Hyakunin Isshu: poem 48 (Minamoto no Shigeyuki・kaze wo itami)

When winds send waves crashing against the rocks, I recall how my own efforts were in vain.

風をいたみ		kaze wo itami
岩うつ波の		iwa utsu nami no
おのれのみ		onore nomi
くだけてものを		kudakete mono wo
思ふころかな		omou koro kana

Minamoto no Shigeyuki

Minamoto no Shigeyuki 源重之 lived in the second half of 10th century. His dates are unknown, although he seems to have died in 1001. He was a great-grandson of Emperor Seiwa (清和天皇  Seiwa tennō; 850–881) and an associate of Taira no Kanemori 平兼盛 (d. 999; Hyakunin Isshu 40) and Fujiwara no Sanekata 藤原実方 (d. 998; Hyakunin Isshu 51).

 

Shigeyuki himself was a governor of Sagami 相模 (modern-day Kanagawa 神奈川), but when in 995 Sanekata was appointed Governor of Mutsu 陸奥 (also read as Michinoku, around modern-day Miyagi 宮城 prefecture), Shigeyuki accompanied him and both Sanekata and Shigeyuki remained in Mutsu until death. 

As a poet, Shigeyuki is considered one of Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals (三十六歌仙 Sanjūrokkasen), as selected by Fujiwara no Kintō 藤原公任 (966–1041; Hyakunin Isshu 55). He is also credited with composing one of the earliest surviving one hundred poem sequences (百首 hyakushu), and from the third imperial anthology Shūishū (拾遺集 Collection of Gleanings; 1005–1007) onwards he has sixty seven poems in imperial anthologies. A personal collection of his also survives. 

…a heart, broken into a thousand pieces

Shigeyuki’s poem in Ogura Hyakunin Isshu 小倉百人一首 is one of unrequited love, well described by Mostow as a poem that “compares a heartless lover to a rock that remains unmoved by the waves that beat against it.” (1996, 284)

 

The first two lines of the poem – Kaze wo itami iwa utsu nami no 風をいたみ岩うつ波の (Because the wind is strong, waves hit the rocks)  – serve as a sort of preface, called jokotoba 序詞, that sets the stage for the main idea of the poem. In the phrase, iwa 岩 (rocks) serves as a metaphor for a cold, indifferent lover.

 

The poetic preface (jokotoba) directly modifies onore nomi おのれのみ (only me), where nomi means only, as in only me, but at the same time points to one-sided love. With onore nomi starts the part of the poem that expresses the main idea – [yet] only I am (onore nomi) broken (kudakete) when I think of her (mono wo omou koro kana)!

 

If I were to offer a quick translation [notice the exclamation mark at the end, in the original it is expressed by kana かな], it would sound like this:

 

As the wind is strong, waves hit the rocks, yet only I am shattered when I think of her!

 

Truly this is, nothing more, nothing less, but a poem of unrequited love. While the waves crash onto the rocks that symbolize the lover in question, she is absolutely indifferent, and only the speaker is left with his heart broken into a thousand pieces.

 

But in this poem it is the lyrical subject and not the author himself, whose heart is shattered. In many poems from actual correspondence, the compositions can be presumed to reflect feelings of their authors, but in the case of this poem, the Shikashū 詞花集 (Collection of Verbal Flowers; 1151–1154) headnote describes it as “composed when [Shigeyuki] submitted a hundred-poem sequence, during the time the Retired Emperor Reizei was still called crown prince” (Mostow 1996, 284). 

The poem was composed as part of a hundred-poem sequence or hyakushu 百首 – a very particular format, the craze of which started with Horikawa Hyakushu 堀河百首 of 1105–1106, and which became especially popular in 12th and 13th centuries, most likely even contributing to the format of Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. But decades before then, when Emperor Reizei (冷泉天皇 Reizei Tennō; 950–1011) was a crown prince, so in between 950 and 967, Minamoto no Shigeyuki presented him with a hundred-poem sequence, and this poem was one of the compositions presented. 

 

This, and another ninety nine compositions, were maybe a sign of changing times, as in the decades following, poetry moved further and further from just being a pastime, as it became an occupation; but still, it continued to speak of unchanging emotions, familiar to this day.

Chihaya, who understood

(Chiyafuru anime) In the last episode of season 3, Chihaya uses the poem to express her devastation at how she behaved with Taichi throughout the years. Much like the interpretation above shows, she says: “I was the rock” into which the waves crashed, not moving her at all.

At the same time, her literature teacher Fukasaku gives a rephrasing of the poem, much like we would find in many Japanese editions of Hyakunin Isshu:

“When the winds are at their strongest, the waves crash into the rocks, only to fall apart themselves. Just like those waves, my own heart is in danger of breaking apart, as I continue to pine endlessly for you.”

He also reveals just what the poems give to Chihaya, when he continues: “The Hundred Poets are truly remarkable, aren’t they? They give you the words, the metaphors to express yourself.”

Truly, Hyakunin Isshu is amazing in that way – giving voice to feelings that may otherwise have remained silent.