Sasuganao irowakonohani nokorikeri katamimokanashi akinowakareji

English Translation

And yet, after all,
the colour has stayed behind
upon the leaves;
as a keepsake it is sad—
this parting road of autumn

Meaning

And yet the colour has stayed on the leaves after all; taken as a keepsake it is sad—this parting road of autumn.

Commentary

Book Fourteen: Tsuge no Ogushi

Branching from the stream of Iwashimizu, there is also a shrine called Wakamiya in the east, where on the fifteenth of the eighth month the release of living creatures is performed in imitation of the capital. The shogun attended, stopping his carriage at a place called Akabashi. This shogun was the son of the prince of Central Affairs, and at this time held the office of Provisional Middle Counselor together with the command of the Right. Not long afterwards trouble arose at Kamakura, and it was said that the shogun was being exiled to the capital. A wickerwork palanquin was drawn up backwards for him to enter, which was itself an ill-omened thing; for twenty-four years since Bunei 3 he had been shogun and had commanded the warriors of Japan, and now he was overturned by them and went up in this wretched fashion. His mother was a daughter of the senior lord of the Konoe house. On the road his thoughts were troubled and the sound of his paper was heard often, so that even the fierce warriors wept. In his place went a son of the senior retired emperor, born to the lady of the wardrobe, a daughter of the Inner Minister Kinchika of Sanjo. He came of age on the third of the tenth month and was called Prince Hisaaki. He reached Kamakura on the twenty-fifth, and the furnishings of his residence dazzled the eye, gathered from the seven treasures as though it were the palace of Indra. Tokimune too had taken the tonsure and was called the lay monk of Hokoji; his eldest son Sadatoki, Governor of Sagami, now directed everything. The former commander who had gone up to the capital took the tonsure near Saga and lived very quietly and forlornly. The year turned, and about the second month the senior retired emperor took the tonsure. It had long been his wish, though he had put it off; perhaps he was startled into it when the Zenrinji lord did so the previous autumn. On the eleventh of the second month he received the precepts at the Kameyama villa. He was forty-eight, and his religious name was Sojitsu. On the first of the first month, after the banquets, the emperor went toward evening to the empress's apartments. The lady of the wardrobe was in attendance, and he also looked in on the room of the daughter of the Major Counselor Kinmori. On the twenty-second of the seventh month of Einin 6 the emperor gave the throne to the crown prince and abdicated. In the eleventh month, at the season of the Gosechi dances, remembering the year before, he sent a comb to Kanetada, who had been regent then, with a poem, and a reply was made. The son born to the former new retired emperor by a daughter of the minister Tomomori of Horikawa came of age on the twenty-seventh of the sixth month and became crown prince on the tenth of the eighth. His personal name was Kuniharu. The reigning emperor was eleven, with the personal name Tanehito, and was of noble and elegant bearing. After the abdication the empress also withdrew and was called Eifukumon'in, and the former empress was now called Yugimon'in. She had been at the cloistered emperor's side, but the middle retired emperor, catching some glimpse of her, could not master himself, contrived to carry her off, and kept her at the Reizei Madenokoji residence. On the third of the first month of Shoan 2 the emperor came of age. In the first month of the next year, while people whispered about what the falling of the sacred rope at the mirror hall might portend, an envoy came up from the east, the world was in commotion, and on the twenty-first of the first month the crown prince came to the throne. The abdicated emperor was fourteen and received the title of retired sovereign. Having reigned barely three years, there was no lustre to it. Since he was now called the new retired emperor, his father was called the middle retired emperor, and the reigning emperor's father the senior retired emperor, who now governed the realm. The new emperor was seventeen, at the height of his beauty, noble and clear in temper and quiet in manner. He acceded on the twenty-fourth of the third month, and at the purification of the twenty-eighth of the tenth a daughter of the minister of Horikawa served as proxy consort. The next year was Genko 1, and on the sixteenth of the sixth month there was an imperial visit to the Kameyama villa. The cloistered emperor found him a rare and beautiful sight. After he returned at dawn, the cloistered emperor sent a poem to the palace, and a reply was made. The senior retired emperor had many sons and daughters by the assistant handmaid, a daughter of the Consultant Tadatsugu, and cherished one princess above the rest. In this reign too the Major Counselor Tameyo was charged with an anthology, called the Shingosenshu, which was made public in Kagen 1. From the spring of the next year Higashi Nijoin grew worse day by day; she was moved to the Fushimi residence and died there. She was past seventy, so it was to be expected. The cloistered emperor, from the time of that grief, would hardly take food, and his health continued poor; on the sixteenth of the seventh month he died at the Nijo Tominokoji residence, at sixty-two. The next day, after dark, he was carried to the Fukakusa hall. As the carriage was drawn up and the coffin lifted in, the household rang with weeping and no one could compose himself. He is called Go-Fukakusa In. During the mourning days the princes and Yugimon'in stayed at the Fushimi residence, and as autumn deepened their tears never dried. The year turned to Kagen 3. The cloistered emperor of Madenokoji fell ill again and moved to the Kameyama villa; rites and prayers of every kind availed nothing, and at dawn on the fifteenth of the ninth month he died. At the outset of his renunciation he had been strikingly austere, so that not even women came before him; but afterwards he grew more dissolute than before. A younger sister of Eifukumon'in was sent to him, received a title and was called Shokunmon'in, and a prince born to her about two years before was his dearest treasure, though he did not live to see even a little more of him, which grieved him deeply. The funeral was held on the seventeenth. The former Minister of the Right drew up the wickerwork carriage, and the retired emperor came down into the garden; three cloistered princes put on straw sandals and accompanied him to the hill. On the twenty-sixth the retired emperor put on mourning, and the various households did the same. Shokunmon'in took the tonsure at once. The cloistered emperor was fifty-seven. His remains were placed in a Lotus Hall built at this residence, so he is called Kameyama In. The Zenrinji residence had been made a Zen temple in his lifetime; this is the Nanzen'in. The cloistered emperor's second son, now called the prince of the Dazaifu office, had been kept constantly at his side and cherished above all, so that his grief was greater than anyone's. The season itself was full of showers, and the leaves on the hills seemed to vie with his tears. The place made it sadder still, and the sound of the river waves and of the Tonase falls all gathered in his heart. During the mourning days a princess of the same mother stayed at the residence too, and in their idleness they exchanged trifling messages and grew close over the blossoms and the autumn leaves. The prince occupied the western gallery of the Daishoshoin. Taking a spray of ivy that had climbed the pine before it, its leaves burnt deep with colour, he sent it on the evening of the thirtieth of the ninth month to Shokunmon'in, and a reply came. He then sent the same leaves to the lodging of the Major Counselor Kinaki of Saionji, and had an answer. Kinaki, being the retired empress's elder brother, was in attendance out of concern for her in that quiet retreat on the hill. When the showers came on roughly and the wind blew hard and darkness fell, the prince went inside, had the lamps brought close, and was reading the sutra he had left off in the daytime when a party of young courtiers came to keep watch. As they were looking at the scattered ivy leaves from earlier in the day, the prince told them each to write a poem on them, and three did so. He gathered these and sent them to the princess of the northern hall, and a reply came. On a night of falling rain and mournful air, very late, the prince went as usual to the northern hall, but the princess had lain down and her women were all asleep; when the shutters were knocked on and no one opened, he turned back, writing a poem and leaving it in the frame. The reply came the next day. As the days passed the retired emperor and the princes scattered to their own places. Shokeimon'in had been the dearest of all the children, and her portion was very large: a separate residence facing the Oi river was given her, and while she lived there people called her the retired empress of the riverside. That place is now called Rinsenji.
The senior retired emperor is Fushimi, who takes the tonsure in this book with the religious name Sojitsu. The middle retired emperor is Go-Uda, the new retired emperor is Go-Fushimi after his abdication, and the reigning emperor is Go-Nijo, whose personal name was Kuniharu. From the beginning to the middle of the book, the cloistered emperor means Kameyama, who dies here. The shogun was the son of the prince of Central Affairs, that is Prince Munetaka, and is sent back to the capital in this book. In his place went a son of the senior retired emperor, born to the lady of the wardrobe, a daughter of the Inner Minister Kinchika of Sanjo, who came of age as Prince Hisaaki. Yugimon'in was Go-Fukakusa's daughter and had been empress. Eifukumon'in was the daughter of Sanekane of Saionji and had been Fushimi's empress. Higashi Nijoin was the second daughter of Saneuji of Saionji and dies in this book past seventy. Shokunmon'in was a younger sister of Eifukumon'in, sent to Kameyama and given a title; the Major Counselor Kinaki of Saionji was her elder brother. The prince of the Dazaifu office was Kameyama's second son, borne by the daughter of the Consultant Tadatsugu, now called junior empress. The princess of the northern hall was his full sister, and Shokeimon'in was also Kameyama's daughter. Kanetada, the former regent of Kankion'in, had served as chancellor. The Major Counselor Tameyo compiled the Shingosenshu in this book, and Tamefuji was his son and of the same house of poetry; Kiyotada and Mitsutada were courtiers.
At dawn on the fifteenth of the ninth month of Kagen 3, Kameyama died at fifty-seven. The funeral was held on the seventeenth and mourning put on by the household on the twenty-sixth; his remains were placed in a Lotus Hall built at this residence.
His second son, now called the prince of the Dazaifu office, had been kept constantly at his side and cherished above all, so that his grief was greater than anyone's. The season itself was full of showers, and the leaves on the hills seemed to vie with his tears; the sound of the river waves and of the Tonase falls all gathered in his heart. During the mourning days a princess of the same mother stayed at the residence too, and in their idleness they exchanged trifling messages.
When the showers came on roughly and the wind blew hard and darkness fell, the prince went inside, had the lamps brought close, and was reading the sutra he had left off in the daytime, when a party of young courtiers came to keep watch.
As they were looking at the scattered ivy leaves from earlier in the day, the prince told them each to write a poem on them. Three did so, and he gathered these and sent them to the princess of the northern hall.
This is the reply sent when the three poems were gathered and forwarded to the princess of the northern hall. She was the prince's full sister and stayed at the residence during the mourning days, exchanging trifling messages with him in their idleness.
Afterwards, on a night of falling rain and mournful air, the prince went to the northern hall as usual and had the shutters knocked on, but no one opened them, and he turned back, writing a poem and leaving it in the frame.

The opening phrase means and yet, after all, and takes up the three poems just received—especially Mitsutada's, which said the leaves were no different from last year—and turns them about. The second line sets down the fact that colour remains upon the leaves. The exclamatory auxiliary in the third marks a recognition, and the poem breaks there; the upper half is the discovery that, in a world turned to ink, the leaves still had colour. In the lower lines the word means a keepsake, something by which the dead are remembered: taken as a relic of the cloistered emperor's days, the very persistence of the colour becomes painful. The parting road of autumn is the road by which the season departs, and over it lies the road of parting from the dead. The close rests on a noun. Where all three poems tied the colour of the leaves to tears or to grief, this reply takes the survival of the colour itself as a keepsake, and so gathers up the poems sent to it. That the date is the thirtieth of the ninth month, the last day of autumn, lives on in the phrase about the parting road, which makes a fitting close to the sequence.

Author

The Princess of the Northern Hall

Source

Masukagami

Other