Kagirinaki yowaiwaimada kokonosoji naochiyotōki harunimoarukana

English Translation

A life without limit—
and it has come to only ninety
years as yet;
this is still a spring far off
from the thousand ages to come

Meaning

A life without limit, and only ninety years so far: this spring is still far from a thousand ages.

Commentary

Book Twelve: Oi no Nami

On the third of the first month of Kenji 3 the emperor came of age at eleven, with the personal name Yohito. The regent and chancellor Kanehira placed the cap, the Head Chamberlain Motoaki dressed the hair, and the Major Counselor Nobutsugu of Oimikado tied the boy's knots. On the twenty-second there was a filial progress to the Kameyama villa, with dragon-prow and heron-prow boats on the Oi river and cormorant fishers called out after dark. There were imperial visits to Iwashimizu on the twenty-sixth of the third month and to Kamo on the nineteenth of the fourth. The crown prince's coming of age, first set for the eighth month, was postponed by the fire at Kofukuji in Nara until the nineteenth of the twelfth. He went to the palace on the sixteenth; the Minister of the Left Moritada placed the cap and the Provisional Steward Tomomori dressed the hair. His personal name was Hirohito. The new retired emperor grieved endlessly, saying only that if the late empress were alive; nothing consoled him and no woman brought to him could compare. Shin Yomeimon'in too had seemed to be in favour at first, but the visits fell off and she slept alone. About the tenth month of Koan 1 fire broke out again at the Nijo palace, which was terrible. The Madenokoji residence, rebuilt after the earlier fire and occupied by the new retired emperor since the eighth month of that year, now became the palace instead. About that time Omiya-in was long unwell, and both retired emperors came constantly and stayed the night. Among the princes and princesses of other mothers who came to enquire was a princess born to the woman called Koto no Naishi in the late retired emperor's reign, later known as Gojoin; the new retired emperor set his heart on her and pursued her, and during that illness something happened that caused much distress, and a princess was born of it. Since it had to be hidden entirely, no one was named as the mother, and the retired emperor's nurse, Azechi of the second rank, took the child to her own house. The new retired emperor followed his heart wherever it led, almost past decency, and children were born to him beyond counting. From his thirteenth year they began to be born, and each year there were more. Their mothers were of every kind: Nukigawa, once a maid to the late empress; Shimotsuke, who had served in Kitashirakawa and was later called the lady of the gallery; Sanuki, who had served Omiya-in; and the daughter of the Middle Counselor Tametsune, called the assistant handmaid. It is said that Emperor Saga of old had more than eighty children, and this scarcely fell short. In the palace, meanwhile, there was hardly a consort of any kind, and the court was very dull. At the end of the third month, at the height of the blossom, the new retired emperor came to the Jimyoin to watch the kickball. The blossom was at its best on branch and ground, and cherries were brought from elsewhere and scattered as well, so that the drifts of white lay too deep for footprints. Seats had been placed facing one another in the main room; the new retired emperor drew his down below the threshold, saying that since the late retired emperor had settled the matter it was too late to change, and the senior retired emperor came out and said that at the progress to the Suzaku palace it was the host's seat that was moved, so that lowering the guest's seat today was most irregular—which was delightful. The crown prince came as well, and all went out beneath the kickball frame. Toward dusk the wind rose a little and the blossom scattered in confusion while the ball went up again and again, and everyone felt the elegance of it. The Chokodo of the Rokujo residence, which had burned, was rebuilt, and there was a removal there about that time; from the beginning of the fourth month the retired emperor stayed there, gardens were assigned and a plant-matching contest held. At the flower offerings of the fifth and ninth months the new retired emperor came too, so that the ladies took particular care over their sleeves. When the offerings ended, the two retired emperors rode in one carriage to the Fushimi residence to see the autumn hills. As the fields and hills turned colour, the long view over Fushimi hill and the waves of the Uji river beyond the rice fields was very fine. The senior lord of Takatsukasa was to have come but stayed away for a ritual abstinence, and sent a poem attached to a five-needled pine branch, to which a reply was made. The next day they went out to the harbour at Fushimi to see the cormorant boats, and dancing girls were taken aboard to sing. Among the elaborate provisions the stewards of both retired emperors vied in preparing, Kaneyuki of the second rank had cypress-wood boxes made with a nice conceit, with a lark tied to a reed branch, perhaps thinking of the Matsukaze chapter of the Genji. When the senior retired emperor asked Tamekane what he made of it, he said he did not understand it at all; and it is said that in the text of the Genji written by the lay Middle Counselor Teika the word is not reed. In this reign too an imperial anthology had been ordered a year or two before; the Major Counselor Tameuji compiled it and presented it in the twelfth month. It is called the Shokushuishu. About the fifth month of Koan 2 Shin Yomeimon'in gave birth to a prince, and in the eighth month she went to the Madenokoji residence for his first walking. He received the proclamation as prince, but died in the ninth month of the following year, which was a great pity. In the summer of Koan 4 a daughter of Go-Saga died. About that time word came that the Mongols were rising, and the world was in an uproar. Prayers were offered past counting at every hill and temple, and the Major Counselor Tsunetada went as envoy to Ise. The new retired emperor went to Hachiman, had the Great Perfection of Wisdom read in full, and wrote in his own hand a petition to the Great Shrine offering his own life if Japan were truly to be ruined by such disorder in his reign, which Omiya-in reproved as a dreadful thing to write. Nevertheless, on the first of the seventh month a tremendous gale blew, and the sixty thousand foreign ships were all broken up; some sank, and the few that survived went weeping home. At Iwashimizu, at the very hour of the sermon at the Great Perfection reading, a single black cloud appeared suddenly in a clear sky, and out of it flew a great whistling arrow fledged with white feathers, westward, with a tremendous sound; to the warriors out there it sounded like a rising gale, the waves grew wild and the sea became terrible, and all were sunk. This was proof, the narrator says, that gods still dwell in this country. Then the Major Counselor Tameuji sent back a poem from the road as he went as envoy to Ise. On the sixth of the first month of Koan 6 the sacred palanquins of the Hie shrine entered the capital because no ruling had been given on their suit, and the emperor went by hand-litter to the Konoe residence. As the emperor grew older he proved very able and learned, and the world thought well of him. Having no proper consort or empress, he was much at leisure, and, visiting in secret a daughter of the Major Counselor of Horikawa who served in Shin Yomeimon'in's apartments, he had a prince born to him about the second month of Koan 8. That year the junior empress of Kitayama reached ninety, and Omiya-in hurried on the preparations for her jubilee, which the whole realm treated as a great affair. The jubilee fell about the thirtieth of the second month. The senior and new retired emperors, Higashi Nijoin and the princess later called Yugimon'in had all gone to Kitayama beforehand, and Shin Yomeimon'in rode in the new retired emperor's carriage. On the night of the twenty-ninth came the imperial visit, and after it the crown prince's. On the day itself the eastern rooms of the main hall were cleared and a painted image of Shakyamuni hung; the decoration of the hall was as splendid as the adornments of the Pure Land itself. Two sutra boxes held ninety scrolls of the Sutra of Long Life in gold ink and the Lotus Sutra. The lecturer was the Dharma Seal Kenjitsu and the reader the bishop Shusuke, and the musicians performed the Bansuraku, Katen and Ryo-o, and on the right the Chikyu, Engiraku and Nasori. The next day was the first of the third month. Trays were brought for the emperor, the crown prince and the two retired emperors, and then the music began, the emperor playing the flute and the crown prince the lute. When the music ended the reading of poems began. Tamemichi laid the papers on the writing stand, and Nobusuke set down all the courtiers' poems at once. The emperor's poem was written out by the regent, the new retired emperor's by the Inner Minister, and the crown prince's by the commander of the Left. That the words for a poem answering the imperial one were written at the head is said to follow the precedent of the palace banquet. There were many more, the narrator says, but she has left them out as troublesome. Afterwards they moved to the kickball frame on the east, and the ladies of the various households put out sleeves of colours quite different from the day before. Following the precedent of Go-Toba in the Kenin era, the new retired emperor opened the play with three kicks. The next day, about noon, matting was laid from the main hall to the Saionji, and the two retired emperors and the crown prince made their devotions at the halls. At the Myoondo a late cherry had just opened, as though waiting for the visit. The Saisoro, Soga, Hakuchu and Senshuraku were performed, and after returning they watched dancing again beneath the blossom of the day before, and then boarded a boat and pushed out. Stopping the boat at the island, they saw old mossy pines crossing their branches over the rocks, the water lying calm, and it seemed the very cave of the immortals. Saying that it felt like being two thousand leagues away, they made linked verse together. As night fell the boat came in to the fishing pavilion. Since the crown prince returned that night, a wagon was presented to him, and to the junior empress the three robes of the priest Keika; both were arranged by Omiya-in. So the time passed until Koan 10. The emperor had reigned some thirteen years, and, thinking that the senior retired emperor must find the wait long, the east made its usual representations. On the new retired emperor's side there was anxiety. His nurse Azechi of the second rank had died the previous spring, and at the first anniversary services he went to the Kameyama villa and held eight lectures in great state. Snow fell heavily that day, and Takahiro of the third rank of Kujo broke the edge of his fan and sent in a poem among the ladies, to which the retired emperor made a reply. Much remained unsatisfied, but in the tenth month of that year the emperor abdicated, at twenty-one. He was upright and calm by nature, sober, learned and admirable, and it had been thought that government might gradually be entrusted to him, so the new retired emperor found the change hard. With the crown prince on the throne, authority passed to the senior retired emperor, the world divided, and at such a moment people's hearts showed themselves.
The emperor is Go-Uda, son of Kameyama, whose personal name was Yohito. The senior retired emperor is Go-Fukakusa, the new retired emperor is Kameyama, and Omiya-in, daughter of Saneuji of Saionji, was their mother. The crown prince is Prince Hirohito, son of the senior retired emperor, later Fushimi. The late retired emperor is Go-Saga, and the empress was the new retired emperor's consort. The junior empress of Kitayama, whose ninetieth-year jubilee is held in this book, was the daughter of the Major Counselor Takahira of Washinoo and granddaughter of the Major Counselor Takafusa who danced the Seigaiha at the Angen jubilee. She was the wife of the chancellor Saneuji, mother of Omiya-in and Higashi Nijoin, and grandmother of both retired emperors. The crown prince's steward Sanekane was the son of the chancellor Kinsuke and grandson of Saneuji. The senior lord of Takatsukasa, Kanehira, had served as regent and chancellor and was later called the Shonenin lord. The Major Counselor Tameuji was of the house of poetry and compiled the Shokushuishu in this book. Tamekane was the son of Tameuji's younger brother Tamenori, and Tamemichi was Tameuji's grandson, eldest son of Tameyo. Takahiro of the third rank of Kujo and Azechi of the second rank, the new retired emperor's nurse, also appear. Shin Yomeimon'in was a daughter of the Konoe house and the new retired emperor's consort, and Imadegawain had been the empress of the Saionji line.
In Koan 8 the junior empress of Kitayama reached ninety, and Omiya-in hurried on the preparations for her jubilee, which the whole realm treated as a great affair. She was the daughter of the Major Counselor Takahira of Washinoo, mother of Omiya-in and Higashi Nijoin, grandmother of both retired emperors, and wife of the chancellor Saneuji.
The jubilee fell about the thirtieth of the second month, with the imperial visit on the night of the twenty-ninth followed by the crown prince's. On the day itself the eastern rooms of the main hall were cleared and a painted image of Shakyamuni hung, with ninety scrolls of the Sutra of Long Life in gold ink and the Lotus Sutra set out; the service was conducted by the lecturer Kenjitsu and the reader Shusuke. On the next day, the first of the third month, there was music after the trays, the emperor playing the flute and the crown prince the lute, and when it ended the reading of poems began.
At the reading of poems the crown prince's was written out by the commander of the Left. The crown prince is Prince Hirohito, son of the senior retired emperor Go-Fukakusa and later Fushimi; the junior empress was his great-great-grandmother. That the words for answering the imperial poem were written at the head is said to follow the precedent of the palace banquet.
The emperor's "Yukusueo naonagakiyoto chigirukana yayoiniutsuru kyōnoharuhini" and the new retired emperor's "Momoiroto imayanakuran uguisumo kokonokaerino kimigaharuhete" had been read before it, and the crown prince's steward's "Yoyonoatoni naotachinoboru oinonami yorikentoshiwa kyōnotamekamo" follows.

The first line declares a life without limit, and the second says that this life is as yet only partway. The third gives the number of the jubilee itself, setting ninety, a great figure, as no more than a stage on the way to a limitless span; to this point the poem has recast ninety from a destination into a point passed. In the lower lines the adverb means even so, and against ninety the poem brings out a thousand ages, a figure of another order, saying that the distance to it is still long; the final particle is exclamatory. The blessing is enlarged by making ninety look small, an inversion of the usual method. Where the new retired emperor's poem set a hundred beside ninety, this sets a thousand ages beside it; both bless by number, but one adds a figure close at hand and the other holds up a figure far off, and of the three this poem takes the widest span of time.

Author

Emperor Fushimi

Source

Masukagami

Other