秋の田の | aki no ta no |
かりほの庵の | kariho no io no |
苫をあらみ | toma wo arami |
わが衣手は | wa ga koromode wa |
露にぬれつつ | tsuyu ni nuretsutsu |
Emperor Tenji
Emperor Tenji (天智天皇 Tenji tennō; 626−671) was the 38th Emperor of Japan (in traditional order of succession) who ruled between 668 and 671. He lived and ruled in the Asuka period (飛鳥時代 Asuka jidai; 593−710) of Japanese history, when the imperial court was yet to settle in one place and imperial palaces moved with new monarchs ascending the throne.
Emperor Tenji was son of two sovereigns, as both his father and mother reigned as Emperors of Japan. His father was Emperor Jomei (舒明天皇 Jomei tennō; 593−641, reigned 629−641, the 34th Emperor of Japan), and his mother − Princess Takara (宝王女 Takara no himemiko; 594−661), better known by her two names as empress regnant, as she ruled twice, first as Empress Kōgyoku (皇極天皇 Kōgyoku tennō; reigned 642−645; the 35th Emperor of Japan) and later as Empress Saimei (斉明天皇 Saimei tennō; reigned 655−661; the 37th Emperor of Japan).
Before ascending the throne, Emperor Tenji was known as Prince Naka no Ōe (中大兄皇子 Naka no Ōe no ōji). Both as a prince and later as an emperor, he was first and foremost a political character and one of his main allies was a man named Nakatomi no Kamatari 中臣鎌足 (614−669). Together, they took an active role in the Isshi Incident (乙巳の変 Isshi no hen) of 645, when with the assassination of Soga no Iruka 蘇我入鹿 (?−645) the Soga 蘇我 clan was vanquished, as well as in the Taika Reform (大化改新 Taika no kaishin) that followed soon after, strengthening the imperial institution, reorganising the government, creating new offices, and ultimately giving shape to many institutions that remained in place for centuries.
Emperor Tenji only ascended the throne late in life, succeeding his mother Empress Saimei some years after her death. A little before ascension, in 667, he moved his palace to Ōmi 近江, present-day Shiga 滋賀 prefecture. The palace itself was short-lived, serving as the capital for just a little over five years, but today Emperor Tenji is is enshrined in Ōmi Jingū 近江神宮 in Shiga, − the place that has become the epicentre of Hyakunin Isshu karuta 百人一首かるた.
What may be seen as an even more significant matter, however, is the honour Tenji gave to Nakatomi no Kamatari in late 669, just before Kamatari’s death, bestowing on him the name Fujiwara 藤原 and making him Fujiwara no Kamatari 藤原鎌足. Kamatari, therefore, is the progenitor of the Fujiwara clan, which in the later ages became powerful both culturally and politically, and to which a certain poet Fujiwara no Teika 藤原定家 (1162−1241; Hyakunin Isshu 97), who selected the Hyakunin Isshu poems, also belonged.
The figure of Emperor Tenji is therefore central to Hyakunin Isshu and its related endeavours. Was Emperor Tenji a poet, though? We do have a few poems attributed to him, − most importantly four poems in Man’yōshū 万葉集 (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves, around 759), one of which, a long-poem (長歌chōka) on Three Mountains of Yamato (大和三山 Yamato sanzan) mentions Mount Amanokagu 天香山 or simply Mount Kagu 香具山, Mount Unebi 畝傍 and Mount Miminashi 耳成:
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| Man’yōshū 13 Prince Naka no Ōe |
香具山は | Kaguyama wa | Kagu thought |
畝傍雄雄しと | Unebi ooshi to | Unebi was courageous |
耳梨と | Miminashi to | and quarrelled |
相争ひき | aiarasoiki | with Miminashi. |
神代より | kamiyo yori | Seems, it was so |
かくにあるらし | kaku ni aru rashi | since the age of gods. |
古も | inishie mo | Because it was so |
然にあれこそ | shika ni are koso | in the foregone times, |
うつせみも | utsusemi mo | now too, |
妻を | tsuma wo | people fight |
争ふらしき | arasou rashiki | over their wives.1 |
The first of these three mountains − Mount Kagu − also figures in the Hyakunin Isshu poem of Tenji’s daughter, Empress Jitō (持統天皇 Jitō tennō; 645–702; Hyakunin Isshu 2).
Tenji is also attributed two other poems in later collections, but these attributions are considered doubtful. And such will be the case this time...
In the autumn fields...
The opening poem of Ogura Hyakunin Isshu is found among autumn poems in Gosenshū 後撰集 (Later Collection; 953) and is traditionally attributed to Emperor Tenji. For Fujiwara no Teika, who selected poems from imperial collections (and Man’yōshū was not one of them), this attribution may have seemed plausible. In fact, it was befitting and convenient, as it allowed Teika to open the Hyakunin Isshu with an imperial composition by a sovereign who granted the name Fujiwara to an ancestor sixteen generations before himself. To readers of later generations, however, the authorship of this poem became an object of doubt.
In Man’yōshū, there is a poem by an anonymous author, that goes:
|
| Man’yōshū 2174 Anonymous |
秋田刈る | Akita karu | To harvest the autumn fields |
刈廬を作り | kariho wo tsukuri | I built a hut |
我が居れば | wa ga oreba | and as I sit on guard |
衣手寒く | koromode samuku | my sleeves are so cold that |
露ぞ置きにける | tsuyu zo okinikeru | even the dew has settled on them. |
This anonymous poem has come to be seen as the original composition from which the Gosenshū, and eventually the Hyakunin Isshu, poem attributed Emperor Tenji evolved. It is assumed that the poem developed with time, finally reaching the more sophisticated and imperial court befitting shape found in Gosenshū, and was then attributed to Emperor Tenji. But if such was the case, then surely the association of Emperor Tenji and the poem must have had significant meaning.
And so we come to a question of how the poem was read. Primarily, it seems to be an autumn poem, as it is found among autumn poems in Gosenshū. And rightly so, as the poem depicts an autumn harvest scene.
The very first line, aki no ta no 秋の田の, denotes autumn fields, and sets the scene. The second line, kariho no io no かりほの庵の, details the scene, introducing a temporary hut. Such huts were built during harvests to protect the produce from birds and animals. In this second line, kariho is a contraction of kari iho 仮庵, meaning a temporary hut, but some commentaries also treat it as kariho 刈穂 − reaped ears of grains, making kariho of the poem a pivot word or kakekotoba 掛詞, which has carries both meanings. And such a case is possible, as in kariho no io no, io 庵 also means a temporary hut made of grasses and wood. The third line, toma wo arami 苫をあらみ, adds details about the hut and points toward a conclusion. Toma 苫 is thatching, and ara, the stem of an adjective arashi, means rough. So the thatching of the hut is rough. And what is more, the structure wo...mi を...み2, denotes the reason for something, therefore the following lines explain, what happens because the thatching of the hut is rough. The last two lines, wa ga koromode wa / tsuyu ni nuretsutsu わが衣手は/露にぬれつつ, bring the poem to conclusion, saying (quite literally) that my (わ wa) sleeves (衣手 koromode) are getting wet (ぬれつつ nuretsutsu) with dew (露 tsuyu). And thus we have a poem that goes something like:
In the autumn fields,
in a temporary hut of reaped ears,
the thatching − rough,
and so my sleeves
are wet with dew.
It is seemingly a very simple composition depicting an autumn scene. In fact, it seems hardly appropriate for an emperor as the setting of this poem is distinctly peasant. But Tenji was not seen as just an emperor. Tenji was especially revered as the ancestor of Heian 平安3 emperors and this poem could have served to show Tenji as an ideal sovereign, who knew the hardships of common people (Suzuki, Yamaguchi, Yoda 2014, 15).
This poem may well have been an allegory of emperor’s compassion for his subjects, where his sleeves, wet with dew, could in idea have been sleeves, wet with tears because the emperor cared so deeply for the hardships of common people. And if such was the case, then this poem opening the Hyakunin Isshu, a collection of poems, going from the oldest times to Teika’s own day, and tracing a poetic history of sorts, with emperors and Fujiwaras always close, − it was only appropriate.
Notes
* I took a liberty in changing the text from Chihayafuru anime translation from as my sleeves are wet with dew to and my sleeves are wet with dew, as this little change bring the poem a little closer to its roots.
1 There are three different theories, on how the mountains were personified. The one I went with here takes Kagu for a woman and Unebi with Miminashi for men. According to this theory, Kagu fell for Unebi and her relationship with Miminashi therefore deteriorated. In this theory, Miminashi is a jealous man. There is another theory, however, where Kagu and Miminashi are two women, quarrelling over one man, Unebi.
2 The structure of wo...mi is also used in poem 48 (Minamoto no Shigeyuk ・ kaze wo itami) and poem 77 (Retired Emperor Sutoku・ se wo hayami), that already have their entries in this blog.
3 First and foremost, emperors of the Heian period (平安時代 Heian jidai; 794−1192), when the permanent capital [in contrast to moving palaces and capitals of the Asuka period] was moved to Heian-kyō 平安京, the present-day Kyōto 京都. The city remained capital until Meiji period (明治時代 Meiji jidai; 1868−1912), when the capital was moved to Tōkyō 東京.