and the Minister of the Right served as his deputy to the Minister of the Left. Lower ranks such as equerries were also divided into left and right, as were units within the Imperial Guard. These left and right divisions have nothing to do with contemporary associations such as right or left wing. For the division of the capital into left/right – which was of course also related to the ritsuryo code – see the commentary to Episode 2.
lunisolar calendar: The ancient Japanese imported from China a modified lunar (lunisolar) calendar consisting of twelve months of twenty-nine or thirty days. As in the Gregorian calendar, each season consisted of three months, though the New Year began in what would be February, roughly a month to a month and a half later than the Gregorian calendar. In the translation, specific months are not named; instead, just the season is given, preceded by ‘early’, ‘mid’ or ‘late’, as appropriate. The twelve-month sequence is as follows: (1) New Year; (2) mid spring; (3) late spring; (4) early summer; (5) midsummer; (6) late summer; (7) early autumn; (8) mid autumn; (9) late autumn; (10) early winter; (11) midwinter; (12) late winter.
makura kotoba (pillow word(s)): These are epithets used in conjunction with certain words as conventional embellishments, forming a ‘pillow’ for the word in question. Examples include chihayaburu (raging) for kami (the gods); shirotae no (of white cloth or hemp) for sode (sleeves); and hisakata no (far distant) for sora (sky), kumo (clouds) and tsuki (moon). The meaning of many of the most ancient pillow words has been lost or is unclear, making their translation problematic. Many ‘newer’ words were created in the time of the eighth-century Man’yōshū, but they are less obscure because their connection with the words they introduce – sound repetition or metaphor – is more obvious. Though particularly common in poems of the Man’yōshū and other
early writings, pillow words continued to be used throughout waka’s long history for their archaic resonance.
Man’yōshū (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves): This is the earliest surviving collection of Japanese poetry. The last datable poem was composed in 759 while the earliest poems go back to at least the early sixth century. It is believed to have been compiled over many decades by numerous people, although the details of the process remain uncertain. The final collection of twenty volumes and over 4,500 poems is believed to have been compiled by the poet Otomo no Yakamochi (c.718–85). Several poems in the Tales were taken from, or are based on, poems in the Man’yōshū.
mirume (Codium fragile): An edible type of seaweed that resembles small pine trees (the characters used to write it mean ‘pine of the sea’), it was widely used in love poetry because its name puns with ‘eyes that see’, as in seeing or meeting one’s beloved. At the time, the verb miru, meaning ‘to see’ or ‘to meet’, was synonymous with ‘to make love’ as the first time they saw each other was when the man entered the woman’s room secretly to make love to her. See also the commentary to Episodes 25, 75 and 104.
monogatarau: This is a verbal form of the noun monogatari, which means ‘tale’, as in the title of this work, Ise monogatari – The Tales of Ise. Used in several of the episodes (in varying forms – uchi-monogatarau, monogatari nado suru, monogatarisu and katarau), the term is one of the most ambiguous in the Tales. Depending on the context, its meaning can vary from ‘conversation’ to ‘talk after lovemaking’ or even, as some suggest, lovemaking itself. See the commentary on Episodes 2, 53, 69 and 75 for further discussion.
mono no na no uta (poem with a hidden word): Literally ‘name of something poem’, this term describes a poem in which parts of the words form an acrostic. See Episodes 9 and 98, which each feature a poem of this genre, and the pun on seaweed in Episode 3.
muma no hanamuke (pointing the nose of the horse in the right direction): An expression of parting that derives from the old ritual of pointing a horse’s nose in the direction of one’s destination as a gesture of farewell before a journey. Several episodes depict the farewells of dear friends, in which a party is usually held and poems are recited. Episodes 44 and 48 are typical examples.
Noh: A major form of Japanese musical drama, Noh has been performed since the fourteenth century, and is still regularly performed today. Traditionally, a Noh programme includes five plays with comic interludes (kyōgen); an okina Noh play, centred on a venerable old man and hence usually celebratory (see next entry), may be presented in the very beginning, especially at New Year and on other special occasions. Noh plays may be based on classic works of literature, such as the Kokinshū, The Tales of Ise and The Tale of Genji. Much of the pleasure of the plays derives from the poetic language sung in a rhythmic style and the many literary allusions.
okina (venerable old man): In Heian culture, the ‘venerable old man’ had a common role to deliver blessings (see kotohogu above), celebrate long life, pray for longevity, tell tales and recall with longing the lost elegance of former great families and times. The concept is very important within the Tales and around ten episodes employ the device of the venerable old man. Even when the words ‘old man’ are not used explicitly, the narratorial interventions in the text appear to be those of an elderly man. See Episodes 1, 40, 76, 77, 79, 81, 82, 83, 97 and 114.
Some commentators argue that the elderly man in the Tales appearing to be telling stories ‘now’ is in fact recounting events that took place ‘long ago’. In other words, an old man is telling tales based on his own past, which would mean that the narrator of the Tales is in fact Narihira as an old man, but this view is not universally accepted. Other scholars maintain that the ‘old man’ should be seen as a personified deity in a blessing rite, as in the later medieval Noh play Okina (a play in the sub-genre of okina Noh plays), but no other such examples have been located in Heian-period texts.
omoi or omohi (thoughts or feelings, especially of love): The word omoi, originally spelled omohi, was commonly used in classical poetry because the last syllable of the word puns with hi (fire), so it could signify burning passion. Many love poems of the period compare the poet’s burning passion with the molten peaks of either Mount Fuji or Mount Asama, as two of the most active volcanoes in Japan. See Episodes 99 and 121 for poems employing omoi.
otoko naki (crying of men): In contrast to the stoic image of the ideal male in the West, the ability of the Heian nobleman to show emotion through tears was expected, if not required. Someone unable to weep when appropriate would have been seen as unfeeling. Whereas women wept quietly, modestly hiding their faces with a sleeve, men usually vented their despair loudly, shedding great tears. ‘Man-crying’ remained common until the Meiji period (1868–1912), when it became the norm not to cry in public. In the Tales, men cry frequently; women not at all.
poetic exchanges between men: It is not unusual in the Tales to find men exchanging poems. Influenced by the Chinese poet Bai Juyi, the Tales was the first work of Japanese literature to focus on male friendship (see the Introduction, here, for more on this). Sometimes the poems are in the form of humorous exchanges between men acting as if they are lovers, and sometimes a man may adopt a woman’s role (see also gender mixing above). See Episodes 11, 16, 17, 38, 44, 46 and 48.
Right: See Left and Right.
sangatsujin (the last day of spring): Following in the footsteps of the Chinese poets before them, the Japanese of the Heian period called the last day of the third month of the lunisolar calendar ‘the last day of spring’ (sangatsujin) and mourned its passing for it symbolized the impermanence of life. The Chinese poet Bai Juyi, who had an enormous influence on both the Tales and Japanese literature as a whole (see here), loved the spring and wrote a large number of poems on the theme of regret at its passing. See Episodes 77 (which has an unusual rendering of this theme), 80, 83 and 91, among others.
Shūishū (Shūi wakashū; Gleanings of Japanese Poetry): This collection, the third of the official waka anthologies (chokusenshū), was compiled by Fujiwara no Kinto (see here) and Emperor Kazan at the beginning of the eleventh century.
The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari): Written in the early years of the eleventh century at the height of the Heian period, this is the most famous novel in Japanese literature. The author was Murasaki Shikibu (970/978–1014/1031), a noblewoman and lady-in-waiting, who beautifully depicts the lifestyle of the courtiers of her day. The novel focuses on the romantic life of its central character, Hikaru Genji or ‘Shining Genji’, while shedding a fascinating light on the customs and mores of aristocratic society of the time. In chapter 2, for instance, the hero and his male friends discuss women and marriage in an exchange that can be thought of as a sort of Heian-man’s guide to dating and courtship. There are many similarities between the Tales and The Tale of Genji; indeed, it has been argued that, without the Tales, the latter work would have been inconceivable.
tama no o (string of gems): The image of a string of gems – pearls or other jewels strung together in a necklace or bracelet – was widely employed in Japanese literature of the Heian period as a metaphor for both a short and a long interval of time. How it came to signify a brief or long interval of time is unclear, though the former may refer to the small length of thread visible between the gems, and the latter to the entire string.
Tanabata legend and festival: Originating in China, the Tanabata legend has been popular in Japan since the earliest times and is celebrated each year in the form of a festival with the same name. Many poems have been written on this theme, from the Man’yōshū onwards. According to the legend, the Weaving Maid (the star Vega) can meet her lover, the Herd Boy (the star Altair), only once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunisolar calendar – the day on which the festival was held (now 7 July). In order to meet, the two lovers must cross the Milky Way. Witty and amusing adaptations of the legend appear in Episodes 59, 82 and 95.
tsuyu (dew): In c
lassical Japanese poetry, dew was commonly used as a symbol of evanescence or conflated with tears. See Episodes 6, 50, 54, 56 and 59, among others.
uta monogatari (poem tales): Discussing poems and their authors was known as utagatari. In tightly knit Heian aristocratic society, who had sent which poem to whom, or who had created a great impression by reciting a poem, was frequently the subject of conversation and gossip. Stories would arise based on such utagatari and these in turn evolved into poem tales (uta monogatari). The Tales is very likely to have started life as a collection of stories of this kind. However, the Tales takes the genre to a vastly superior level, transforming it into literary fiction.
waka: Poems of thirty-one syllables arranged in five lines in an alternating pattern of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables. The term waka also serves as a general term for classical Japanese poetry in all its forms – except renga (linked verse) and haiku – as opposed to foreign verse, especially Chinese poetry. In the more usual restricted sense, it designates Japanese poetic forms predating renga and haiku, namely chōka, sedōka and especially the thirty-one-syllable tanka, which is often synonymous with waka. In the Tales, waka are referred to as uta (songs). Since the Meiji period (1868–1912), the ancient term tanka has been revived and the form updated, replacing waka as the term for poems in the classical thirty-one-syllable form. (See also the Introduction, here.)
wasuregusa (forgetting-grass) and shinobugusa (longing-grass): These were widely referred to in poetry when reminiscing about happier times or lamenting the cruelty of an estranged lover. Although both plants are referred to as a type of ‘grass’, they are not actually grass: ‘forgetting-grass’ (wasuregusa) is an old name for the day lily (kanso), and ‘longing-grass’ (shinobugusa) is a kind of fern. There was a belief that if one planted the forgetting-grass it would help one forget an ex-lover, although courtiers were unlikely to have planted it in reality. The ‘forgetting-grass’ appears in Episodes 21, 31 and 100, ‘longing-grass’ in Episode 100.