Rustling of the Grass: Poem 58

The next poem in our series devoted to women was composed by the daughter of Lady Murasaki, Daini no Sanmi:

Daini no Sanmi (大弐三位, dates unknown), was the daughter of Lady Murasaki (poem 57) and was an accomplished poet as well. Her name in the Hyakunin Isshu is a sobriquet and comes from her husband’s position as Assistant Governor-general of Dazaifu province (daini). She served as the wet-nurse for Emperor Go-Reizei, she achieved the prestigious Third Rank in the Court hence “sanmi”.

This poem seems simple at first, which Professor Mostow explains as a poem composed about a man who had grown distant toward Daini no Sanmi, and that he was uneasy because he believed her feelings for him had changed. However, the poem contains some clever word-play too. The first three lines lead up to the word soyo which is an otomatopeoia for the sound of rustling grass, but also means “so it is!”. Professor Mostow explains that this is meant to convey to the man that she was the one was uneasy (because he was uneasy?). In other words, she was worried about his feelings because she cared about him. It’s amazing how one word can make all the difference like that when the context is just right.

Also, as a bit of reference, Arima Mountain, or arimayama (有馬山) is in the northern part of the city of Kobe, and boasts one of the most famous and oldest hot-spring resorts in all of Japan called Arima Onsen (有馬温泉). The Hyakunin Isshu Daijiten states that the combination of bamboo grasses at Ina (猪名) and Mount Arima was a popular setting used by many poets in antiquity.

One interesting aspect about the Hyakunin Isshu as a collection of poems is its tendency to have poets related to other poets in the anthology. The poems are not necessarily close to one another numerically, but quite a few poets in the anthology are related to another poet either as the child, parent, siblings, etc. You can see it through the women poets, but also through many of the male poets as well: Kiyohara no Motosuke (poem 42) is the father of Sei Shonagon (poem 62) and grandson of Kiyohara no Fukayabu (poem 36).