Summer Weather: Poem Number 2

One of my favorite poems in all the Hyakunin Isshu is also one of the first:

Japanese	Romanization	Translation
春過ぎて	Haru sugite	Spring has passed, and
夏来にけらし	Natsu ki ni kerashi	summer has arrived, it seems
白たへえの	Shirotae no	Heavenly Mount Kagu
衣ほすてふちょう	Koromo hosu chō	where, it is said, they dry robes
天あまの香具山	Ama no Kaguyama	of the whitest mulberry!

The author of this iconic poem was Jitō Tennō (持統天皇, 645 – 702) known in English as Empress Jitō. Originally Princess Unonosarara, she was the daughter of Emperor Tenji (poem 1), and later his sister-in-law after Tenji forced her to marry his brother (later Emperor Tenmu). In any case, she became the Empress after her husband Tenmu died, and reigned for 11 years. Female emperors were quite rare in Japanese history, by the way, so her reign was pretty noteworthy. Empress Jito proved to be a powerful and effective empress, a patron of the arts who promoted cherry-blossom viewing, completed the new capital of Fujiwara-kyō, but also ruthless toward potential political rivals as well as in the case of her step-son/nephew Prince Otsu.

This poem in general causes a lot of headaches for commentators and translators over generations because of the confusing relation between certain lines. Further, a second slightly different version of the poem exists in the Manyoshu poetry anthology (book 1, poem 28), with differences highlighted:

Original Manyogana	Japanese	Romanization	Translation adapted from Dr Mostow’s1
春過而	春過ぎて	Haru sugite	Spring has passed, and
夏来良之	夏来るらし	Natsu kitaru rashi	summer is coming, it seems
白妙能	白たへえの	Shirotae no	Heavenly Mount Kagu
衣乾有	衣干したり	Koromo hoshitari	where, it is said, they are drying robes
天之香来山	天あめの香具山	Ame no kaguyama	of the whitest mulberry!

According to Mostow, there’s a lot of uncertainty about what’s being dried, what does it stand for, and whether the scene is directly observed or not. One further note about the pillow word shirotae (白妙) in the third line, Mostow explains that the word tahe/tae refers to a kind of Paper Mulberry plant. So this is not just paper, but gleaming white paper.

Also, where is this famous Mount Kagu? Mount Kagu, more formally known as Amanokagu in Japanese,² is one of three peaks called the Yamato Sanzan (大和三山, Three Peaks of [old] Yamato) or the Sanrinzan (三輪山) which are pictured here. These mountains are:

• 畝傍山, Unebi-yama
• 耳成山, Miminashi-yama
• 天香具山, Ama-no-kaguyama (e.g. Mount Kagu)

Yamato is among the oldest parts of Japan as we know it, so these mountains, while small by standards of Mt. Fuji, have held important cultural significance since the beginning. Since antiquity, it was believed that all three mountains were inhabited by Shinto kami,³ and thus sacred spaces. Miminashi-yama and Ama-no-kaguyama were said to be inhabited by male kami, who competed for the affection of Unebi-yama, a female kami.

The ancient imagery of such a venerable old mountain, couple with such vivid imagery of a sunny, warm summer day are among the reasons why I like this poem so much. 🙂

² The Manyoshu version of the poem alternatively spells it as ame-no-kaguyama, which is an obscure though valid way to read 天. I am not sure why both versions of the poem are read slightly differently.

³ Although kami is usually translated as a “god” in English, it helps to think of them more like ancient Greek gods, than the modern concept. Ancient Greek religion had gods both large and small, so the English word “divinity” might be more accurate?