Past Her Prime: Poem Number 9

For the first poem for March’s “women only” theme, I chose this poem, one of the earliest by a female author (after Empress Jitō, poem 2), but also one of the most famous:

Japanese	Romanization	Translation
花の色は	Hana no iro wa	The color of flowers
うつりにけりな	Utsuri ni keri na	has faded indeed
いたづずらに	Itazura ni	in vain
わが身世にふる	Waga mi yo ni furu	have I passed through the world
ながめせしまに	Nagame seshi ma ni	while gazing at the falling rains.

The author, Ono no Komachi (小野小町, dates unknown), is one of the most celebrated women of Japanese antiquity for both her reputed beauty and her poetry. She is one of the original Six Immortals of Poetry and the later Thirty-Six Immortals, and was said to have had relationships with various men, including Henjō (poem 12), and Fun’ya Yasuhide (poem 22) among others.

Reading this poem is something of an intimate look at the fear many women (and men, see poem 96) face then as much as now: the fear of getting old. For someone who was beautiful as Ono no Komachi, the loss may have been even more distressing.

Mostow describes this poem featured in the Hyakunin Isshu as a “technical tour-de-force”: the third line, meaning “in vain”, could technically modify either the previous line, or the one after, or both. Also, the poem uses word-play around furu which could mean to either “fall (as in rain)” or “to pass time”, while nagame could mean both “to gaze lost in thought” or “long rains” (長雨, naga-ame as Mostow explains). Further, this poem has been the object of much debate because of all the possible ways to interpret it, and is one of the most iconic in the anthology both for its technical prowess, but also it’s poignant message.

There are many legends that circulated in medieval Japan about Ono no Komachi’s good looks and her cruelty to men. In one famous story, she promised to love a certain suitor if he visited her 100 nights in a row. He completed 99 visits, but failed one night to visit her, and was so distraught that he fell ill and died. Ono no Komachi’s life and legends, including her decline, grew to become the subject of many Nō plays and art. Even 19th century woodblock prints depicted Ono no Komachi in her twilight years:

However, if you look at her other poems, mostly found in the Imperial anthology, the Kokin Wakashū, you can see she was more caring and sensitive than legend implies:

Japanese	Romanization	Translation
思ひつつ	Omoitsutsu	Tormented by love
寝ればや人の	Nurebaya hito no	I slept and saw him near me —
見えつらむ	Mietsuran	had I known my love’s
夢と知りせば	Yume to shiriseba	visit was but a dream I
覚めざらましを	Samezaramashi o	should never have awakened.

and:

Japanese	Romanization	Translation
わびぬれば	Wabinureba	I have sunk to the
身をうき草の	Mi o ukikusa no	bottom and like the rootless
根を絶えて	Ne o taete	shifting water weeds
誘ふ水あらば	Sasou mizu araba	should the currents summon me
いなんとぞ思ふ	Inan to zo omou	I too would drift away

So, Ono no Komachi wasn’t just a pretty face past her prime, she was a smart woman with a sharp wit, and a more sensitive side as well.