Composed as one of fifty poems on flowers at the house of Gokyōgoku Regent
− Former Middle Counselor Teika
前中納言定家 Saki no chūnagon Teika
Enshrouded in mists
cherries on the peaks
at dayspring
tie-dyed waves in the
river of heaven in red.
かすみたつ | Kasumi tatsu |
峯の桜の | mine no sakura no |
朝ぼらけ | asaborake |
紅くくる | kurenai kukuru |
あまのかはなみ | ama no kawanami |
As kasumi (“spring haze/mists”) and sakura (“cherry blossoms”) in the original vocabulary imply, the poem is a spring composition. But while it undoubtedly is a spring poem, the vast majority of commentaries note the fourth line − kurenai kukuru − as borrowing from Ariwara no Narihira’s 在原業平 (825–880) chihayaburu poem, which is also included in Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, believed to have been selected by Fujiwara no Teika 藤原定家 (also read as Fujiwara no Sadaie; 1162−1241). The lower half of Narihira’s poem reads: karakurenai ni / mizu kukuru to wa; for translation and commentary see Hyakunin Isshu 17.
The imagery of colour red and cherry blossoms may seem surprising at first, but it refers to the time the white and pink blossoms have almost all scattered, leaving the trees with young leaves in a shade of red, reminiscent of autumn.
Other notable inclusions of the poem
• Fujiwara no Teika’s personal collection Shūi Gusō 拾遺愚草 (Gleanings of Worthless Weeds): poem 604, found among poems from
Kagetsu hyakushu 花月百首
(One Hundred Poem Sequence on Flowers and the Moon)
Autumn of the first year (1190) of Kenkyū 建久 (1190−1199) era
Home of Major Captain of the Left1
One hundred poems by Acting Minor Captain2
Fifty poems on flowers
• Teika kyō hyakuban jikaawase 定家卿百番自歌合 (One Hundred Round Contest of Lord Teika’s Own Poems): poem 14
Further Notes
1 Both Gokyōgoku Regent (1204−1206) and Major Captain of the Left (1190−1198) refer to Fujiwara no Yoshitsune 藤原良経 (1169−1206, also known as Kujō Yoshitsune 九条良経), and are offices he held at the time stated in the brackets following them. He sponsored Kagetsu hyakushu (1190) and at the time he was Major Captain of the Left, as he is recorded in Teika’s Shūi Gusō. However, he died while holding the position of the regent (摂政 sesshō) and is therefore referred to as such in Shinshūishū 新拾遺集 (New Collection of Gleanings; 1364).
2 Former Middle Counselor Teika and Acting Minor Captain refer to Fujiwara no Teika. As in the previous case, Shinshūishū records Teika as Former Middle Counselor (saki no chūnagon), noting his last and highest office; meanwhile his personal collection Shūi Gusō notes the office Teika held at the time of Kagetsu hyakushu − he was Acting Minor Captain (権少将 gon shōshō). For more about Fujiwara no Teika, see the entry on his Hyakunin Isshu poem.
Shinshūishū (full original title − Shinshūiwakashū 新拾遺和歌集; 1364) is the nineteenth imperial collection of Japanese poetry, commissioned by Emperor Gokōgon (後光厳天皇 Gokōgon tennō; 1338−1374; reigned 1352−1371) at the request of shōgun 将軍 Ashikaga Yoshiakira 足利義詮 (1330−1367). The compilation was entrusted to Nijō Tameaki 二条為明 (1295−1364), one of the descendants of Teika through his first grandson Nijō Tameuji 二条為氏 (1222−1268). However, as Tameaki passed away before finishing the anthology, it was finished by his poetic disciple priest Ton’a 頓阿 (1289−1273).