Tazunekite akanukokoroni makasenaba chitoseyahanano kagenisugosan

English Translation

If I should give way
to the heart that came seeking here
and is not satisfied,
would I pass a thousand years
in the shadow of these blossoms?

Meaning

If I gave way to the heart that came here seeking and cannot have enough, would I pass a thousand years in the shade of these blossoms?

Commentary

Book Eight: Yama no Momijiba

The abdication ceremony of the twenty-sixth day of the eleventh month of Shogen 1 followed the usual form, and the accession took place on the twenty-eighth of the twelfth month. All was as splendid as it should be, and the year turned. The abdicated emperor received the title of retired sovereign on the second of the twelfth month and was called the new retired emperor. He and the senior retired emperor were constantly together, with frequent entertainments to divert them, and his life became, if anything, quieter and more agreeable, so that he seemed consoled. The empress, after receiving her title, was called Higashi Nijoin and moved to Nijo Tominokoji. The chancellor took vows and lived at times at a place called Tokiwai at Oimikado Kyogoku. His younger brother, then Minister of the Right and called Saneo, had many daughters, and cherished the finest of them; she was to appear as proxy consort at the accession, and it was arranged that she should enter the palace in Bunno 1. He obtained the retired emperor's consent. There was talk that a granddaughter of the lay chancellor would also enter, but he pressed on, thinking it unlikely; the narrator calls it a bold spirit. This lady's eldest brother, the Middle Counselor Kinmune, harboured some feeling and smouldered in secret misery, which was pitiable. Though he tried to put away so impossible a thing, his heart would not obey, and he wept much, waking and sleeping; as the preparations drew near he went about beside himself, and the minister worried over what could be done. On an elegant evening when the first autumn wind was stirring, the minister came and found her seated a little outside the curtain, in pale robes layered with maidenflower colours; her form and features were beyond words, noble and radiant, and pitifully lovely. Pushing the curtain aside, he beat the measure as though casually and had her play the koto. Just then the Middle Counselor came in; called within the blinds, he too was admirable to look at, altogether quiet and elegant. He played a little on the flute, and the sound rose clear into the sky; while it was joined with the faint, tender notes of the koto, one could scarcely attend to it for the tears that came, but he kept his composure. The ceremony of her entry on the twenty-second of the tenth month was likewise splendid, with ten carriages. The emperor secretly noticed one of the maids, Nukigawa, and a princess was born of her, who in the end became the wife of the Konoe regent Ieoto. Since the consort was so beautiful the emperor grew attached to her. She was sixteen, and the emperor twelve, but grown-up for his age, so that they suited one another. She was soon raised to empress, and the minister's satisfaction was without limit. When the Saionji consort entered in her turn he was alarmed, but it came to nothing. She was nine, the daughter of Lord Kinsuke of Reizei, and was said to have been made a daughter of Omiya-in. As the two were closely related, their rivalry must have produced things unpleasant to hear. She too was raised to empress, so that the former empress moved up and was called senior empress. The new empress cared only for amusements and was never seen to be serious, so her standing was said to be declining, which the world found surprising. About the second month of Kocho 3, when the whole world was bright with haze and the spring wind blew mild, the cherries before the Kameyama villa began to open more finely than usual, and an imperial visit was arranged. The regent Yoshizane of Nijo had returned to office some three years earlier, and his guardsmen broke branches of blossom and arrived before the imperial party. Almost every brilliant noble attended. The new retired emperor and both retired empresses came as well. Boats were floated at the water's edge before the villa, with charming pages and young men of fourth rank aboard, and their rowing out from under the flowering trees was delightful past compare; music and dance were performed with every skill. After the music poems were presented; the topic is said to have been that blossoms pledge distant years. On the day of return, among the many gifts, calligraphic models of the Engi era were attached to an artificial plum branch with a warbler perched on it, and the retired emperor composed a poem with them. The narrator regrets that with age she has forgotten the reply. About the fifth month of that year the senior retired emperor copied out the Lotus Sutra according to the strict rule at the Kameyama villa. Go-Shirakawa had done such a thing, but only after taking the tonsure, so that this was a great vow. The Middle Counselor Moritsugu of Kazan'in was the only man in attendance, and eminent scholars of the exoteric and esoteric teachings were summoned. Following, perhaps, the precedent of Jotomon'in, Omiya-in copied it too. After the tenfold offering he took it himself to the Jokongoin, with the regent, the ministers and the nobles walking in procession behind him. On the thirteenth night of the ninth month of that year a poetry contest was held at the pavilion of the Kameyama villa. Such things had been frequent at the Shirakawa and Toba villas, but this one was prepared with particular care. The right's poems were selected by the regent, and the left's were examined before the retired emperor. The lord at this time was the Emmyoji lord, who had been regent at the beginning of the new retired emperor's reign and had returned to the office about a year before. The former regent attended the retired emperor's side. For the left, the senior lord had counters made, and on an ornamental tray of aloeswood two silver boats were set, piled with sheets of coloured paper written over; the counters too were of aloeswood and placed in the boats. The readers of both sides came before the retired emperor together and read out; for the left it was the Middle Captain Tomouji and for the right Yukiie. On the topic of mountain autumn leaves the senior retired emperor composed a poem. In the end the left won the greater number. When the reading was over and the night grew late the music began, with flute, mouth organ, oboe and lute, and kotos joined from within the blinds. Between the pieces the chancellor and the Major Counselor Michinari of Tsuchimikado chanted Chinese verses. The waves on the river grew desolate as the night deepened, and the moon seemed to have laid down ice. The autumn leaves of Arashiyama came down on the wind through the pines and scattered into the wine cups on the veranda, a thing elegant enough to be made into a deliberate device, and the younger people felt it to the bone. For some years past the former Inner Minister Motoie, the lay Major Counselor Tameie, Yukiie of the second rank and the lay Controller Mitsutoshi had been charged with an anthology, which was said to be on the point of appearing. Following the precedent of Genkyu the senior retired emperor polished it himself, so that these must be jewels with a particular lustre. Its preface is said to have declared that the islands of Yamato were his own age and the bay of poetry his own country. Except in the Kin'yoshu the names of imperial sons have not appeared, and this time the name of the prince of Central Affairs in the east was not written, which is a mark of high standing. Perhaps following the precedent of the Shinkokinshu, a celebratory banquet was held. This collection is called the Shokukokinshu.
The senior retired emperor is Go-Saga, the new retired emperor is the abdicated Go-Fukakusa, and the reigning emperor is Kameyama. Higashi Nijoin was the second daughter of Saneuji of Saionji and had been Go-Fukakusa's empress. The chancellor Saneuji took vows about this time and lived at Tokiwai. His younger brother, the Minister of the Right Saneo, sent a daughter into the palace, and she was soon raised to empress; the Middle Counselor Kinmune was Saneo's son and her elder brother. The Saionji consort was the daughter of Lord Kinsuke of Reizei, said to have been made a daughter of Omiya-in; Kinsuke too was Saneuji's son. The regent Yoshizane of Nijo was a son of the Komyobuji lord Michiie, and the Emmyoji lord, also called the Ichijo lord, was Sanetsune, another of Michiie's sons. The anthology was entrusted to the former Inner Minister Motoie, the lay Major Counselor Tameie, Yukiie of the second rank and the lay Controller Mitsutoshi. The prince of Central Affairs in the east was Prince Munetaka, Go-Saga's eldest son, who had gone east as shogun.
About the second month of Kocho 3, when the world was bright with haze and the spring wind blew mild, the cherries before the Kameyama villa began to open more finely than usual, and an imperial visit was arranged. The guardsmen of the regent Yoshizane of Nijo broke branches of blossom and arrived before the imperial party, and the new retired emperor and both retired empresses came as well.
Boats were floated at the water's edge with charming pages and young men of fourth rank aboard, and their rowing out from beneath the flowering trees was delightful past compare; music and dance were performed with every skill. After the music poems were presented, on the topic that blossoms pledge distant years. This is the poem of the reigning emperor, Kameyama, then fifteen.
The older people are said to have remarked that he excelled even in this. It is followed by the retired emperor's poem "Umegaeni yoyonomukashino harukakete kawarazukiiru uguisunokoe", composed over the gifts on the day of return.
It is included in the Shokukokinshu as the reigning emperor's poem, with a headnote giving the visit to the Kameyama retreat in the second month of Kocho 3 and the topic of blossoms pledging distant years.

The first line, having come in search, puts the occasion of the visit itself into the opening. In the second the verb means to be satisfied, and with the negative it gives a heart that cannot have enough of the sight. The conditional in the third line sets up the supposition that he might follow that heart, and the lower lines give the consequence. The interrogative particle in the fourth is answered by the conjectural auxiliary at the close: would he then pass a thousand years beneath these flowers? The topic, that blossoms pledge distant years, is met by producing the number of a thousand, but the conceit lies in not stating it from outside and instead taking those thousand years upon himself as time he would spend here. To pass a thousand years in the shade of blossom is the language of dwelling in a land of immortals, which also answers the name of the villa. As in "Kawabuneno sashiteizukuka waganaranu tabitowaiwaji yadotosadamen" in the sixth book, the poem follows the pattern by which saying one wishes to remain is the highest compliment to a host, and since the host of this visit was the retired emperor, it becomes a blessing on his father's residence.

Author

Emperor Kameyama

Source

Masukagami

Other