Tag: Romance

The Moon in the Hyakunin Isshu

The Moon is not surprisingly one of the most powerful images in the Hyakunin Isshu anthology, but the myriad ways it is used as imagery shows a remarkable variety and depth. There are 43 poems in the Hyakunin Isshu that cover topics of love and romance, but only 12 that pertain to the Moon.

However, within those twelve poems, and in Japanese waka poetry as a whole, the moon itself is a very popular subject and expressed in many ways. As one book on the subject points out, the Moon expresses different themes depending on the situation:

Print #98 from the One Hundred Aspects of the Moon by Yoshitoshi. This picture features Semimaru from the Hyakunin Isshu (poem 10, これ)
  • Being separated from home (poem 7)
  • Waiting for one’s lover (poem 21)
  • Melancholy (poem 23)
  • Parting one’s lover (poem 30) in the morning
  • The cool moon in Summer (poem 36)
  • Two people passing in the night (poem 57)
  • Loneliness of a heart-broken women (poem 59)
  • The effervescence of life (poem 68)
  • The moon on a clear, beautiful Autumn night. (poem 79)
  • Early dawn moon and the cuckoo’s call (poem 81)
  • Human grief (poem 86)

This is only for the Hyakunin Isshu of course. For larger anthologies like the Kokinshū and the vast corpus of Chinese poetry, the Moon is a persistent symbol of so many aspects of human emotion.

But also in Japanese language, many poetic terms for the moon and its phases have arisen over time:

  • ariake (有明) – moon visible during sunrise, appears in the latter half of the lunar cycle
  • misokazuki (晦日月) – the night before the new moon, the moon is a barely visible crescent.
  • shingetsu (新月) – new moon
  • tsugomori (つごもり) – last day of the moon (i.e. new moon)
  • mikazuki (三日月) – waxing crescent moon (lit. “third-day moon”)
  • nanokazuki (七日月) – seventh-day moon, waxing crescent
  • yōkazuki (八日月) – first quarter waxing moon
  • mangetsu (満月) – full moon
  • mochizuki (望月) – full moon, 15th day of the old lunar calendar.
  • izayoizuki (十六夜月) – moon on the 16th day, just after full moon.
  • tachimachizuki (立待月) – moon on the 16th day of the cycle.
  • fukemachizuki (更待月), also called hatsukazuki (二十日月) – the three-quarters waning moon. The implication of the first word is that the moon rises late in the evening.
  • fushimachizuki (臥待月) – waning half-moon
  • nemachizuki (寝待月) – another term for waning half-moon

A lot of these terms are pretty obscure (some I couldn’t find in a common dictionary), while a few like mangetsu and mikazuki are used in standard Japanese.

Battle of the Love Poems, part 2: Poem Number 41

In our last episode, we talked about a famous poetry contest in 960 which pitted two excellent poems against one another. For fans of the anime Chihayafuru, this contest is also mentioned in season one episode 23. Poem 40 by Taira no Kanemori was judged the winner, and this poem was the loser, though only just barely:

JapaneseRomanizationTranslation
恋こいすてふちょうKoisu chōMy name already
我が名はまだきWaga na wa madakiis bandied about with
立ちにけりTachi ni kerirumors I’m in love—
人しれずこそHito shirezu kosothough, unknown to
anyone, I thought,
思ひいそめしかOmoi someshi kaI had only just begun
to love her!
Translation by Dr Joshua Mostow

The author Mibu no Tadami (壬生忠見, dates unknown), son of Mibu no Tadamine (poem 30) was not a high-ranking or successful member of the Court. It is said that Tadami often appeared in provincial clothes and behaved like a country bumpkin. Even so, like his father, his skills as a poet earned him acclaim. Thus he was included among the Thirty Six Immortals of Poetry.

Mostow points out that even though the poem won 2nd place, it has been highly prized throughout the ages, just as poem 40 has been. According to my new book, what made this poem so prized is the way it inverts things between the upper verses (unrequited love) and lower verses (I have to hide it anyway from public eye). The ni keri in the third verse is an archaic way of expressing regret (poem 40 uses it too), or grumbling.

Mibu no Tadami was said to be so distraught over losing the contest that he wasted away and died, though this story may not have actually happened. Mostow points out that additional poems by the author in later collections, suggest that he was alive and active for many years to come. Nonetheless, although the story of Tadami’s death is a fabrication, it is likely, given his prospects, that Tadami was bitter over the loss.

Battle of the Love Poems, part 1: Poem Number 40

Another poem on the theme of love. Many of the poems from 40-50 share this common theme…

JapaneseRomanizationTranslation
忍ぶれどShinoburedoEven though I hide it,
色に出でにけりIro ni ide ni keriit shows all over my face,
わが恋はWaga koi wasuch is my longing,
物や思ふうとMono ya omou toso that people ask me
人の問ふうまでHito no tou made“What are you thinking about?”
Translation by Dr Joshua Mostow

According to Mostow’s book, this poem by Taira no Kanemori (平兼盛, ? – 990) was part of a famous poetry contest in 960, and was pitted against Mibu no Tadami (poem 41). Both were recited under the theme of hidden love. For fans of the anime Chihayafuru, this contest is also mentioned in season one episode 23.

The judges couldn’t decide which poem was the winner, so after consulting with other poetry experts (who also couldn’t decide), they came before Emperor Murakami and sought his opinion about which poem was superior. According to the story, the Emperor hummed to himself the verses from this poem under his breath, tactfully judging Taira no Kanemori’s poem the winner.

My new book points out that what makes this poem highly prized (along with Tadami’s poem) is the excellent use of prose. It isn’t just that the character is hiding love, but that it’s become painfully obvious to everyone around them, and they are compelled to ask. The ni keri in the second verse is an archaic way of expressing regret (poem 41 uses it too), or grumbling so it has a natural sound to it. Mostow’s opinion agrees with the excellent style, mixed with a more natural style at the end. Anyone who’s been secretly in love before can certainly sympathize.

Taira no Kanemori is also one of the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry (sanjūrokkasen, 三十六歌仙), and was friends with Egyo Hoshi (poem 47). According to my new book, there is a theory that his daughter is Akazomé Emon (poem 59). He had divorced Emon’s mother, but she was already pregnant. Further, after she remarried and gave birth to Emon, Kanemori petitioned to have parental rights but ultimately failed.

The Taira Clan or Heike (平家), which Kanemori belongs, was not particular powerful at this time, but would later dominate Japanese politics centuries later under Taira no Kiyomori, only to be tragically swept aside in the disastrous Genpei War by their rivals, the Minamoto.