A Warbler's Song in the Dusk: The Life and Work of Otomo Yakamochi (718-785) [Reprint 2019 ed.] 9780520327610

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A Warbler's Song in the Dusk

Published under the auspices of The Center for Japanese Studies University of California, Berkeley

PAULA DOE

A Warblers Song in the Dusk The Life and Work of Otomo Yakamochi (718-785)

University of California Press • Berkeley • Los Angeles • London

University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 1 9 8 2 by The Regents of the University of California Libraiy of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Doe, Paula. A warbler's song in the dusk. Selected bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Ötomo, Yakamochi, 7187-785. 2. Poets, J a p a n e s e Biography. I. Ötomo, Yakamochi, 7187-785. II. Title. PL785.4.Z5D6 895.6'11 [B] 80-29236 ISBN 0-520-04346-4

Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Contents Notes on Illustrations, vi Preface, vii ONE

Family Background: Yakamochi as an Otomo and a Masurao l TWO

Growing up in Dazaifu: Chinese Poetry and Literary Experimentation 28 THREE

Yakamochi as a Young Courtier: Learning the Court Poetic Tradition 62 FOUR

The Etchii Years: The Accomplishments of a Mature Poet 121 FIVE

The Final Years: Alienation and Silence 201

Appendix: A Note on the Man'ydshu, 237 Selected Bibliography, 241 Finding List for Poems, 247 Index, 249

Notes on Illustrations LINE DRAWINGS Cloisonné mirror back. Like the rest of the objects illustrated, this eighth-century mirror preserved in Todaiji's treasure house, the Shòsòin, probably belonged to Emperor Shòmu. viii Dancers and musicians painted on a bow used to snap a ball in a game. Shòsòin. 2, 76, 77, and 205 Detail from painting of hunting scene on lute plectrum guard. Shòsòin. 19 Ornamental gilt bronze piece in phoenix pattern. Shòsòin. 30 Roof tile from a government office building built in Emperor Shòmu's reign. 65 From a series of screen paintings of women standing under trees, originally covered with feathers. Shòsòin. 82 Ceremonial hall from the Nara palace complex, given by Empress Kòken to the Tòshòdaiji, where it still stands as that temple's lecture hall. 104 The imperial seal. Shòsòin. 189 MAPS Eighth-century Japan 3 The Nara region 9 The capital city of Nara (Heijó) 11 Etchu province (detail) 147

vi

Preface of the eighth-century Japanese poet Otomo Yakamochi includes a major portion of his extant work, an unusual procedure dictated by the nature of the material. Yakamochi's poems are the reason we remember him a thousand years after his death. Their headnotes provide a major source of biographical information, while the poems themselves are a crucial record of his inner life and the development of his art—primary concerns in the treatment of the life of any poet. The reader's familiarity with Yakamochi's work, or even ready access to it in other sources, can hardly be assumed as it might be in a biography of a major English poet. To talk about Yakamochi we must read his poems. Not only is Yakamochi's poetry central to a treatment of his life, but knowledge of his life also illuminates his poetry. The brief poems were composed for a small and homogeneous audience of friends and fellow poets who readily recognized conventions, references, and implications no longer obvious a millennium later. Knowledge of the literary and historical context of these works enables us to understand the poems and to appreciate the poet's accomplishment. It is this context of Japan's early poetry that I have tried to bring to life through the particulars of Yakamochi's career and concerns as a poet. Poems in the text are cited by their Man'yoshu book and poem number, and are translated from the Iwanami Shoten Nihon koten bungaku taikei edition of the anthology, edited and annotated by Takagi Ichinosuke, Gomi Tomohide, and Ono Susumu (19571962). This NKBT text is based on the late Kamakura period Nishi Honganji manuscript, the earliest extant version of the thirteenthcentury scholar Sengaku's authoritative edition of the Man'yoshu. I have not always translated a line of Japanese as a line of English. The thirty-one syllable tanka verse form is usually written in one continuous line in Japanese, though composed of five groupings of either five or seven syllables each, arranged in the fixed pattern 5 - 7 - 5 - 7 - 7 . These short syllable-count groupings often consist simply of a single word or a prepositional phrase and THIS BIOGRAPHY

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do not seem particularly comparable to the usual line of English verse. The Japanese verses also usually contain one or more major breaks of grammar and meaning, dividing the tanka distinctly into several sections. These longer phrases seem to me to be more equivalent to a natural line of English verse, and I have thus followed them in translating Yakamochi's poems. The apparent casualness and variety of this approach seems entirely appropriate to the nature of the original verses. I have translated the traditional fixed epithets and decorative modifiers fairly literally in an attempt

to preserve their ambiguity and suggestion, and have sometimes left punctuation ambiguous in a similar attempt to suggest the original range of meanings. No attempt has been made to approximate eighth-century pronunciation with the romanizations; the poems are transcribed as they are commonly read today for the convenience of the reader who knows Japanese. In the romanized transcriptions of long poems, a five-syllable group and a seven-syllable group, separated by a caesura, are set on one line in the interests of space and aesthetics. viii

PREFACE

Complete names are given in the Japanese order, family name first. Once introduced, people are referred to the way they are familiarly known in Japan, usually by their given name. All dates are converted from the lunar calendar to the Western equivalent. Ranks generally follow the system in Robert Reischauer's Early Japanese History (1937; rpt. Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1967), with some revisions for the sake of clarity and simplicity. Oxford University Press and the American Oriental Society have kindly allowed me to quote from translations by James Hightower and Roy Andrew Miller. I am grateful for the support of the Japan Foundation for the dissertation research upon which this study is largely based. My work in Japan in 1977 benefited from the kind assistance of Okuda Isao, Gôtô Shôko, and Ono Hiroshi. Akira Komai greatly aided the beginnings. John Dower and Susan Matisoff generously took the time to offer many useful suggestions at a later stage. James O'Brien of the University of Wisconsin and Aoki Takako of Japan Women's University tirelessly shared their wide knowledge and stimulating ideas, and continually provided cogent advice. Their help has been invaluable.

ix

ONE

Family Background: Yakamochi as an Otomo and a Masurao

T

hundred years ago, when a Northumbrian poet had just completed Beowulf and when Charlemagne was still young, Otomo Yakamochi kept a poetic journal chronicling the day-to-day concerns of a courtier and a poet in eighth-century Japan. This period was the first great age of Japanese culture. Under the influence of the splendors of T'ang dynasty Chinese civilization, the arts began to flourish in Japan in the 600s and 700s. The capital city of Nara (or Heijo, as it was then called) was built on the model of the Chinese capital at Ch'ang-an, with wide, willow-lined boulevards and dozens of government offices with white walls, red pillars, and tiled roofs in the continental fashion. Numerous grand temples housed masterpieces of gracefully realistic Buddhist sculpture, dominated by the famous five-story-high Buddha that still attracts tourists to the vast temple complex of Todaiji. The opulence of the imperial court is well attested by the magnificence of its everyday objects, now preserved in the Shosoin—glass and silver goblets, flowered felt carpets and Persian-style bird-headed ewers imported from distant places along the central Asian silk routes; lacy silver incense burners for scenting clothes; rich brocade pillows and armrests. Literature also flourished at the Nara court. The poetry of the age includes some of the masterworks of the language, preserved in the monumental Man'yoshu (The Collection for Ten Thousand WELVE

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A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

Ages), the first major work of literature in Japanese, and one of the fundamental classics of that cultural tradition.1 Otomo Yakamochi is one of the few figures from this intriguing early period of whom we know anything, and we know about him in remarkable detail—his love affairs, his enjoyment of hawking, his anger at his servants, his pride in his family name, his worries about his future. Such a personal glimpse into the life of almost any figure at the eighth-century Japanese court would be of interest, but Yakamochi was no ordinary person. He was the major poet of his day, the most prolific contributor to the great anthology, and its

reputed compiler. He has ranked among Japan's best-known literary figures for over a thousand years, and some of his poems remain among the masterworks of the language. Yakamochi is also the earliest Japanese poet we can study in any detail, for he is the first for whom we have not only appreciable biographical information but also an extensive extant body of poetry—his collected works, so to speak, instead of merely a few anthology pieces. Through these materials there emerges from the shadowy realm of early Japanese literature a clear picture of a distinct individual i. The anthology and Us poetry are briefly discussed in the Appendix.

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EIGHTH-CENTURY JAPAN

and his world. It is precisely this individuality and this literary and historical context that make Yakamochi's poetry interesting. He is a transitional figure, the last artist of the grand old native tradition of communal ritual song, yet the forerunner of the sensitive subjectivity that characterizes Japanese poetry in the ages to come. The tensions between the old and the new, the individual and the group, lead to his unique accomplishment. He has a modern interest in his inner world, in his individual feelings as different from those of 3

A WARBLER'S S O N G IN THE DUSK

other men and worthy subjects for poetry, but he looks to the poetry of the past to find means of expressing these new concerns. The very individuality that makes possible his masterful poetry eventually results, however, in an alienation from his society and a sense of isolation that become more than he can manage and more than he can stretch the old poetic tradition to encompass. Basic to this central tension in Otomo Yakamochi between the old and the new are his newly self-conscious pride in his old family name, and his anachronistic concern with the old-fashioned warrior values, once associated with the Otomo family, that set him increasingly apart from other men and from his rapidly changing society. The eldest son of the head of an illustrious old military clan, and the descendant of generations of famous generals and government leaders, Yakamochi was extremely conscious of his family background. And the old Otomo clan was indeed one with which a young man could proudly identify. Members of the clan figured prominently in t .e legends of Japan's past. The founder of the family had reputedly come down from heaven with the first ancestor of the Japanese imperial line. According to the tales in the early chronicles, the Kojiki (712) and the Nihonshoki (720), this first ancestor of the Otomos served as military aide and commander of the troops of Ninigi, offspring of the heavenly deities, who was sent down to rule Japan. The name Otomo, in fact, means "great attendant" or "great escort." This Otomo ancestor preceded Ninigi to earth with a splendid array of weapons, enumerated in considerable detail—a heavenly stone quiver, sacred waxwood bow, and, depending on the version, a knob-hilted sword and sacred deer arrows, or an awesomely resounding armguard, great snake arrows, and eight-holed whistling arrows.2 2. Whenever possible references to the Japanese classics are given both to the editions in the standard Iwanami Shoten Nihon koten bungaku taikei series (hereafter NKBT) and to English translations. NKBT Kojiki norito, p. 129; for an English translation see Donald Philippi, Kojiki (1969), p. 141. NKBT Nihonshoki, 1:156; for an English translation see W. G. Aston, Nihongi: Chronicles of japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (1896; rpt. 1972), 1:86-87. This catalogue of Otomo weapons is elaborately specific, given the generally spare style of the early chronicles, but unfortunately our identification of the particular implements so carefully listed remains only tentative. A heavenly stone quiver is probably one that is sacred and sturdy, since the same modifiers regularly apply to other items of the gods. Deer arrows were used for hunting deer, while snake arrows were presumably as powerful as snakes. Whistling arrows had hollow spherical attachments to the notch ends, through which air whistled as they flew.

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Years later, when Ninigi's great-grandson fought his way from the southernmost Japanese island of Kyushu across the country to Yamato, the Kyoto-Osaka heartland, and established himself as Jimmu, the first emperor of Japan, the legend recounts that another ancestor of the Otomos was at his side as an elite military retainer. This early ancestor of Yakamochi's successfully led the wandering imperial party out of the mountains on their trek to Yamato, for which Jimmu praised his loyalty and bravery and granted him the name Michi no Omi, "The Retainer of the Way." Michi no Omi continued his heroics as the group fought its way on across Japan. Sent to deal with the treacherous Ukashi of Uda, who planned to kill Jimmu and his men, Yakamochi's ancestor forced Ukashi into his own carefully prepared floor trap, then sliced up his body for good measure, and held a great party in celebration. On another occasion Michi no Omi destroyed a band of enemies of the imperial house by the ruse of inviting them to a party. Once the guests were drunk and off their guard, he and his men attacked and slew the entire troop. When Jimmu assumed the throne as first emperor of Japan, Yakamochi's ancestor was the first of his followers rewarded, accorded special favor for faithful service and granted a house near the palace at Unebi. Through later generations the name of Michi no Omi, ancestor of the Otomos, was repeatedly cited in the chronicles as the exemplary faithful and virtuous minister.3 Other Otomos consistently appear as military and government leaders in the legendary history of the succeeding centuries. One Otomo general reputedly accompanied the legendary hero Yamato Takeru on his campaign against rebellious tribesmen in the East and was rewarded with command of the guild of quiver bearers, a troop of imperial guards composed of the sons of the great families of the provinces. Though the episode seems fictional, the Otomos did later traditionally command the quiver-bearing imperial guard, sometimes called the Kume-be. Otomos reputedly served as government ministers in the reigns of Emperor Suinin (first century A.D.) and Emperor Chuai (late second century).4 The accounts of the distant age of the gods and the beginnings of the imperial line in the chronicles are legends, not reliable history. Scholars disagree on the extent to which the eighth-century compi3. NKBT Nihonshoki, 1:196-198, 203-204, 214; 2:36, 43; Aston, Nihongi, 1:115-118, 123-124,133; 2:16, 21; NKBT Kojiki, pp. 155-157; Philippi, Kojiki, pp. 171-172. 4. NKBT Nihonshoki, 1:268, 303, 306, 328; Aston, Nihongi, 1:175, 204, 207, 222-223.

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lations reflect earlier Japanese history, but it does appear likely that the Otomos were closely associated from an early time with the clan that eventually became the imperial family. When the chronicles were edited in the early eighth century, the Otomos were clearly an important military family close to the center of power, who thus deserved, indeed required, attribution of ancient and lofty origins. From the late fifth century through the sixth, when the chronicles become more dependable sources, the Otomos were at the height of their power. Specific historical Otomos, direct ancestors of Yakamochi's, were extremely powerful figures, much of their influence being based on their clan's military strength. In the late fifth century, Otomo Muruya served as Emperor Yuryaku's great minister (omuraji). The two were also hunting companions, and Muruya handled such personal tasks for the emperor as punishing women unfaithful to him. When Yuryaku died, he left the country in the hands of Muruya and a cominister, who determined the succession by armed force. Their own candidate ascended the throne as Emperor Seinei, and not surprisingly reconfirmed Muruya as great minister. Muruya and his guard of quiver bearers were also given charge of the gates of the palace, a duty that long remained an Otomo responsibility. The main palace gate, the south-central one later known as the Suzaku gate, was even originally called the Otomo gate. In numerous later records, we see an Otomo leading the palace guards to open and close the gate for court ceremonies, a role logically developing from the family's traditional function of providing the leader of the emperor's troops. 5 The Otomo clan attained its pinnacle of power and prestige in the sixth century under Muruya's grandson, the famous minister Otomo Kanamura. Kanamura served as great minister through the reigns of five emperors. Not only was he in power longer than any of the emperors he served, but he seems to have had much to do with selecting the emperors and their empresses as well, and also to have largely managed Japan's foreign policy, sending his sons to lead the family troops to fight the country's wars in Korea. Upon the death of Emperor Ninken (r. 488-498), Kanamura personally led a force of several thousand men, probably his own troops, to 5. NKBT Nihonshoki, 1:460, 462, 498, 502-504; Aston, Nihongi, 1:337, 338, 369, 374-375; Saeki, ed., Shinsen shojiroku no kenkyu (1938), 1:217-218 (for the original text of this early ninth-century genealogy's article on the Otomos), 2:452-454 (for discussion and collection of other references to the clan's keeping of the palace gates). 6

FAMILY B A C K G R O U N D

destroy a competing minister and put his own choice on the throne as Emperor Buretsu. When Buretsu died without offspring, Kanamura selected Keitai as successor—again a show of family force helped. Soon after, he selected an empress for Keitai as well. Yakamochi's ancestor continued to serve as first minister under the emperors Ankan (r. 531-535), Senka (r. 535-539), and Kimmei (r. 539-571), until he finally overstepped his authority by ceding some Japanese lands to Korea on his own and fell from favor.6 The Otomo family fortunes revived in the mid-seventh century, when Yakamochi's more direct forebears were once again among the most powerful figures in the land. Kanamura's grandson— Yakamochi's great-grandfather—Otomo Nagatoko (or Umakai) served as great minister in the reigns of Emperor Jomei (r. 629641), Empress Kogyoku (r. 642-645), and Emperor Kotoku (r. 645-654). 7 The Otomos played a vital military role in the Jinshin war of succession in 672, supporting the victorious Emperor Temmu. Early in the rebellion, Nagatoko's brother Otomo Fukei dealt a severe blow to the forces opposing Temmu, tricking much of their army into surrendering when he marched boldly into their camp with a few followers and pretended to be the vanguard of Temmu's massed troops. Fukei sent his nephew Yasumaro (Yakamochi's grandfather) to report the good news of the unexpected victory to Temmu; in his delight Temmu made Fukei commanding general of the campaign in the Yamato heartland. Fukei eventually won control of the region around the capital, assuring Temmu's succession to the throne. The Otomo leader and his associates ordered the officials of the old government to surrender their posts, imprisoned the leaders of the old regime, and sent Temmu the head of the opposition candidate for the succession. Under Temmu's rule, the Otomo heroes of the war that had put him on the throne naturally assumed positions of influence. When one of these warriors, Fukei's brother Umakuta, died in 683, the emperor praised his great deeds in the rebellion and the service of his ancestors for generations, granting him a posthumous promotion and elaborate funeral rites with flutes and drums, such as were only 6. NKBT Nihonshoki, 2:11-14,20-22,26-28, 50-51, 57, 59, 65-66; Aston, Nihongi, 1:402-404; 2:2-4, 7 - 9 , 26, 28-29, 33, 35, 38-39. Kanamura's military prowess is even mentioned in one of the very few digressions from straight genealogy in the last books of the Kojiki: NKBT, p. 337; Philippi, p. 385. 7. NKBT Nihonshoki, 2:229, 244, 270, 311; Aston, Nihongi, 2:166, 172, 196, 235-236. 7

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN THE DUSK

allowed to those of the highest rank. When Otomo Fukei himself died a few months later, he too was given imperial praise and honors for his deeds in the war. 8 The death of the Otomos who had helped to put Temmu on the throne left the clan represented by the next generation, Nagatoko's sons Miyuki and Yasumaro, who had also participated in the war, but only in junior positions. Miyuki rose to major counselor, the third-ranking position in the government. A hundred extra income households had been given him for his role in Temmu's rise to power, and by special imperial decree his descendants were allowed to continue to receive twenty-five percent of this income. Some time after his death, in recognition of his promotion of the gold industry in Tsushima, his descendants were also granted income from an additional hundred households and considerable acreage of paddy land.9 With Miyuki's death, Yakamochi's grandfather Yasumaro became the head of the clan and the dominant Otomo at court. Though too young to have been a major figure in the revolt, Yasumaro was one of the very few left alive who had at least taken part, the last of the grand old men. Like his brother Miyuki and many of their forebears, he rose to the high rank of senior third, and served in important government positions. By Yasumaro's day the early Japanese bureaucracy was well established. A brief outline of the system of ranks and offices will help make clear the Otomo clan's prestigious status. There were nine basic grades of officials, starting with an unnumbered beginning rank and then progressing from eighth rank up to first rank. Each of these ranks, except the very lowest and the very highest, had four subdivisions: upper and lower grades on the junior level, and upper and lower grades on the senior level. The system thus had a total of thirty different steps, specified by their .rank number and subdivision, such as "senior fourth rank, lower grade" or "junior sixth rank, upper grade." Of the approximately 200,000 people who lived in the city of Nara, 10,000 worked in the offices of the palace complex. The vast majority of these were of the sixth rank and below. Those of the beginning rank and the lowly eighth rank were employed as clerks 8. NKBT Nihonshoki, 2:394-406, 458; Aston, Nihongi, 2:310-319, 360-361. 9. NKBT Nihonshoki, 2:523; Aston, Nihongi, 2:414. Shoku Nihongi, inTakedaand Imaizumi, eds., Rikkokushi (1933), entries dated Taiho 171/15,1/7/21,1/817. 8

NARA REGION

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

and supervisors in the various government bureaus. The seventh rank was that of a slightly higher level of bureaucrat, and also of many professionals—doctors, university professors, and specialists in such fields as yin-yang, mathematics, and astronomy. Those of the sixth rank were apt to serve as the fourth- and fifthranking officials in the major cabinet-level ministries, and headed many of the lesser government offices such as the palace weaving studio, the sake brewery, the palace kitchen, and the office of trade regulation for the city markets. Officials holding ranks up to the sixth received various allotments of food and salaries paid in cloth, and in later years partly also in coin. The annual salary range for these government workers was set by the Taiho code of 701 at eighteen to twenty-four meters of silk, one-half to two kilograms of silk or mulberry floss (for padding winter clothes and quilts), thirtyeight to sixty-three meters of hemp or ramie cloth, and five to fifteen iron hoes. Far better off than these general government workers were the one hundred to two hundred officials of fifth rank and above, who comprised the real nobility. Those of fifth rank served as the second- and third-ranking officers of ministries such as those of the treasury, justice, and central affairs. Other fifth-rank officials headed important bureaus within these ministries—the university, the yin-yang bureau, the government accounting office, the office of taxation, and the like. Heads of the major ministries were chosen from those of the fourth rank. These elite fourth- and fifthrank officials not only received larger annual salaries than those of lesser position, but were also allotted a generous additional stipend because of their rank, paid as hundreds of meters of cloth of various kinds. Moreover, they were assigned twenty to forty servants, and the taxes collected in rice or other crops from some twenty to sixty acres of land and from up to a hundred households. Their sons could also begin their government careers at the seventh or eighth rank without taking the civil service examination. Perhaps a dozen men at most held the lofty ranks of third and above at any one time. These were the leaders of the government— the prime minister, the great ministers of the left and right, the four major counselors, and the three middle counselors—who sat on the Great Council of State that ran the country. Not all these positions were necessarily filled at once; that of prime minister was particularly often left vacant, leaving one of the great ministers head of the government. Those few who served in these positions were 10

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A WARBLER'S S O N G IN THE DUSK

very richly compensated. Their annual salaries ranged up to 1,800 meters of cloth, but there«ilsource of their wealth was the tax income allotted them from up to 300 acres of farmland and 3,600 households. Each was also assigned from 60 to 400 attendants, and both sons and grandsons got a considerable headstart in their first positions.10 Rank was largely determined by one's family background. Many officials gained their initial posts by passing the civil service examinations, which emphasized the Chinese classics. Candidates with the very best scores might secure a first post at the top grade of the eighth rank. Any son of an official of the fifth rank or above, however, was appointed to at least the eighth rank without taking the test; those of high ranking families might begin their careers as high as the fifth rank. Officials with good marks on their annual evaluations could expect to be promoted a grade about once every six years. Thus even after a successful forty-year career, an official without the advantage of noble family background could seldom hope to rise beyond the middle grades of the sixth rank—the same general level at which the sons and grandsons of important officials were allowed to begin their careers. Ótomo Miyuki, a major counselor of the senior third rank on the Great Council of State, had been the preeminent member of the clan while he lived, and one of the nation's richest and most powerful men. Not long after his death, his younger brother Yasumaro, Yakamochi's grandfather, rose to that position. Yasumaro had already served as minister of ceremonial and minister of war. From 705 he served for almost ten years as major counselor and commanding general, rising to senior third rank. Empress Gemmei (r. 707-715) singled him out for praise for his loyal service, and expressed her hope that his descendants would continue to serve the throne. In 710 when the new capital was built at Nara, Yasumaro was allotted a sizeable parcel of land for his mansion in Sao, the prestigious northeast section of the city, near the palace, as befitted one of his important position.11 On Yasumaro's death in 714, the family house and the position of clem head passed to his son Ótomo Tabito, Yakamochi's father. Though a mere child during the Jinshin rebellion, Tabito came of 10. All the figures above are based on the 706 revision of the Taihó code amounts, Shoku Nihongi, Keiun 3/2/16. A convenient summary is available in Aoki Kazuo's excellent Nihott no rekishi 111: Nara no miyako (1965), pp. 135-142. 11. NKBT Nihonshoki, 2:460-461, 475, 482; Aston, Nihongi, 2:362, 375, 380. Shoku Nihongi, Taihó 2/1/17, 2/5/21, 2/7/24; Keiun 2/8/11; Wadó 1/3/3, 1/7/15, 7/5/1.

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age and began his career in a world where his relatives held positions of considerable power and prestige as a result of their distinguished military service in support of the winning side. Though he appears to have been the most distinguished Otomo of his generation, his own advancement was unremarkable. Not until his mid-forties did he achieve a position rating mention in the official chronicles, when he served as a commander of the guards, senior fifth rank—a position in the Otomo family tradition of military service, but not one of particular importance. Only in his fifties, after Yasumaro's death, did Tabito begin to rise rapidly in rank and to hold important middle-level government positions, serving as head of the important ministry of central affairs, as middle counselor, as general in charge of pacifying the rebellious tribesmen in Kyushu, and as governor general of the military outpost of Dazaifu in Kyushu. Finally, shortly before his death in 731, he too achieved the high post of major counselor, junior second rank. He appears to have been a favorite of Empress Gensho's (r. 715-724), who issued a curious edict in 720 commending him for his campaign in Kyushu against the tribesmen and announcing the dispatch of a special messenger to convey her concern for his discomfort in the summer heat. But, despite this imperial solicitude and his brief service on the Great Council of State in the final days of his life, Tabito remained largely outside the real circles of government power. Otomo Muruya and Otomo Kanamura had chosen emperors in the fifth and sixth centuries, and, more recently, other Otomos had put Emperor Temmu on the throne, but the clan's great days were over.12 By the time Yakamochi was born in 718, Yasumaro and the other great Otomos were all already dead. 13 Tabito himself was in his 12. Shoku Nihongi, Wado 3/1/1; Reiki 1/5/22; Yoro 2/3/10, 4/3/4, 4/6/17; Tempyo 3/7/25, NKBT Man'yoshu, vol. 2, p. 55; vol. 4, p. 177. 13. Determining Yakamochi's birth date requires considerable detective work. An entry in the Kugyo bunin, a tenth-century listing of nobility, gives the date as 729, but then goes on to give Yakamochi's age in 781 as sixty-four, when simple subtraction would make him only fifty-two. The 729 date must be in error, for Yakamochi's first datable poem is from 733 and does not seem the work of a four-year-old. If the age in 781 is correct, Yakamochi would have been bom in 718 or 719, depending on how one adjusts for the Oriental method of counting age. From the note to Man'yoshu poem 8:1591 and the order of the poems in Book VIII we know that in the fall of 738 Yakamochi held the post of imperial attendant. Imperial attendants were selected at the end of each year from among those young men of good family who had turned twenty. Thus if Yakamochi was appointed at the end of 737, in the fall of 13

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN THE D U S K

fifties when his son was born, and he died when the boy was barely in his teens, leaving him without any influential family support. Though family tradition and even the national chronicles made much of the glory of the Otomos, for Yakamochi the clan's greatness resided only in stories of the past. Not only had the Otomo clan declined, but the very society in which it had flourished by giving loyal military service to the emperor had changed markedly by the time Yakamochi was a young man. In Kanamura's day, in the sixth century, perhaps the height of Otomo power, the Yamato state was still largely a federation of lineage groups. The great families were thus extremely powerful; the emperor was simply the top of the hierarchy of powerful clans. Moreover, the early nobility were fighting men, as vividly illustrated by the artifacts found in their tombs—clay haniwa statues of horses and armored riders, swords, iron slat armor, iron helmets, and elaborate horse trappings. The records of the sixth century in the national chronicles reinforce the picture of a warrior nobility, for the accounts are predominantly of battles—thousands of men and warships sent time and again to fight in Korea, an emperor giving his general a battle axe, troops refusing to obey a general who had retreated, horses and weapons regularly awarded as the most precious of gifts. Much of Otomo Kanamura's power apparently derived from his own independent military strength. He could use his family troops to enforce his choice of emperor or foreign policy. When the Otomos again rose to importance in the seventh century, society had changed considerably, but Emperor Temmu had still been swept to power by his military strength, or, more precisely, the military strength of his followers. The nobility were still real soldiers, experienced in war and rewarded for their deeds in battle. Even when peace was restored, Temmu still ordered all men to keep themselves prepared with weapons and in training, and reiterated that military matters were a government's first concern.14 With this military force, and with the increasingly centralized imperial government already established, Temmu was an 738 he would have been twenty or twenty one, and therefore born in 717 or 718. Dates as early as 716 and as late as 720 have also been suggested from varying interpretations of this same data, but 718 seems the most reasonable and commonly accepted date. See for example the early but standard work by Oyama Tokujiro, Otomo Yakamochi no kenkyu (1956), always useful for its presentation of much primary source material, pp. 3-5. 14. NKBT Nihonshoki, 2:420, 462; Aston, Nihongi, 2:330, 365. H

FAMILY B A C K G R O U N D

extremely powerful figure. Indeed, the Man'yoshu poems from his reign begin to speak of the emperor in newly grand terms: "godlike" (kamusabi), "like the god he is" (kamu nagara), " t h e reign of a

god" (kami no miyo). Yakamochi's ancestor Otomo Miyuki, for example, wrote in praise of Temmu after the succession battle: 19:4260 Okimi wa kami rti shi maseba akagoma no harabau tai 0 miyako to nashitsu

Since our lord is a god, He has raised a capital From fields w h e r e C h e s t n u t colts o n c e ran.

This mighty ruler commanded faithful military service, and could well reward those who provided it. Thus the Otomos' traditional warrior's loyalty was eminently suited to the times. Temmu's military power enabled him to complete the Chineseinspired reforms begun by his predecessors. "Hus strong centred government and Chinese influence brought rapid and drastic changes to Japan from the mid-seventh to the mid-eighth centuries. With China as an example, Temmu planned an imposing capital city, promulgated codes of law and administration, established a central government bureaucracy, and ordered a national history compiled to legitimize his rule. The great families moved to the capital, received new titles and grants from the government, and took up positions in the bureaucracy, becoming a new kind of citified civil nobility. By the time Yakamochi was a young man, the new society of Temmu's reforms—helped along by the Japanese discovery of the irresistible splendors of T'ang Chinese civilization—had completely replaced the old warrior elite organized by kinship ties. The new ruling elite were bureaucrats and courtiers, turning out paper work in government offices. The bureaucracy seems to have rivaled that of a modern government, with complex census reports, personnel files, external audits, and the like. Its pervasiveness is suggested by one of the eighth-century Buddhist tales in the Nihon Rydiki, where a petition from a sufferer in hell reputedly was not acted on for twenty years because it was lost in the bureaucratic shuffle.15 15. NKBT Nihon rydiki, pp. 421-423; for an English translation see Kyoko Motomochi Nakamura, Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition (1973), pp. 271-272. 15

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

These government officials of Yakamochi's day were also courtiers, dressing in T'ang Chinese fashions, accompanying the emperor on pleasure excursions, and composing sophisticated Chinese poems for his banquets. Those around the emperor diverted themselves with games utilizing carved ivory markers on intricately inlaid boards, and with jade flutes or lutes decorated with exotic foreign patterns of camels, parrots, and elephants. Military skills and austere warrior's virtues were no longer their primary concerns. Emperor Mommu (r. 697-707) found it necessary to chastise his courtiers for their improper behavior, shocked that men and women were together both day and night. In 711 the empress complained that her guards were weak, ignorant of military arts, and quite useless—warriors only in name. Empress Koken (r. 749-758) similarly criticized her officials for spending so much time at disorderly drinking parties; the situation was so bad that she angrily prohibited drinking, except for ceremonial and medicinal purposes, and threatened those caught indulging with the loss of a large portion of their annual salaries.16 The army proper now consisted of conscripted lower-class foot soldiers from the provinces, who seem to have spent most of their time working on government building projects. Administrative army posts and those in the various guard units attached to the palace were just another part of the bureaucracy, to which officials were apt to be assigned for a six-year term. And, in fact, the guards serving the emperor and imperial princes were no longer really soldiers at all. The post had become a prestigious first assignment for young men of good family, who served as decorative escorts and personal attendants. Emperor Shomu, who reigned in Yakamochi's day, was not a military leader by any stretch of the imagination. His main interest was Buddhism. He devoted most of his energy and much of his country's wealth to building a colossal statue of the Buddha in a vast temple complex of Todaiji. He once had 700 priests read sutras in the palace for the good of the nation; on another occasion he had 3,000 people take religious vows. He also had national temples constructed in each province, and copied sutras for them in his own hand. Shomu also displayed his delicate calligraphy in making his own collection of quotations from Chinese poetry that referred to Buddhism. Showing his religious respect for life, he rescinded capital punishment and forbade the keeping of hawks for hunting. 16. Shoku Nihongi, Keiun 3/3/14, Wado 4/9/2, Tempyo Hoji 2/2/20.

16

FAMILY B A C K G R O U N D

In midlife he abdicated to devote himself to religion. His resignation meant little sacrifice of power, for his ministers and advisers were already really in control of the country. Not only were military skills no longer important, but loyal service to the emperor made little sense when he had little power and desired only to cut his ties with the world. Even kinship ties were of decreasing significance, as complex political maneuvering and factional intrigues became the basic politics of the period. Since the elite of the various clans and provinces all now lived, worked, and met socially in the capital, everyone of rank knew everyone else. Indeed, after several generations of this ingrown society, where the real nobility of fifth rank or above numbered only a few hundred, it seems that almost everyone was related to everyone else. Family background still mattered, of course, but family lines were increasingly blurred, and political rivalries and alliances often cut across clan groupings in the complex intrigues that absorbed the court. In fact, the practice of determining beginning rank by family status often meant that the most direct competition for advancement was among relatives. Noble warriors like the Otomos, faithful to their emperor and to their clan, were not the men of this new age. Although the Otomo clan's glory was distinctly in the past, and its virtues no longer very appropriate in a changing society, Yakamochi could not ignore his family heritage. As Tabito's eldest son and heir, destined to inherit the family house built by Yasumaro and to become head of the clan, Yakamochi was very aware that he was an Otomo. Throughout his life, his concern with his clan and its former glory remained a major and distinctive theme of his poetry, in lines such as the following: 1814094 Masurao no kiyoki sono na 0 inishie yo ima no otsutsu ni nagasaeru oya no kodomo so otomo to saeki no uji wa hito no oya no tatsuru kotodate h ito no kowa oya no na tatazu dkimi ni matsurou mono to iitsugeru koto no tsukasa so

We are the Otomo and Saeki, Sons of those who bore The unsullied warrior name, The name passed down from ancient times Unto the present, The name of which the fathers pledged: "Our sons will serve His Majesty, Maintaining our ancestral trust," As it is handed down. 17

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K 204465

Hisakata no ama no to hiraki From the reign of the ancestral god takachiho no take ni amorishi Who opened the far-off heavenly door sumerokino kaminomiyoyori And descended to Mount Takachiho, hajiyumio tanigirimotashi We have served our emperor. makagoya 0 tabasamisoete Gripping waxwood bows, okume no masuratakeo 0 Taking deer arrows under arm, saki ni tate yuki torio$e We sent the brave Kume guards yama kawa 0 home sakumite Ahead with quivers, fumitori kunimagi shitsutsu Crossed over hills and streams, chihayaburu kamiokotomuke Treading rock roots underfoot, matsuroenu hitoomoyawashi To seek the land. hakiktyome tsukaematsurite We appeased the stone-crushing gods akizushima yamato no kuni no with prayers, kashiwara no unebi no miya niPacified the peoples who would not obey, miyabashira futoshiritatete ame no shita shirashimeshikeru Swept dear the realm. sumeroki no ama no hitsugi to For reign upon reign of sovereigns tsugite kuru kimi no miyo miyo Successor to the first imperial one Who raised the great pillars of the kakusawanu akaki kokoro0 sumerabe ni ktwame tsukushite Unebi palace tsukaekuru oya no tsukasa to On Kashi plain in dragonfly Yamato, And from there ruled the underheaven, Our ancestors served the emperor With all their souls, With nothing in their loyal hearts to hide. Not only was Yakamochi conscious of being an Otomo, but he also tended to see himself as a masurao, the kind of strong, manly, loyal warrior the Otomos traditionally represented. In the first poem above, he mentions his family's "unsullied warrior name" (masurao no I kiyoki sono na 0); in an envoy to that long poem he says that he is stirred to feel like a masurao himself (masurao no I kokoro omdyu—18:4095). Yakamochi frequently speaks in his poems of willing himself to act like a masurao, as a member of the Otomo clan should, as in the following lines: 17:3962

Okimi no make no manimani In obedience to the imperial masurao no kokoro command, furiokoshi. . . . I aroused my warrior's spirit. This concept of masurao, translated in the poems above as "warrior" and elsewhere variously as "man," "strong man," "true 18

FAMILY B A C K G R O U N D

man," "brave man," or the like, is a central concern of Yakamochi's poetry. The word masurao, or its adjectival variant masuraoburi ("tnasurao-like") is a Man'yoshu catchword, immediately associated with the anthology in the minds of most Japanese. Any Japanese junior high school student would identify the Man'yoshu as masurao literature, a characterization of the poetry as "manly"—by which is usually meant simple, direct, sincere, and forceful, in contrast to the "feminine" refinement, delicacy, elegance, and indirection of succeeding centuries of classical Japanese literature. This view of Man'yd poetry as masurao literature originated with the influential eighteenth-century scholar and poet Kamo Mabuchi, who

borrowed and applied the Man'yoshu word to those qualities of strength and directness which he particularly admired and emphasized in his study of the anthology. Indeed, he seems to have seen masurao qualities everywhere. "[This] is a land of masurao," he wrote. "In ancient times even women were like masurao. Thus the poems of the Man'yoshu are largely in the masurao manner."17 However, the popular and wide-ranging associations of masurao as epitomizing the essence of the Man'yoshu, and even the essence of 17. Kamo Mabuchi, "Niimanabi," in Sasaki Nobutsuna, ed., Kamo Mabuchi zenshu (1930), 10:311.

19

A WARBLER'S S O N G IN THE DUSK

the Japanese spirit in general, are not the same as those the word had for the Man'yoshu poets themselves. In fact, far from seeing masurao qualities as characterizing their age and their poetry, the Man'yd poets, other than Yakamochi, were usually conscious instead of the deficiency of those qualities which they associated with a masurao. Dictionaries and commentaries variously define the old Man'yoshu term masurao from its constituent parts as masu- or masari- (iff, f j , , "excelling, surpassing, excellent"; plus -ra-, an adjectival suffix, or -ara- ( " r o u g h , wild"; plus-o ( "man." Though frequently transcribed phonetically in the anthology, when masurao is written with characters chosen for their meanings, by far the most common selection is ^ ^ . This compound is a general term for officials of high rank, though it can also sometimes refer to a particular position. Thus by their choice of characters, the Man'yoshu poets and compilers indicate that the Japanese word masurao must have meant a member of the nobility, a high government official. A few other character compounds are occasionally also used, suggesting other associations of the term; iZlz "strong-man," "military-man," ( t 5! "robust-male," "excelling-rough-man." In the anthology's titles and notes, which are written in Chinese, the apparent Chinese translation of masurao is % ih "brave man, hero." The term's usage in the Man'yo poems similarly suggests that a masurao, while probably a government official, was certainly a soldier, as in the following poems. The first is presumably by Empress Gemmei in 708, the second by the court poet Kasa Kanamura some ten to twenty years later: 1:76 Masurao no tomo no oto sunari mononofu no omae tsu kimi tate tatsu rashi mo

3:364

Masurao no yuzue furiokose itsuru ya 0 nochi mimu hito wa katari tsugu ga ne

I hear the warriors' bowstrings Snap against their armguards— The general must be Readying his shields.

Raise high your warriors' bows! So those who see the arrows you shoot Will pass the story on.

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A masurao was apparently also supposed to have the qualities conventionally associated with the English adjective "manly"— strength, courage, fortitude, and control of his emotions. For the Man'yoshu poets, however, these characteristics are mostly notable for their absence, for even in the earliest examples the speakers of the poems find themselves unable to live up to the ideal: . . . Yama kosu kaze no hitori oru wa ga koromode n i asa yoi n i kaerainureba masurao to omoeru ware mo kusamakura tabi ni shi areba omoiyaru tazuki o shirani aminourano ama otomera ga yaku sh io no omoi so yaku ru wa ga shitagokoro

. . . Night and morning When the wind from the mountains Blows back my lonely sleeves On this grass-pillow journey, Although I am a warrior I find no respite from my yearning. Like the salt fires Of the fisher girls on Ami bay, My longing smolders within.

The above lines are from a poem attributed to a Prince Ikusa during the reign of Emperor Jomei (r. 629-641). Other examples of supposedly strong masurao who are distressed to find themselves overwhelmed by uncontrollable emotion abound, particularly among the poems of Books XI and XII from the Hitomaro Collection and the early Nara period: 11:2386 Iwao sura yukitörubeki masurao mo koi tou koto wa nochikuiniari

Faced with this thing called love, Even a warrior Who can break through stone, Comes but to grief.

11:2584 Masurao to omoeru ware 0 kakubakari koiseshimuru wa ashiku wa arikeri

That I who thought myself a strong man Should be made to yearn like this— It's all wrong.

11:2635 Tsurugi tachi mi ni hakisouru masurao ya koi tou mono 0 shinobikanetemu

The warrior who Girds on his great s w o r d — Why can't he bear This thing called love?

21

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN THE D U S K 12:2987

Azusa yumi hikite yuruenu masurao ya koi tou mono 0 shinobikanetemu

The warrior who Draws the catalpa bow, And never lets it slacken— Why can't he bear This thing called love?

Indeed the Man'yd poets soon became quite sure they were no longer disciplined masurao at all, but courtiers entangled in love affairs, and they viewed the change with some humor: 12:2875

Ametsuchi ni sukoshi itaranu masurao to omoishi ware ya ogokoro mo naki

12:2907

Masurao no satoki kokoro mo ima wa nashi koi no yatsuko ni ware wa shinubeshi

I who thought myself a warrior, Just slightly less than heaven and earth, Find I have no manly strength.

I've now lost All warrior's shrewdness— I will die a slave of love.

That being a masurao was an ideal and not the common state is similarly suggested by an interesting example from one of the Buddha's footprint stones at the Yakushiji in Nara. One of the religious poems inscribed on these stones from the period of the Man'yoshu refers to the Buddha as a masurao. In his treatment of this poetic series, Roy Andrew Miller translates the term as "master," and suggests the word implies that the Buddha is in complete control of his human nature: Masurao no susumisakitachi fumeru ato 0 mitsutsu shinowamu tada ni au mate ni masa ni au mate ni

As we behold them, let us praise The footprints trod in by The master Going on ahead to leave us Until we meet directly: Until we meet face to face. 18

18. Roy Andrew Miller, "The Footprints of the Buddha": An Eighth-Century Old Japanese Poetic Sequence (1975), pp. 108-110. Quoted by permission.

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Increasingly, however, masurao was used to mean simply a man or a courtier, a natural enough development as the warriors themselves became elegant citified officials: 10:1924 Masurao ga fushii nagekite tsukuritaru shidari yanagi no kazura se wagimo 4:627 Wagatamoto makamu to omowanu masurao wa ochimizu motome shiraga oinitari

Wear this willow garland, love, Made by this strong warrior, As he lay sighing.

Warrior W h o would pillow on m y sleeve, G o seek the waters of y o u t h — For there are white hairs on your head.

Conscious of his place in a long line of masurao, Yakamochi naturally uses the word frequently—one-third of the total instances in the Man'yoshu occur in his poems. In his more conventional verses, he sometimes uses it in much the same manner as other poets of his age, to mean simply a man of rank, a courtier. He urges his guests to enjoy a party and calls them masurao no tomo, "my masurao companions": 19:4152 Okuyama no yatsuo no tsubaki tsubaraka ni kyo wa kurasane masurao no tomo

Enjoy yourselves today, men, A s fully as the camellias bloom Deep in the eight-ranged hills.

While at home in Nara thinking of the court ceremonies going on around the emperor in Shigaraki, Yakamochi uses masurao to refer to the courtiers dressed in special costumes decorated in the oldfashioned manner by rubbing with iris, who participate in a pageantlike excursion to gather herbs or the new antlers of deer: 17:3921 Kakitsubata kinu nisu ritsuke masurao no kisoi kari sum tsuki wa kinikeri

The month is come W h e n courtiers don Garments iris-rubbed, And perform the ritual hunt.

23

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN THE DUSK

But most of Yakamochi's uses of masurao, and those in his more interesting and characteristic poems, revive the old meaning of a strong and stalwart warrior. People in Yakamochi's verses do not discover any distressing lack of masurao qualities, they are true masurao, brave warriors who give loyal service to their lord. He calls the frontier guards who leave their families obediently to go off to serve in distant Kyushu masurao, though these commoners never give themselves that noble title in their own poems: 20:4331 Okimi no mikoto no manima masurao no kokoro 0 mochite ari meguri koto shi owaraba tsutsumawazu kaerikimase to

May you keep your warrior spirit true A s ordered by our sovereign lord And w h e n your time of sailing round is done, May you come safely home. . . .

He urges his son-in-law to show the mastery of his emotions expected of a warrior, in verses sent in condolence on the death of that young man's mother: 19:4216 Yo no naka no tsune naki koto wa shiruramu o kokoro tsukusu na masurao ni shite

You must know that Nothing in this world can last. Don't be so sore distressed, True warrior that you are.

Yakamochi naturally calls his ancestors true masurao, as in the poems cited above, but most explicit in its emphasis on the virtues of an old-fashioned warrior is a poem in which he expresses his resolve to establish his own reputation as a masurao: A poem on determining to make his 19:4164 Chichinomi no chichi no mikoto hahasoba no haha no mikoto oboroka ni kokoro tsukushite omouramu sono ko nare ya mo masurao ya munashiku arubeki azusayumi sue furiokoshi nageyamochi chihiro iwatashi tsurugitachi koshi ni torihaki

name known as a masurao: W a s m y parents' love of m e lukewarm? W a s I born a warrior in vain? I will raise m y bow A n d set an arrow, Make it fly six thousand feet; Gird on m y great sword And cross foot-trailing mountains, Many peaked.

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ashihiki no yatsuo fumikoe sashimakuru kokoro sayarazu rtoch i no yo no kataritsugubeku na o tatsubeshi mo 19:4165

Masurao wa na 0 shi tatsubeshi nochi no yo ni kikitsugu hito mo kataritsugu ga ne

I will not disappoint by lord, But will make a name so splendid Later generations will pass it on.

I shall make a name As a great warrior, So even those who hear In later years Will pass it on.

The above two poems were composed in imitation of Yamanoue Okura

The specific inspiration in Okura, a noted poet of the preceding generation, must be his poem 6:978: 6:978

Onoko ya mo munashikarubeki yorozuyo ni kataritsugubeki na wa tatazu shite

Was I born a man in vain?— Not to make a name Passed on ten thousand generations.

Okura refers to his reputation as an onoko, with the character i , "man," or more usually, "scholar, gentleman, official." He seems to be concerned with his name as an official, or perhaps even as a scholar and poet, in the Chinese tradition. Yakamochi, however, wants to make his name as a masurao, which he writes M -i- "brave man, hero" in the Chinese title, and speaks of performing military feats and giving faithful service to his lord, sounding very little like the scholar Okura, and thoroughly like a member of the military Otomo clan. The ideal of the masurao that Yakamochi affirms is not merely conventional, but distinctly old-fashioned for its day, even glaringly out of date in the new age of courtier-bureaucrats. His contemporaries were busily affirming that they were not masurao after all, or were using the term simply to mean courtier. Yakamochi's interest in the past is perhaps to be expected of a member of a conservative family that had once flourished by upholding the old virtues. Doubtless a certain romantic nostalgia for the golden age of old is at work. Yakamochi's use of the old-fashioned materials, however, differs markedly from the tradition. Even the earliest 25

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

Mati'yoshu poets consistently treat of failure to live up to the old warrior ideal in a changing society, reiterating the discovery that they were not masurao after all. Yet Yakamochi, a thoroughly cultivated courtier, regularly calls himself and the characters in his poetry masurao, and affirms the warrior's traditional virtues as an attainable norm. Beyond this change in emphasis, Yakamochi's very use of oldfashioned material is itself distinctly new. Romanticism and nostalgia are attitudes of considerable literary sophistication. But, more importantly, unlike the early Man'yd poets, Yakamochi is neither speaking for all men in his society nor writing conventional verses that could have been written by any of his contemporaries. In fact, it is hard to imagine anyone other than Yakamochi composing the above poems on masurao and the Otomo clan, they are so markedly individual. This extreme consciousness of himself as an Otomo and a masurao, and as an individual different from other men, is perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of Yakamochi's verse. His version of the old warrior values is a central concern throughout his poetry, as he writes of the Otomo reputation, his service in Etchu, the departure of the guards for the frontier, and the like, and this concern is uniquely his, not shared by other poets in his age. He is specifically personal in writing of "my family," "our reputation," "my name," and, most interesting of all, "my life." He writes thoroughly individual poems, not only on being an Otomo and a masurao, but on such distinctively personal topics as his enjoyment of hunting and fishing, his anger at the loss of his favorite hawk, his concern for his garden, or his amused annoyance at a philandering clerk. Instead of the traditionally important matters of mass concern such as the establishment of palaces, the deaths of princes, and the excursions of the court, he finds everyday incidents in his own life worthy material for poetry. Such personal expression, radically new and extremely appealing, is the basis for many of Yakamochi's most interesting poems. With this new individualism comes a new loneliness, for a man aware of being an individual, different from others and apart from his society, is a man aware of being fundamentally alone. This darker side of Yakamochi's characteristic individualism brings a whole new range of emotions to early Japanese poetry, evident in many of the short poems from late in his career for which he is best known, such as the following famous example: 26

FAMILY BACKGROUND 19:4292 Uraura ni tereru harubi ni hibariagari kokoro kanashi mo hitori shi omoeba

In the gentle light Of the warm spring sun A lark soars off, While I am heavyhearted and aching, Alone.

In such poems Yakamochi subtly expresses a startlingly modern individual's feelings of alienation, isolation, ennui, vague depression—fundamental dissatisfaction with the human condition— the feelings of an Otomo and a masurao in an age that had little use for either.

TWO

Growing up in Dazaifu: Chinese Poetry and Literary Experimentation

Y

spent his youth in the frontier city of Dazaifu in Kyushu, where his father Tabito was governor-general. As the port closest to the continent, Dazaifu was the gateway through which Chinese culture entered Japan. A talented group of officials stationed there in Yakamochi's day formed a lively community of poets, experimenting with applying things learned from Chinese poetry to their own compositions in Japanese. Yakamochi never looked to Chinese literature with the same enthusiasm as had the Dazaifu literary circle, but from the poets surrounding him in his youth he absorbed an interest in experimentation, in continually seeking new ways to expand the range of the highly conventional native verse tradition for his own thoroughly individualistic expression. The vital outpost at Dazaifu, near the modem city of Fukuoka, had originally been built to defend against invasion from the continent. A huge earthen wall, still standing some fourteen meters tall and a kilometer long, blocked the river valley, the only approach to the city. A pair of fortresses commanded the hilltops on either side of the approach, some thirty buildings standing within the encircling five-kilometer earth and stone wall of each. Several thousand frontier guards, drafted from till over the country, manned the forts and an early warning system of coastal lookouts and signal fires. The city, with its many government buildings and residences, was well protected in the valley. There dwelt the Dazaifu governorAKAMOCHI

28

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general, who directed national defense and supervised the Kyushu provincial governments. Though Japan was never forcibly attacked in the Man'yoshu period, she did see a kind of foreign cultural invasion, and this influx, too, came through Dazaifu. All the official Japanese delegations of diplomats, priests, scholars, and students going to China left from Dazaifu and returned there with their first-hand stories of the continent, their new knowledge, and their precious books and artwork. The frequent parties of government envoys from the Korean kingdoms and occasional groups of Chinese all came through Dazaifu as well, sometimes not continuing on to the capital in Nara at all. The city and its government buildings were built to be particularly imposing, as the face Japan showed her foreign visitors. All the delegations going to and from the continent were provided with lodging and entertained with welcoming and farewell banquets, giving a cosmopolitan variety to the social life of the officials resident in Dazaifu. Waves of immigrants from the Korean kingdoms must have come through as well, especially in the city's early years. Most were resettled in other parts of the country by the government, but some stayed in the area—a doctor serving on Tabito's staff was apparently a Korean immigrant. But the most remarkable aspect of life in Dazaifu while Yakamochi was there was its literary atmosphere, for it was a community that included the major Japanese poets of the age. Joining Tabito were his half-sister Lady Otomo Sakanoue, who apparently came to manage his household affairs after his wife died; and his friend Yamanoue Okura, governor of the nearby province of Chikuzen. These three figures were the outstanding poets of their generation, and indeed among Japan's most famous poets in any age. Also resident in Dazaifu at the time was the priest Manzei, who was overseeing the construction of a temple. Only a few of Manzei's verses are preserved in the Man'yoshu, but among them is one of the best known in the anthology, regularly included in later collections and often alluded to by later writers, most notably in the Uji chapters of the eleventh-century novel The Tale of Genji: 3:351

Y0 no naka 0 nani ni tatoemu asabiraki kogi inishifune no ato naki ga goto

To what shall I compare this life?— A boat that rows away at dawn, And leaves no trace behind.

29

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

This community of poets, away from the traditions and distractions of Nara, must have been a stimulating environment for literature, for almost all the poems remaining to us by Tabito, Okura, and Manzei were written in Dazaifu. These poets also regularly gathered with the rest of the Dazaifu officials at official banquets and private parties, where the primary cultivated amusement was composing verse. A series of poems by some thirty guests at a banquet under the blossoming plum trees in Tabito's garden in 730, which Yakamochi would have attended, suggests not only the literary cultivation of

his father's circle, but also the remarkable degree of Chinese influence on their poetry. The poems are introduced in the Man'yoshu by a preface attributed to Tabito: On the thirteenth of the first month of 730 we gathered for a banquet at the house of the old man, the governor-general. It was the splendid season of early spring. The weather was pleasant; the wind was mild. Plum blossoms scattered like powder before the mirror; orchids emitted fragrance like a sachet tucked in the sash. Moreover, clouds moved across the peaks at dawn and gauze hung on the pines, making a canopy. Haze covered the crags at evening and silk enfolded the birds, lost in the forest. In the garden young butterflies danced; in the sky last year's geese returned north. Here, with heaven for our canopy and the 30

G R O W I N G UP IN D A Z A I F U

earth for our seat, we drew knee to knee and passed the cup. We forgot about making conversation in a room; we opened our collars to the mist outdoors. I did simply as I pleased; I was pleasantly content. If it weren't for the garden of literature, how would we express our feelings? The poetry of old includes verses on the falling plum blossoms—and how does our day differ from the past? We composed a few slight songs on the plums in the garden. Among the thirty poems composed on the occasion are the following: 5:818 Haru sareba mazu saku yado no ume no hana hitori mitsutsu ya haru hikurasamu

5:821 Aoyanagi ume to no hana o orikazashi nomite no nochi wa chirinu tomo yoshi 5:822 Wa ga sono ni ume no hanachiru hisakata no ame yori yuki no nagarekuru kamo 5:833 Toshinoha ni haru no kitaraba kaku shi koso ume 0 kazashite tanoshiku nomame

5«39 Haru no no ni kiri tachiwatari furu yuki to

When spring comes And the first plums bloom In your garden, Could you spend the long spring days Looking on them by yourself? The governor of Chikuzen, Yamanoue fOkura] After we've made our garlands Of green willow and blossoms of plum, And drunk our fill— Who cares if the blossoms fall. Kasa Sami [Manzei] In my garden The plum blossoms fall— Or does snow flow From the distant heavens? The host [Tabito] Let's put plum blossoms In our hair like this Each spring that comes, And lustily drink. The senior clerk, No Sukunamaro Till people think them falling snow, Misting all the fields of spring, The plum blossoms fall. 31

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK hito no miru made ume no hana chiru 5:840 Haru yanagi kazuraniorishi ume no hana tare ka ukabeshi sakazuki no e ni 5:843 Ume no hana orikazashitsutsu morohito no asobu 0 mireba miyakoshizomou

The Chikuzen clerk, Ta Makami Plum blossoms, Picked to make garlands Like willows, Who will float you in his cup? The Iki clerk, Mura Ochikata Seeing all of you make merry, Breaking plum boughs And making garlands, I think of the capital. Hanishi Mimichi

Following the poems on the plum blossoms are two on longing for the capital by Tabito on the same occasion: 5:847 Wagasakari itaku kudachinu kumo ni tobu kusuri hamu tomo mata ochime yamo 5:848 Kumo ni tobu kusuri hamu yo wa miyako miba iyashiki a ga mi mata ochinubeshi

My prime is long since passed; Though I drank elixir For flying through the clouds, Could I grow young again?

Better than elixir For flying through the clouds, If I could but see the capital This poor body would grow young again.

Tabito sent these poems and preface on the plum blossoms to a friend in the capital. His friend replied with a poem on the plum banquet himself, lamenting that he would rather have been even a tree in such a fine garden than be left behind in Nara (5:866), and learnedly comparing the participants to the disciples of Confucius.1 This series of poems and their preface suggest the extreme degree of influence of Chinese poetry on the elegant literary circle at 1. See the notes to the NKBT Man'yôshû, vol. 2, pp. 87-8 32

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Dazaifu. Almost everything about the poems on the plum blossoms is newly and fashionably Chinese. Though the Japanese had long performed songs and drunk rice wine at their ceremonies and parties, holding a party especially to admire the plum blossoms and compose poems on them was an elegant and apparently continentally inspired innovation. These are among the earliest poems in Japanese extolling plum blossoms, though the motif becomes common in later Man'ydshii verse. The blossoms had only come into vogue in China as a particular object of admiration in poetry in the Six Dynasties period (222-589). The Dazaifu series of poems is introduced by a preface, as was popular in Six Dynasties and early T'ang Chinese verse. The preface is written in Chinese, and its general organization, ornate language, and elaborate parallel phrasing resemble Chinese models. Japanese commentators cite specific Chinese sources for some of the phrasing: Wang Hsi-chih's "Orchid Pavilion Preface" for "The weather was pleasant; the wind was mild" and "I was pleasantly content"; Liu Po Lun's "In Praise of the Virtues of Wine" for "Here, with heaven for our canopy and the earth for our seat." Other phrases are simply conventional, such as comparing the scattering plum blossoms to a woman's face powder, or speaking of relaxing by loosening one's collar to the air. In Six Dynasties and early T'ang poems, the plum is commonly a companion of the recluse scholar, often associated with the willow and spring mist, and often suggestive of the ephemeral nature of youth and beauty. Plums in the Chinese poems also bloom alone in the snow, or in their whiteness are even confused with the snow.2 These same motifs are clearly seen in the poems by the reclusive Japanese country gentlemen at Dazaifu: the association of the willow with the plum, the pretended confusion of the plum blossoms with the snow, and the evocation of lost youth by the falling blossoms. Tabito's poems also mention the magic elixir of the Taoist sages, which enables them to fly and live forever—common stuff in Chinese literature, but rare indeed for the Man'ydshii. Finally, even some of the language of these poems seems influenced by Chinese. Only one character of the family name is given for many of the authors of these plum banquet poems, in what appears to be an attempt to sound Chinese. Thus Otomo Momoyo is called simply "Tomo Momoyo," or perhaps with a more Chinese reading, "Ban Momoyo." The names of Ta (Yamada? Oda?) 2. See Hans H. Frankel, "The Plum Tree in Chinese Poetry" (1952), pp. 88-115. 33

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK

Makami and No (Ono? Mino?) Sukunamaro in the poems cited above are similarly curiously abbreviated. This eccentric system of leaving out half of the family name is unprecedented and annoyingly ambiguous in Japanese. Tabito's poem 822 speaks of the snow streaming or flowing (nagarekuru), an unusual verb to use in Japanese, but one with ample precedent in Chinese. In another poem of the series, not translated above, the plum blossoms are said to steal or snatch (ubau) the whiteness of the snow (5:850), again a strange expression for Japanese that seems inspired by Chinese usage in such lines as "Autumn leaves steal the rouge's red," or "The plum blossoms steal the whiteness of the silk on the loom." 3 Though the preface, general topic, specific motifs, and even vocabulary of these poems show Chinese influence, they differ in degree, not kind, from poetry written in the capital on similar occasions. The courtiers in Nara also sometimes wrote Japanese poems generally inspired by the fashionable Chinese example. The major writers among Tabito's and Okura's contemporaries in the capital, however, were Yamabe Akahito and Kasa Kanamura, court poets who produced traditional Japanese poems in praise of palaces and sacred scenic places, working from conventions long associated with the old court ceremonial song. Dazaifu had no such weight of imperial court tradition, and as the doorway to China, was especially open to cultural influence from the continent. The Dazaifu poetry in general shows considerably more Chinese influence than most of the rest of the poetry of the time, and many of the poems composed by members of that isolated literary circle are thoroughly unlike other poetry in the Matt'yoshu or for centuries thereafter in Japan. Many of Tabito's own poems were revolutionary for poetry in Japanese, though they might have seemed perfectly normal if composed in Chinese. For example, his famous poems on the virtues of drinking rice wine: 3:338

Shirushi tiaki mono 0 omcrwazu wa hitotsuki no nigoreru sake 0 notnubeku arurashi

Instead of useless pondering. Better to drink a cup Of cheap wine.

3. See Kojima Noriyuki, jodai Nihon bungaku to Chugoku bungaku (1962-1965),

2:935-937.

34

G R O W I N G UP IN D A Z A I F U 3=339

Sake no na o hijiri to oseshi inishie no oki hijiri no koto no yoroshisa

3=340 Inishie no nana no sakashiki hitodomo mo horiseshi mono wa sake ni shi arurashi 3:341 Sakashimi to mono iu yori wa sake nomite einaki suru shi masaritarurashi 3:342 Iwamu sube semu sube shirazu kiwamarite totoki mono wa sake ni shi arurashi 3:343 Nakanaka ni hito to arazu wa sakatsubo ni nariniteshikamo sake ni shiminamu 3:344

Ana miniku sakashira 0 su to sake nomanu hito 0 yoku mireba saru ni kamo niru

3:345

Atai naki takara to iu tomo hitotsuki no nigoreru sake ni animasameyamo

That great sage of old, Who named wine "sage"— How right he was.

What even the seven sages Craved in ancient days Was wine.

Rather than pompous talk, Far better to drink wine And weep drunken tears.

Inexpressibly, Incomprehensibly, Utterly precious Is wine.

When I no longer am a man, I would be a sake jar, Soaking up the wine.

Revolting— That pompous man Who drinks no wine And calls fools those who do— He's a monkey. Could what they call The priceless jewel Be worth more than a cup Of cheap wine?

35

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3:346

Yoru hikaru tama to iu tomo sake nomite kokorooyaru ni ani shikame yamo

3:347

Yo no naka no asobi no michi ni suzushiku wa einaki suru ni arubekarurashi

3:348 Ko no yo ni shi tanoshiku araba komu yo ni wa mushi ni tori ni mo ware wa narinamu 3:349 Ikeru mono tsui ni mo shinuru mono ni areba ko no yo naru ma wa tanoshiku 0 ara na

3:350 Moda orite sakashira suru wa sake nomite einaki suru ni nao shikazukeri

Could what they call The gem that lights the night, Be as good as finding cheer Drinking wine?

If I can't enjoy The world's diversions, I can at least Weep drunken tears.

To taste the pleasures Of this world, I'll be a bug or a bird In the next.

All who live Die in the end— So while we're in this world Let's make merry.

Being silent and wise Isn't half as good As weeping drunken tears.

These poems are radically different from anything else in the and indeed from most of classical Japanese poetry, with the exception of a few other verses from the Dazaifu circle, both in their subject matter and their philosophy. Their explicit treatment of moral and philosophical matters is more characteristic of Chinese than of Japanese poetry. A few of the earliest pre-Man'ydshu Japanese poems are from ceremonies where man offered wine to the gods and consumed considerable quantities himself. These early drinking songs at most simply comment "How drunk I am" or "How good this wine is"; certainly none make drinking a philosophical choice. The rest of the Man'yoshii largely avoids the topic

Man'ydshii,

36

GROWING UP IN DAZAIFU

of drinking. Nor are many Man'yoshu poems so explicit in expressing a view of the nature of life and the proper way to behave as these are with their assertion that philosophical speculation, upright behavior, and Buddhism are all useless, that all man can do is drink and be merry while he lives. The poems are, however, a great deal like a number of Chinese poems that Tabito is likely to have known; in fact throughout the series he may be playing the Chinese recluse scholar. Their particular subject matter is obviously similar to that of the "Nineteen Old Poems" in the Wen Hsiiart, the vast sixth-century anthology of Chinese literature from about 300 B.C. to the sixth century that was the basis for literary education in early Japan: 13

14

Man's days are fleeting, a stay in temporary lodgings; Life is not lasting like metal or stone. Ten thousand years relentlessly roll by, But saints and sages can't escape. They drink elixirs seeking immortality, But many only find their potions do them harm. Better far to drink good wine, And dress in fine white silks. Life's years do not come to a hundred, Yet they bring a thousand years' grief. Day is short and the bitter night is long, So raise a light and go out rambling. Now's the time for seeking pleasure; If s no good waiting for tomorrow to come. 4

Tabito's works are also reminiscent of the "Poems on Drinking Wine" by T'ao Ch'ien, whose works were early available in Japan: 3

The way has declined almost a thousand years And all men now hold back their impulses. Give them wine and they refuse to drink All they care for is their reputation. Whatever gives the body any value Is it not just this one single life?

4. Conveniently available with Japanese notes in Ito and Itsukai, eds., Kan Ki Rikucho shishu in Chugoku koten bungaku taikei (1972), pp. 50-51, 404. Translations of the series of poems are available in Burton Watson, Chinese Lyricism (1971), and Arthur Waley, Chinese Poetry (1946). 37

A WARBLER'S S O N G IN THE DUSK But how long is a lifetime after all? It is brief as the startling lightning bolt. Staid and stolid through their hundred years What do they ever hope to get from this? 13

I always have two guests who lodge with me Whose inclinations keep them far apart, One is always getting drunk alone One stays sober all the year around. They laugh at one another, drunk and sober, And neither understands the other's words. How very stupid is this hidebound fellow! The drunkard's detachment seems wiser. A word of counsel to the drunken guest: Light the candles when the sun goes down.

And from an untitled poem by the same author: That is the way things are and there's no help, And so you might as well enjoy a drink. 5

As well as this general resemblance to common themes of some well-known Chinese verses, Tabito also uses numerous specific references to Chinese traditions. The second poem of the series (3:339) praises the wisdom of those in third-century China who, when the emperor prohibited wine, called it "sage" and drank it secretly. The seven sages of ancient days of the third poem (3:340) are the seven sages of the bamboo grove, a famous group of Taoist scholar-poets in third-century China who stayed away from court, debating philosophy and enjoying their wine in the forest instead. One of them even wrote a piece titled "In Praise of the Virtues of Wine" in the Wen Hsuan (Book 24). Tabito's sixth poem (3:343) recalls the story of Cheng Ch'uan, who asked to be buried near a kiln, so that when his body turned to earth it might be dug up by a potter and made into a wine jar. The "priceless jewel" of poem 3:345 is a conventional term for the Buddhist law, and may refer particularly to an incident in the popular Lotus Sutra, where a priceless jewel is put into the robes of a poor man while he is in a drunken sleep. Unaware of his treasure, he continues to suffer poverty. Buddha, the sutra says, has similarly given man all knowledge, but man remains unaware of it. The jewel that lights the 5. Translations by James Hightower, The Poetry of T'ao Ch'ien (1970), pp. 127, 143-144,195. Quoted by permission.

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night of the next poem (3:346) seems also to be a Chinese phrase, occurring in such works as the Shu I Chi: "In the south seas there is a pearl, the whale eye. Seeing it in the dark one would call it 'night shining.'" In other Chinese examples, this "jewel that lights the night" is the wine cup, an association probably not lost on Tabito. Reincarnation as a bird or worm (3:348) and the statement "all who live must die" (3:349) reflect common Buddhist tenets, though they also resemble specific texts.6 Tabito thus seems to be writing poems in his own language like those he knew in Chinese, a thoroughly new kind of Japanese verse. He had supportive company among his literary friends in Dazaifu for such experiments, most notably Yamanoue Okura. Probably of Korean ancestry, Okura was a serious Chinese scholar, selected in his youth because of his ability in Chinese for three years of government-sponsored study in China, despite his very low rank. Later, again because of his skill in Chinese studies, he served as tutor to the young Emperor Shomu. Not surprisingly, Okura too looked to the model of Chinese verse to expand the range of his own Japanese poetry. Okura's "Essay Grieving for Himself in His Severe Illness," preceding Man'ydshu poem 5:897, makes his Chinese scholarship vividly clear. This dolorous prose piece—the only essay in the anthology and the only one remaining from the period—laments at length the injustice of his suffering when he has done no wrong. But it also leaves us in no doubt about the Chinese books he read. He not only alludes freely to Chinese sources, but quotes from them directly, and notes his references: I think to myself that even he who morning and evening hunts for his food in the hills and fields gets by without disaster. Even he who day and night fishes the rivers and seas lives in good fortune. From the day of my birth up to now I have striven to do good, I have had no evil intentions. Not for one day have I neglected to worship the three treasures, never for a night have I failed to honor the hundred gods. Oh, the shameful misery. What grave sin have I committed to be inflicted with this foul disease? Many years have passed since I first took sick. Now I am seventy-four, my hair and beard are streaked with white, my body is frail. Not only am I old, but I am ill as well. It is as the proverb says: "Salt will be rubbed into the already painful wound; the end will be cut from the already short stick." My four limbs have trouble mov6. See Nakanishi Susumu, Man'ydshu no hikaku bungakuteki kenkyu (1963), 2:341 for details on all these Chinese sources.

39

A WARBLER'S S O N G IN THE DUSK ing. All my hundred joints give pain. M y body feels as heavy as if I shouldered a weight. When I try to stand holding to the curtain, I am like a bird with a broken wing. When I try to walk leaning on a cane, I am like a donkey with a lame leg.

After lamenting the failure of various sages and diviners to help him, and cataloging a whole series of famous Chinese doctors and healers of times past who are not around to treat him, Okura continues by quoting a work no longer extant: The Po Kung Ltieh Shuo says, "What people yearn and strive for is long life. Life is to be desired. Death is to be feared." The greatest virtue of heaven and earth is life. A dead man is less than a living mouse. Once even a noble or king ceases breathing for a day, though he had gold piled as high as mountains, w h o would now think him rich? Though his influence once stretched wide as the seas, who would now think him grand? The Yu-hsien K'u says, "A person in the underwork! of the nine springs isn't worth a cent." Confucius says, "What is given by heaven and cannot be changed is one's appearance. What is received as fate and cannot be prolonged is one's lifespan." 3 Thus w e know the extreme value of l i f e — a s important as fate. Words fail me when I try to express its v a l u e — w h a t can I say? My thoughts are stymied when I try to consider i t — h o w can I grasp it? Whether wise or foolish, in times past or present, all people grieve at death. The months and years race by. The days and nights never pause. b Old age and illness urge each other on. Morning and evening my pain throbs. When one's life's pleasures have yet to pass before one, c a thousand years of suffering press in from behind.*1 Though all living beings have mortal bodies, there is not one w h j does not seek immortality. Thus Taoist wise men and sages take their cinnabar foimulas for elixirs and go off into famous mountains to compound magic drugs, cultivate their natures, and refresh their spirits, seeking eternal life. Pao P'u-tsu says, "Emperor Shen N u n g said, rJ the hundred illnesses are not cured, how can man hope for a long life?'" Po Kung also says, "Life is good. Death is bad." If one is unfortunate and does not live long, does he rejoice in his good fortune to escape pain and illness? . . . a. This appears in Kuei Ku's character sketches. b. Tseng-tsu says, "What go and never return are the years." Confucius's sighs by the river were for this same reason. c. The Wei Emperor Wen says in his poem lamenting the death of an able man of his times, "Night in the western pleasure garden had net yet passed, when suddenly he was dust in the northern graveyard.' d. The old poem says, "Life's years do not come to a hundred,/Yet the/ bring a thousand years' grief."

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This essay is followed immediately by a Chinese poem with an extended preface that begins: I think to myself that the religion of Shakyamuni and the Bodhisattva Maitreya has revealed the three treasures8 and the five commandments, and changed the world of the law.b The teachings of the Duke of Chou and Confucius have spread the three bonds0 and the five precepts, and brought order to the nation." Thus though there are two teachings, there is only one enlightenment. . . . a. The Buddha, the law, and the priesthood. b. The five commandments are thou shalt not kill, steal, commit adultery, lie, or drink. c. Ruler-subject, father-son, husband-wife. d. The five precepts are a father's duty, a mother's love, an elder brother's friendship, a younger brother's obedience, and a son's filial piety. This early Japanese writer was clearly familiar not only with the Confucian classics and Taoist treatises (Po Kung's and Pao P'u-tsu's works), but also with such mildly improper popular romances as the Yu-hsien K'u (The Dwelling of Playful Goddesses). 7 Naturally Okura drew upon this wide knowledge of Chinese literature in his own poetry. His best known poem, "Dialogue on Poverty," for example, is radically unlike any earlier extant poem in Japanese, and indeed little like any work in the language for centuries after. Like Tabito's drinking songs, it is, however, much like a number of Chinese works. 5:892

Kaze majie ame furuyo no ame majie yuki furuyo wa sube mo naku samuku shi areba katashio 0 toritsuzushiroi kasuyuzake uchisusuroite shiwabukai hanabishibishini shika to aranu hige kakinadete are 0 okite hito wa araji to hokoroedo samuku shi areba asabusuma hikikagafuri nutio kataginu ari no kotogoto kisoedomo samuki yo surao wareyorimo mazushikihitono chichi haha wa uekogoyuramu

On a night the rain falls Driven by the wind, On a night the snow falls Blown with the rain, In the penetrating cold, I rubble at a chunk of rock salt, Sip wine dregs stretched with water. Coughing, sniffling, Stroking my thin beard, I'm smug that I'm as good as any man. But it's so cold I pull the coarse hemp blanket Over my head, Wear every thin vest I have—

7. Translated by Howard Levy (1965). 41

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E DUSK

me kodomo wa n iyobinakuramu konotokiwa ikanishitsutsuka nagayowawataru

And still it's cold. On nights like this What of those who're poorer still? Your parents must be cold and starving, Your wife and children must weakly sob. How do you get by in times like these?

Arne tsuch i wa h irosh i to iedo a ga tarne wa saku ya narinuru hi tsuki wa akashi to iedo a ga tarne wa teri ya tamawanu hitominaka are nomi ya shikaru wakuraba ni hito to wa aru o hitonami ni are mo tsukuru o wata mo naki nuno kataginu no miru no goto wawakesagareru kakafu nomi kata ni uchikake fuseio no mageio no uchi ni hitatsuchi ni wara tokishikite chichi haha wa makura no kata ni me kodomo wa atono kata n i kakumiite ureesamayoi kamadoniwa hokefukitatezu koshiki ni wa kumo no su kakite iikashiku kotomowasurete nuedori no nodoyoi oru ni itonokite mijikaki mono o hashi kiru to ieru ga gotoku shimoto toru satoosa ga koe wa neyadomade kitachiyobainu kaku bakari sube naki mono ka yo no naka no michi

The heavens and earth are vast, they say, Is it on me alone that they press in? The sun and moon are bright, they say, Is it on me alone they fail to shine? Do all feel thus? Or is it only me? By rare chance I was born a man, And like other men I work my fields, But only rags hang from my shoulders, An unquilted vest in tatters Dangling like seaweed strands. Under a sagging roof, in leaning walls, With straw scattered over a dirt floor, My parents at my pillow, Wife and children at my feet, Surround me with quiet sobbing. In the hearth no embers glow; In the pot a spider spins its web. We forgot long ago how to cook rice. Weeping softly as nue birds we sit, When, to cut the end, as the saying goes, From a stick already short, The voice of the village headman With his whip Comes to our bedroom. Does life bring nothing but affliction As this world goes?

5:893 Yo no naka 0 ushi to yasashi to

This world is a bitter, shameful place, But I cannot fly away, 42

G R O W I N G UP IN DAZAIFU

omoedomo

tobitachikanetsu toritiishiaraneba

For I have not the wings of a bird.

Like Tabito's poems on wine, this famous work by Okura seems Chinese both in its general conception and in numerous details. The subject matter of poverty is unusual for a classical Japanese poem, even in the Man'ydshii. A few other early poems have vivid everyday imagery—arms white as daikon radishes, hair black as mud snails' bowels—but no others describe poverty. In the Chinese verse known to Okura, however, poverty was a common topic. The gentleman who chose to leave court life in protest against its values, and live simply in genteel poverty in retreat in the country, was something of a Chinese cultural hero. For example, a number of poems by T'ao Ch'ien, whose work was available to Okura both in the canonical Wen Hsuati and in a collection of that popular Chinese poet's works that circulated in Japan: . . . So it went and now I am nearly forty With nothing to show for all those years, I cling to firmness in adversity— Of cold and hunger I have had my fill. A dismal wind blows round my wretched shack And a waste of weeds engulfs the courtyard. In a coat of felt I sit the long nights out. . . . Wind and rain came from every quarter And the yield would not suffice a single man. Through summer days we often bore our hunger, Winter nights we slept without covers. . . . Sharp and chill the year draws near its close; On the porch I clutch my coat and sun myself. The southern garden holds no sprig of grass Withered branches fill the northern orchard. I tilt the bottle and no drop comes out I glance at the stove but see no smoke.8

Also unusual for Man'ydshii verse and resembling Chinese examples like the above is Okura's use of descriptive detail. While vivid imagery is plentiful in Man'ydshii metaphorical language, refer8. Translations from Hightower, T'ao Ch'ien: "Poems after Drinking Wine," no. 16, p. 147; "A Lament in the Ch'u Mode," p. 65; "In Praise of Impoverished Gentlemen," no. 2, p. 205. Quoted by permission.

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A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN THE DUSK

ences to such concrete realities as chunks of rock salt, sniffling, straw on the dirt floor, and spider webs in the cooking pot are not at all typical. Descriptive detail is common in Chinese verse, however, and Okura's description of poverty is composed of a number of particular motifs that frequently recur in Chinese poems on poverty (e.g., T'ao Ch'ien's lines above), though they seem natural enough features of poverty in any time or place—cold, hunger, dilapidated houses, ragged clothes. More specific images and phrasings also occur both in Okura and the Chinese poems he knew. T'ao's "Wind and rain came from every quarter" and "I tilt the bottle and no drop comes out /1 glance at the stove but see no smoke" above are suggestive. The longing to fly away like a bird expressed in the envoy has ample Chinese precedent, birds serving as frequent symbols of freedom and escape: I wish I were a crane, calling to its mate— I would take wing and soar away.9

Okura would, moreover, have had available a convenient compendium of the Chinese treatment of poverty under that heading in one of the Chinese literary encyclopedias. These reference works, particularly the Ch'u-hsueh Chi and the Yi-wen Lei-chu, popular in the Six Dynasties and early T'ang, provided a ready collection of lore and exemplary selections from works of the past for the guidance of aspiring poets in China. The early Japanese students of Chinese literature found such guide books to the vast continental tradition wonderfully convenient, and the encyclopedias became important texts at the Nara university. Okura's poem, as we might expect, is thoroughly congruent with the treatment of poverty in the Yi-wen Lei-chit section on the topic. Moreover, specific lines and motifs in Okura's poem seem inspired by the exemplary models in that work: The pot is slow and doesn't want to boil, The firewood is sparse and doesn't burn. Even at noon the room has little warmth. Bitter and gnawed by starvation The husband grumbles in the hall, The wife sighs in the kitchen, 9. From "Nineteen Old Poems," no. 5, in ltd and Itsukai, Kan Ki Rikucho shishu, pp. 44, 403.

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A mournful wind howls to the left, A child cries to the right.10 Dust gathers in the cooking p o t . . . Fish live in the cauldron. . . . "

Of course, Okura's "Dialogue," like Tabito's poems on drinking, remains an integral and first-rate poem, whatever influences are at work. And in some ways these Japanese poems are obviously markedly different from their Chinese predecessors. But it is hard to imagine Okura's or Tabito's poems having been written without the stimulation of Chinese literature, with which both men were so familiar. These two poets not only wrote Chinese-style poetry in Chinese, as did many of their contemporaries, but they boldly exploited possibilities suggested by the foreign literature in their Japanese verse as well, expanding the range of traditionalMan'yos/iM poetry and making it a vehicle for their own uniquely individual expression. If any of their contemporaries made similar experiments, their verses were not preserved, for Okura's and Tabito's works differ markedly from the rest oiMati'yoshu poetry. Certainly they contrast strikingly with the traditional poems in praise of palaces and sacred landscapes that Akahito and Kanamura were composing in those same years at court in Nara. Yakamochi grew up in this remarkable literary environment of Dazaifu. He lived there with his father Tabito from the time he was about eight until he was about thirteen Or fourteen. Perhaps because he was the aging widower's eldest son and was being groomed to become head of the clan, Yakamochi seems to have consorted with the adults, as when he joined a party to see off some visitors from the capital, described in the following note from the

Man'yoshu:

In July of 730, the governor-general Lord Otomo [Tabito] suddenly developed a tumor on his leg and took to his bed in pain. A messenger was immediately dispatched by post-horse to the capital with Lord Otomo's wish to make his last requests to his half-brother Inakimi and 10. From Chin Shu Hsi's "Ode on a Poor Family," in Ou-yang Hsiin, ed., Yi-wen lei-chii, Book 35, "People," Section 19, "Poverty." 11. From Hsu Han shu (History of Han, Continued), in Yi-wen lei-chii, Book 35, "People," Section 19, "Poverty." See also Kojima, Jodai Nihon bungaku to Chugoku bungaku, 2:975-978.

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his nephew Komaro. The assistant director of the Bureau of Military Storehouses, Left Division, Otomo Sukune Inakimi, and the junior secretary of the Ministry of Civil Administration, Otomo Sukune Komaro, were given post-horses and sent by the emperor to care for the governor in his illness. Fortunately, however, he recovered in a few weeks. Once the illness was cured, Inakimi and his group left Dazaifu to return to the capital. The senior secretary Otomo Momoyo, the junior clerk Yamaguchi Wakamaro, and the governor's son Yakamochi saw off the post-horses. On reaching the first post-station of Hinamori, they paused to take a drink and, lamenting the parting, composed these poems on the spot.

This note to the poems (4:566-567) from the occasion is the first reference to Yakamochi in the anthology. No poem of his is included, probably because he was still too young to be expected to produce one, but he may well have memorized or recorded the others' verses, which he put in the Man'yoshu years later. Yakamochi absorbed a great deal in the literary atmosphere of Dazaifu despite his youth. The adults around him were the major poets of his nation, who must have spent considerable time reading, discussing, and criticizing the poetry their circle produced, still considered among the classics of the language. He could hardly have avoided being aware of their concerns and values. Tabito doubtless also provided for the literary education of his eldest son and heir and took pains to see that he grew up a passable poet. Yakamochi amply shows in his own verse in later years that he was well aware of the poetry of the Dazaifu of his youth. When he himself was governor in the provinces years later, he tried his hand at some poems modeled on those of his father's circle. His "Lamenting the Impermanence of Worldly Things" (19:4160) seems inspired by Okura's "Lamenting the Transience of Worldly Things" (5:804); his poem on determining to make his name known (19:4164), cited above, explicitly states that it is modeled on Okura's work. Yakamochi also composed "A Poem after Those on the Plum Blossoms in the Spring Garden When We Were in Dazaifu": 19:4174 Haru no uchi no tanoshikioewa time no hana ta ori okitsutsu asobiniaru beshi

The best of spring's delights Is to gather and make merry, Summoning the plum, And breaking off branches of blossoms.

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This specifically recalls the opening poem in the Dazaifu series, composed by his father's second-in-command: 5:815 Mutsuki tachi haru no kitaraba kaku shi koso ume 0 okitsutsu tanoshiki oemu

When N e w Y e a r comes And spring is here, To summon the plum like this Is the best of delights.

These particularly obvious examples of poems modeled on works from Dazaifu were all written within the span of a few months and were perhaps inspired by going over the manuscript materials from Dazaifu that were to become Book V of the Man'yoshu. Other indications of Yakamochi's familiarity with the poetry of Tabito, Okura, and Lady Sakanoue pervade his verse, however. His early elegy on his young mistress, for example, is laced with convergent allusions to the Dazaifu poets' works on the death of Tabito's young wife, Yakamochi's stepmother. One of Yakamochi's poems on the death of his mistress reads: 3:469 Into ga mishi niwa ni hana saki toki wa henu wa ga naku nctmida imada hinaku ni

The flowers bloom In the garden she once looked out upon, As time slips past, Though m y tears have yet to dry.

Okura's offering on the death of Tabito's wife seems the model: 5:798 Imo ga mishi auchi no hana wa chirinubeshi wa ga naku namida imada hinaku ni

The sandalwood flowers That she once looked upon Will all have scattered Before m y tears begin to dry.

A later poem of Yakamochi's series declares: 3:472 Yo no naka wa tsune kaku nomi to katsu shiredo itiki kokoro wa shinobikanetsu mo

Though I know life Is ever thus, I cannot bear the grief.

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This appears to allude to a poem by his father on a similar feeling of grief: 5793 Yo no naka wa munashiki mono to shiru tokishi iyoyo masumasu kanashikarikeri

I know this life is vanity, Yet my grief But grows ever worse.

Yakamochi's echoing of these poems on the death of his stepmother in his own series of elegies subtly draws a parallel between his own situation and the earlier one in Dazaifu, adding considerably to the interest of his works. Though Yakamochi was clearly thoroughly familiar with the poetry of the Dazaifu circle, his own poetry at first seems remarkably different. It is little influenced by the Chinese literature to which Tabito and Okura turned, and notably avoids such conspicuously Chinese characteristics as explicit treatment of issues of morality and philosophy, references to Confucian and Taoist texts, and subject matter such as wine, poverty, immortal maidens, and magic elixirs. On closer examination, however, it becomes apparent that Yakamochi's approach remains the same as that of the Dazaifu poets. Only the sources that inspire his own varied experiments are different. He turns not to the respectable poetry of the Wen Hsiian studied by Japanese scholars of Chinese literature, but to popular Chinese love verses, and, more importantly, to the native Japanese song tradition. Yakamochi's interest in Chinese love poetry of the Six Dynasties period, such as in the Yu-t'ai Hsin-yung (New Songs from the Jade Terrace) or the Yu-hsiett K'u (The Dwelling of Playful Goddesses), anticipated the ninth- and tenth-century Japanese enthusiasm for this style. These courtly laments on the miseries of love and sophisticated exchanges of witty repartee have few of the qualities usually thought of as typically Chinese, and have sometimes been dismissed by later Chinese critics as frivolous, but they greatly influenced Japanese poetry in the Heian period (794-1185). Among Yakamochi's contemporaries, this verse had already inspired the fashion for poetry of social exchange, and much of the basic repertoire—the autumn leaves, the cuckoo, the confusion of plum blossoms and snow. Yakamochi, however, as we might expect of a son of Tabito's raised in Dazaifu, was a far more alert student and 48

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craftsman than most, and far bolder in experimenting freely with a variety of topics, techniques, and approaches suggested by Chinese poems. A number of his love poems in an early series to Sakanoue Oiratsume resemble passages in the Yu-hsien K'u, and are generally thought to allude to that work: 4741

Ime no ai wa kurushikarikeri odorokite kakisaguredomo tenimofureneba

Even seeing you in dreams is painful— I wake and grope about But don't even touch your hand.

The Chinese novelette has the passage: I napped for a short time and dreamt of Tenth Maiden. When suddenly I awoke and groped about, my hand was empty, my heart sad. 12

Another of Yakamochi's poems from the same series reads: 4744

Ym saraba yado ake makete ware matamu imeniaimini komu tou hito 0

I will leave the door open at nightfall, Make myself ready and wait For one who said she'd come to me in dreams.

The Yu-hsien K'u has similar lines: Don't close your bedroom door tonight, For I will come to you in dreams. 13

Yakamochi also uses conventional Chinese metaphors common in Six Dynasties love poetry, such as in the following poem from his years in Etchu, where he likens a woman's eyebrows to willow leaves and her skin to rosy peach blossoms: 19:4192

Momo no ham kurenai iro ni nioitaru omowa no uchi ni aoyanagi no hosoki mayone 0 emimagari asakage mitsutsu otomera ga te ni torimoteru

On Two-top Mountain— Top of a mirror box, Clear mirror in a maiden's hand Reflecting her morning face, Delicate green-willow eyebrows

12. Yagisawa, ed., Yusenkutsu zenko (1967), p. 44. Levy translates the same passage somewhat differently on p. 16 of his Dwelling of Playful Goddesses. 13. Yagisawa, Yusenkutsu zenko, p. 166. Levy, Dwelling of Playful Goddesses, p. 51.

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A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK

masokagami futagamiyamani konokureno shigekitanibeo yobitoyome asa tobiwatari yuzuku yo kasokeki nobe ni harobaro ni naku hototogisu tachikuku to haburi ni chirasu fujinami no hana natsukashimi hikiyojite sode ni kokiretsu shimaba shimu tomo

19:4193

Hototogisu naku haburi ni mo chirinikeri sakari sugurashi fujinami no hana

Bent with smiles, Face glowing rosy Like peach blossoms— The cuckoo's song resounds As he flies by at morning, His song ringing Through lush tree-shaded gorges, As he flies through fields Dim in the moonlight, His song faintly heard from afar. I love the wisteria that scatter At the brush of the cuckoo's wing; I pluck the petals off And tuck them in my sleeves— If they stain, they stain. They scatter at the brush Of the cuckoo's wing— Wisteria past their peak.

In all the hundreds of love poems in the Man'yoshu, physical description of any sort is extremely uncommon, so the very idea of picturing the woman in this poem is probably also a Chinese inspiration. Moreover, the organization of the poem—the whole description of the woman and her mirror is simply elaborate decoration modifying the name of the mountain where the cuckoo flies—is a somewhat strained display of the kind of cleverness typical of much Six Dynasties poetry. Yakamochi experiments with another of the techniques by which Six Dynasties poets liked to display their verbal ingenuity— using the same word repeatedly in a poem. 14 An example from among his early verses: 8:1597

Aki no no ni sakeru aki hagi aki kaze ni nabikeru ue ni aki no tsuyu okeri

The autumn clover That blooms in autumn fields Is wet with autumn dew As it bends before the autumn wind.

14. See for example T'ao Ch'ien's "On Stopping Wine," which uses "stop" in some sense in each of its twenty lines, translated in Hightower, Too Ch'ien, p. 157.

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Many years later, while serving as governor of Etchu, he even succeeds in creating from this technique, which appears so unpromising, a poem of considerable charm. Here the repeated word s'nigeshi ("lush, dense, thickly growing") occurs in varied forms and with varied meanings. The English translation attempts to preserve the more appealing subtlety of these variations: 19:4x85 Utsusemi wa koi 0 shigemi to haru makete omoishigekeba hikiyojite ori mo orazu mo rniru goto ni kokoro nagimu to shige yama no tanibe ni ouru yamabuki 0 yado ni hikiuete asa tsuyu ni nioeru hana 0 miru goto ni omoi wa yamazu koi shi shigeshi mo

19:4186 Yamabuki o yado ni uete wa miru goto ni omoi wa yamazu koi koso masare

This world grows rank with love, And tangled grows my longing when spring comes. By my door I plant wild roses From dense grown mountain valleys, And think to find some solace Each time I gaze upon them, Whether I pluck them Or leave them where they grow. But when I look upon these flowers Bright with morning dew, My longing is not calmed— It only grows more rampant. When I look upon the mountain roses Planted by my door My longing is not calmed— My love increases.

Also in the tradition of the Six Dynasties delight in wit and verbal dexterity, Yakamochi tries using the sort of puns and puzzles common in popular Chinese love poetry. Though using matsu to mean both "wait" and "pine tree" at once becomes tediously common in later years, when the pun or pivot word had become a basic technique of Japanese poetry, Yakamochi's verse below, from late in his career, appears to be the only example in the Man'yoshu: 20:4464 Hototogisu kaketsutsu kimiga matsu kage ni himo tokisakuru tsuki chikaxukinu

The month's drawn near To loose our belts beneath the pine And pine for the cuckoo.

Yakamochi also tries writing poems that show off his technique by fulfilling certain challenging prefixed conditions. For example, 51

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in his Etchu years he tries composing poems without the common particles, those basic Japanese markers of subjects, objects, directions, and other assorted relations between words that make sense of statements and help to fill out the lines to the necessary five or seven syllables: 19:4176

Wagakadoyu naki sugiwataru hototogisu iya natsukashiku kikedo akidarazu

Cuckoo flying by my gate, Ever do I want to hear you, Never do I tire of your song.

This poem does not use the six particles mo, no, wa, te, ni, or o.

Though the Japanese never seem to have taken up the Six Dynasties habit of extravagant circumlocutions for common words ("the golden crow" for the sun, "not a stone" for the heart), the ponderous Man'yd writing system lent itself easily to the related technique of writing common words in clever ways. The Chinese verse sometimes played with the writing system too. The first poem of the tenth book of the Yu-t'ai Hsin-yung, for example, writes "to leave" (tti) as "on top of a mountain (|JL|) there is another mountain." This same anonymous Man'yd song is taken up by Yakamochi in the following early poem: 4743

Wagakoiwa chibiki no iwa 0 nana bakari kubi ni kakemu mo kami no manimani

My longing is like Seven stones around my neck, Stones it takes a thousand men to pull— It shall be as the gods will.

The last line is the puzzle. The first two characters are clearly kami no, "the gods'" or "of the gods." The last two are literally "all" and "bow down, lie face down," apparently indicating a term from a popular gambling game when four flat sticks were thrown like dice and the outcome determined by how many landed face down. Other combinations of these sticks occur in other Man'yoshu poems (10:1874, 12:2988), but "all down" was the best throw, enabling a player to move the most spaces on the board and gain other advantages. Thus "all down" was used to mean "do as one pleases," and here is therefore read manimani, "as one wills."15 15. Ide Itaru, "Manimani ni tsuite" (1958), pp. 27-29. 52

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Yakamochi also experiments with a variety of highly unusual sound patterns, including even the basic Chinese device of rhyme, essentially never used in Japanese poetry since all words end with one of a mere five vowel sounds. One Etchu-period choka (17:4006) uses verb forms ending with -ba eight times at regular intervals. His "Poem Expressing His Own Humble Feelings," composed late in his career, has the following unusual rhyming lines, transcribed indicating the old Japanese vowels: 20:4360 sdkidaku mo ogironaki kamo kokibaku mo yutakeki kamo

Endlessly Far ranging, Supremely Vast

Besides specific metaphors and techniques, Yakamochi finds attitudes and atmosphere in Six Dynasties poetry that suit his purposes. His famed "spring sadness"—the complex and pervasive melancholy of his later works, which distinguishes him from early Man'yoshu writers and constitutes much of his appeal for the modern Japanese reader—echoes the tone of Six Dynasties Chinese verse. Many of the delicate and evocative images he uses in his characteristic poems of sadness in spring—the faint breeze rustling the bamboo, the setting sun shining on the blossoms, the warbler's song echoing through the trees—are common elements in the verse of the Yu-t'ai Hsin-yung, as the following scattering of

examples attests:

The lovely sunlight slants into the garden where flowers bloom, The scent of orchids drifts lightly on the breeze. In the setting sun I again redo m y makeup, Then open the blinds and look out at the spring trees. A warbler's song echoes through the leaves, A playful butterfly moves among the flowers. O n e tunes the koto to find solace, But I feel only sorrow, no interest in anything. Slowly, slowly, the sunlight fades. Spring's splendors are all here: Peach blossoms are like red dots, Willow leaves like tangled threads. The evening light moves to the willow strings. In the setting sun the evening shadows lengthen. Spring's swallows cavort in pairs; Spring's feeling is a constant aching. 53

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The morning sun shines on the northern forest; The first blossoms are colored like brocade. Who wouldn't yearn in spring, Seated alone at the loom? Bamboo leaves rustle by the south window; Moonlight shines on the eastern wall. Who knows the nights I lie awake alone, Tears dropping on my pillow. 16 Yakamochi's best works, with their more effective concentration and subtlety, are considerably more appealing than most of their Six Dynasties forerunners, but his creations are surely possible only because of what he absorbed from works like the Yii-tai Hsin-yung. 19:4290 Haru no no ni kasumi tanabiki uraganashi kcmoyükage ni uguisu naku mo 19:4291 Wagayado no isasa muratake fuku kaze no oto no kasokeki konoyübekamo

Mist trails Across the fields of spring Faintly sad In the dusk A warbler sings. The breeze rustles faintly Through the bush bamboo In the garden This evening.

Other experiments and innovations of Yakamochi's were less directly inspired by Chinese literature. He continued throughout his career to read and study other poetry, to consider how poems worked, and to try the things he had learned in his o w n poetry in a wide variety of n e w techniques and approaches. He often positioned the major break in meaning and grammar in his poems after the third line, as is common in later five-line poems, instead of after the second and fourth lines as in much Man'yoshu verse. He commonly ended poems with nouns, inverting the normal word order, or just not making full grammatical sentences, for imagistic verses presenting pictures such as became common in poetry in succeeding centuries: 16. Suzuki Torao, ed., Gyokudai shin'ei shu (1956; rpt. 1975), 2:313, 383-384; 3:309, 350-351.

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G R O W I N G U P IN D A Z A I F U 19:4139

Haru no sono kurenai tiiou

momo no hana shitaderu michi ni idetatsu otome

Spring garden

Rosy glowing peach blossoms

On theflower-litpath Stands a maiden.

He also tried constructing poems predominantly of verbs, conveying a feeling of action—or at least flurry: 19:4253

Tachite ite matedo machikane

I stood up, sat back down, Tried to wait but couldn't and set

kazashitsuru hagi

And clover decks our hair.

idete koshi kimi ni koko ni ai

out— Now I meet you here

The opening three lines of this poem are a staccato rush of short verbs, literally, "stood, sat, waited, but couldn't wait, set out, came." The noun hagi (bush clover) ends the poem. Yakamochi was apt to use standard versification very freely. Usually the lines of a poem were distinguished not only by syllable count, but also by divisions of grammar and meaning. Often, however, he varied the number of syllables per line from the expected five or seven (e.g., 19:4253 above, 17:4017 below), and made ample use of enjambment and of abrupt breaks within a line, as the following awkwardly literal translation of one of his late poems suggests: 19:4285

Omiya no

The deep snow fallen

mezurashiku fureru oyuki na fumi so ne oshi

Both inside and outside The great palace complex— Please don't step on it. It's lovely.

uchi ni mo to ni mo

Wondrously

The last line breaks sharply into two sentences, in contrast to the usual seven-syllable syntactic unit. Another technique Yakamochi frequently tried was unusually lively colloquial language: 4:764 Momotose ni oijita idete yoyomu tomo ware wa itowaji koi wa masu tomo

Though you get to be a hundred, Your tongue protrudes, Your back's all hunched, I won't dislike you— I'll only love you more. 55

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His poems from his years in Etchu are dotted with words in the local dialect: 17:4017 Ayu nokaze itaku fukurashi nago no ama no tsuri suru obune kogikakuru miyu

Fiercely the east wind blows. The Nago fishing dinghies Row into hiding.

The "east wind" is ayu, an Etchu dialect term, as the original note to the poem tells us. He also cooperated with a friend in creating what is famous as the first renga, or linked verse, a form that became extremely popular in Japan centuries later. In this joint composition, Yakamochi helped a nun assure her patron of her (her daughter's? her ward's?) faithfulness: Two poems a certain person sent to a nun: 8:1633 Though I return and look upon the Te mo suma ni ueshi hagi ni ya clover kaeritewa That I worked so hard to grow, miredomo akazu I cannot gaze enough; kokoro tsukusamu My feeling knows no bounds. 8:1634 Koromode ni mishibu tsuku made ueshi ta 0 hikitawagahae mamoreru kurushi

How bitter that I must hang clappers To protect the field I planted, Getting my own sleeves wet.

A poem in reply by the nun, who composed the first lines and asked Otomo Sukune Yakamochi to add the last lines: 8:1635 Saogawa no From the field you planted mizu 0 sekiagete Damming up the water from the Sao ueshi ta 0 River —ama tsukuru —by the nun karu wasaii wa hitori narubeshi —Yakamochi tsugu

The first rice harvested Belongs to you alone. —by Yakamochi

Sukune is the Ôtomo family title, the third highest of ten honorary ranks given important old clans. 56

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Most particularly characteristic, however, of all Yakamochi's innovations, is that inspired by his extreme interest in the poetry of Japan's past. Especially in the years in Etchu, around the time he was apparently going over the many manuscripts and collections of Japan's earliest poetry to compile the first great anthology of native verse, Yakamochi turned his Dazaifu-like penchant for experimentation to learning to put old native forms, language, and genres to his own new use. Yakamochi tries composing in all the extant traditional forms. He writes a few seddka, an old and never very common verse form of the syllable pattern 5 - 7 - 7 - 5 - 7 - 7 , and even tries bussokusekika, "Buddha's footprint poems" ( 5 - 7 - 5 - 7 - 7 - 7 ) , so called after the steles at the Yakushiji in Nara, one inscribed with the footprints of the Buddha and the other with a series of religious poems in this form. He writes numerous choka, or long poems ( 5 - 7 - 5 - 7 . . . 5-7-7), and indeed uses the old-fashioned extended form for many of his best works, when it was little used by his contemporaries. (The latter increasingly preferred the short tanka form [ 5 - 7 - 5 - 7 - 7 ] , which remained the mainstay of Japanese verse for centuries; for topics that could not be treated in thirty-one syllables, they composed in Chinese.) Yakamochi is also given to using old-fashioned, even archaic language, not used by other Mariydshu poets. His "stone it takes a thousand men to pull" (literally "thousand-pulling stone") of poem 4:743 above, for example, occurs elsewhere only in early accounts of building tombs in the Nihonshoki (a "five-hundredpulling stone" appears in a similar account in the Kojiki). He also takes dignified old language from the imperial edicts, phrases such as takamikura ama no hitsugi, "heavenly emperor on the high throne," as in the following "Poem Prepared in Advance for an Imperial Excursion to the Yoshino Palace": 18:4098

Takamikura ama no hitsugi to ame no shita shirashimeshikeru sumeroki no kami no mikoto no kashikoku mo hajimetamaite totoku mo sadametamaeru miyoshino no kono dmiya ni arigayoi meshitamaurashi mononofu no yasotomo no 0 mo

Always they have come to view the land, Come to the great Yoshino palace, Majestically begun, gloriously established By the ancestral gods who ruled the underheaven As heavenly emperors upon the lofty royal throne. 57

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K onogaoeru onoganaoite ökimi no make no manimani kono kawa no tayuru koto naku kono yama no iya tsugitsugi ni kaku shi koso tsukaematsurame iya tönaga ni 18:4099 Inishieo omohosurashi mo wa go ökimi yoshino no miya 0 arigayoi mesu 18:4100 Mononofu no yaso ujibito mo yoshinogmva tayuru koto naku tsukaetsutsu mimu

A myriad attendant men, Each upholding his clan's name, Obey the royal will; Ceaseless as this river, Constant as these mountains, They will serve eternally. He must be longing for the past— Our lord comes to Yoshino To view the land.

The men of the myriad serving clans Will give eternal service, Constant as the river Yoshino.

The language of this poem is consciously old-fashioned, and Yakamochi uses the conventional theme and general organization of a type of early ceremonial song offered in praise of palaces and sacred sites. Yoshino—a famous sacred area in the hills south of the capital, where early emperors had received divine revelations and later rulers still frequently retreated to do purification ceremonies for the nation—was a frequent subject of the traditional poems of the genre.17 Yakamochi's middle lines on the eternal river and mountains particularly resemble earlier poems in praise of Yoshino: 1:36 Kono kawa no tayuru koto naku kono yama no iya takashirasu mizu tagitsu taki no miyako wa miredo akanu kamo

6:923 sono yama no kono kawa no

iya masumasu ni tayuru koto naku

Though we look upon the palace of the rapids, Where he governs ever lofty as these mountains, Ever constant as this river, We can never gaze our fill. [Kakinomoto Hitomaro] Continuous as these ranging mountains,

17. See H o n Ichiro, "Mountains and Their Importance for the Idea of the Afterworld in Japanese Folk Religion" (1966), pp. 1-23.

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G R O W I N G UP IN D A Z A I F U momoshikino dmiyahitowa tsune tti kayowamu

Ceaselessly a s this river flows, The courtiers of the palace Built of myriad stones and trees, Will c o m e here always. [Yamabe Akahito]

Yakamochi borrows the old form for his own purposes, however, and his poem differs notably from the conventional verses. For one thing, the occasion for Yakamochi's verse is imaginary—he prepares the poem in advance, as he feels it necessary to mention in the title, and it is unlikely he had any expectation of ever presenting it on an imperial excursion, though as a Man'yo poet he maintains the pose of writing for a real and specific occasion. He was serving as governor of distant Etchu at the time. Even if he did happen to accompany the emperor to Yoshino at some time in the future, and the emperor did happen to order old-style poems recited, it is still highly unlikely that Yakamochi would have been asked to present one, since he was neither a professional court poet nor one of the emperor's inner circle of companions. He chooses to write in the old form, in fact, simply because it suits his literary ends. Yakamochi considerably heightens the opening rhetoric of the old form, praising the emperor in markedly old-fashioned and extravagant language such as was used in early imperial edicts, but not in other Man 'yoshu poems. 18 He also emphasizes Yoshino's association with the past, which would hardly have occurred to the early composers of palace-praising poems. Yakamochi's opening lines stress how the court has always gone to the Yoshino palace established by the ancient emperors; in the first envoy the emperor visits the noted site because he longs for the past. But, most strikingly, unlike the old poems, where it is the palace itself or the court's visits that will be as eternal as Yoshino's mountains and rivers, Yakamochi asserts instead the eternity of the courtiers' faithful service to their lord. This nostalgia for the golden days of the past and concern with the eternal loyal service of men "each upholding his clan's name" is uniquely that of Yakamochi, an Otomo and a masurao affirming the values of the past. Thus he makes the old form of the court praise poem serve his own new and individual purpose, much as Okura and Tabito had done with the Chinese verse they drew upon. 18. See Ono Hiroshi, "Yakamochi no koto sambi no hyogen: Ama no hitsugi," in Man'yo Shichiyokai, ed., Ronshii jodai bungaku II (1971), pp. 93-118.

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The catalogue of Yakamochi's experiments could go on and on, but the above selection suffices to show the impressive variety of his work. Not all these experiments result in altogether successful poems. Indeed, among the hundreds of his own verses which he includes in the Man'yoshu are a considerable number of undistinguished exercises. But the attempts show a sophisticated awareness of poetic technique. His continual willingness to try new things, and the assured control of the materials which he attains in the process, enable Yakamochi at his best to create masterful and uniquely personal poetry. Like Tabito and Okura, he draws inspiration from Chinese poetry, though the Chinese aspects are less immediately obvious, because the Six Dynasties verse to which he turns is not exactly in the mainstream of the classic Chinese tradition. But Yakamochi's real legacy from Dazaifu is a new attitude towards poetry, a sophisticated and highly conscious concern with the craft, a bold willingness to experiment, to study old poems and apply things learned from them. Tabito and Okura had studied Chinese literature to expand the range of their own individualistic verse. Yakamochi draws on the Japanese tradition as well. In the old court praise poems, elegies, folk songs, and the like, he finds inspiration and models for poems on hunting and fishing, losing his hawk, admonishing his clan, and sympathizing with the frontier guards. Though on old models, these verses are, like the Dazaifu poems, thoroughly individual, unlike anything else in the Man'yoshu or in Japanese poetry for centuries after. Possibly Yakamochi's interest in the Japanese tradition was the normal reaction of youth against the values of the older generation—the Dazaifu enthusiasm for Chinese culture was so strong that a renewed emphasis on native Japanese traditions was perhaps to be expected. Yakamochi's enthusiasm for his own poetic heritage was probably also spurred by his concern with his family roots. His literary education in the capital after his father's death doubtless also played an important part, for Tabito's sister, Lady Sakanoue, became his guardian and tutor. Though she was also a noted poet and a member of the Dazaifu circle, her poetry remained far less Chinese than that of Okura or Tabito. Chinese studies were already, as in later Japan, almost exclusively a male preserve. If Lady Sakanoue was familiar with any Chinese poetry at all, it would have been the popular Six Dynasties love songs, not the respectable verse men studied at the university. Though she 60

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composed original and even experimental poetry in the creative Dazaifu atmosphere, her work shows little continental influence, and the guidance she gave Yakamochi would have been in the Japanese poetic tradition. For whatever reason, in much of his best and most characteristic work, Yakamochi chose to turn the Dazaifu penchant for experimentation to the native tradition when he sought to expand the range of his own verse.

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THREE

Yakamochi as a Young Courtier: Learning the Court Poetic Tradition

J

N marked contrast to the individualism and innovation fostered by the unusual society of poets in Dazaifu was the highly conventional verse Yakamochi learned at court in the capital as a young man. He quickly became proficient at the standard love poems and banquet poems expected of a fashionable courtier; more gradually he also began to create individualistic poems of great artistic integrity within the tradition. In the winter of 730, Yakamochi's father Tabito was promoted to major counselor and returned with his family to the capital as one of the three or four most powerful men in the government. The Otomos returned to the old family home in Sao built by Yasumaro when Nara was first established. In the spring of the next year Tabito was again promoted, to the lofty rank of junior second, just below the great ministers themselves. The salary and benefits that came with the position were as great as its prestige, but sixty-seven-year-old Tabito did not long enjoy his important new position and vast wealth. That summer he took sick, and in August he passed away. As his eldest son and heir, Yakamochi found himself in possession of the house in Sao and a considerable fortune, but at fourteen he was still too young to live on his own or to succeed as head of the clan. He remained under the guardianship of his aunt, Lady Sakanoue, and she apparently assumed many of the functions of Otomo family head. She had run the Otomo household in Dazaifu, and had probably cared for 62

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Yakamochi and his younger brother and sister since the death of Tabito's wife. Some suggest that she married her half-brother Tabito and thus became Yakamochi's stepmother. Marriages between those having the same father but different mothers were not uncommon in early Japan. In any case, she presided over the clan banquets and composed the necessary welcoming poems (e.g., 6:995), not usual practice for a woman in Nara Japan. She also composed poetic prayers to offer at ceremonies in honor of the Otomo clan deity (3:379-380). When some hunters, presumably Otomo men, caught a flying squirrel on the outskirts of the city, she was the one who wrote the poem presenting it to Emperor Shomu (6:1028), and she sent the emperor a number of other poems on other occasions as well (4:721, 725-726). Others of her works are from pilgrimages to important shrines and trips to the Otomo landholdings, again probably as representative of the clan (4:723-724, 6:1017). As acting head of the Otomo family and Yakamochi's guardian, responsibility for the boy's continued education fell to Lady Sakanoue. Yakamochi would have been just the right age to enter the government school, where young men of good birth studied the Chinese classics for up to nine years in preparation for the civil service examinations. But the status of a Nara university degree is not clear, and scholars are divided as to whether Yakamochi would have attended or not. The appointment of important people to the university administration, including imperial princes and Shomu's favored adviser Makibi, just returned from some twenty years in China, indicated the institution's considerable prestige. And if its official quota of 550 students was even approached, most of the young nobility in that small society must have attended, as well as many from the middle class of minor officials who were admitted on special request. However, the sons of those of the highest rank, like Yakamochi, were exempted from the civil service exams. Instead they were automatically eligible for many of the best entrancelevel government posts when they came of age at twenty, so they may well have found the common public training somewhat beneath them. Private education with personal tutors was apparently preferred by the elite who could afford it.1 i . See Oyama Tokujiro, Otomo Yakamochi no kenkyu, pp. 73-87, for detailed discussion of the Nara university in Yakamochi's day. Yamamoto Kenkichi's Otomo Yakamochi (1971), pp. 30-33, gives a convenient presentation of the common view that Yakamochi did not attend the university.

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Yakamochi thus probably continued his education at home with tutors under Lady Sakanoue's supervision. In any case, he would have studied much of the same material emphasized at the university, the necessary background for any cultivated man: the Confucian canon and especially the Wen Hsuatt. Though he was, of course, well read in Chinese poetry and could write a proper letter in that language, laced with literate allusions, it is hard to imagine he had much enthusiasm for conventional classical Chinese scholarship. When his works suggest awareness of Chinese literature, it is not the respectable university texts, but the popular Six Dynasties love poetry. Yakamochi's one extant poem in Chinese, a required reply to a Chinese poem sent him by a friend, is an embarrassingly feeble attempt, sacrificing sense in places in its struggle to maintain the rhyme scheme (preceding 17:3976). In his letter accompanying the poem, Yakamochi complains at length of the difficulties he has in composing in Chinese, and the conventional self-depreciation has a ring of truth: I held the brush until its hairs began to rot away. I sat facing the inkstone, not noticing that the water had all dried up. All day long my attention wandered and I could come up with nothing at all. Writing is a heaven-given talent that cannot be learned. How can I ever find the words and rhymes to answer your fine Chinese poem?

Lady Sakanoue probably oversaw her ward's education in Japanese literature herself. As a woman, she lacked a classical Chinese education and worked exclusively in Japanese, though like all the poetry of the age, her work shows features attributable to the general popularity of Six Dynasties love poetry. Sakanoue was a versatile and skillful poet, and her work, unlike Okura's and Tabito's eccentric verses, epitomized the characteristics of the poetry of her day—wit, sophisticated courtly elegance, social aspects, and persistent conventionality. Her verses displayed the fashionable playful cleverness of the age: 4:527

Komu to iu mo kottu toki aru 0 koji to iu 0 komu to wa mataji koji to iu mono 0

Even when you say you'll come, Sometimes you don't; When you say you're not coming, I'll certainly not wait— Since you say you won't come.

Many of her poems served as social communications, fancy private messages to a specific audience of one, and were often thoroughly 64

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courtly and elegant, even mannered. For example, the following elaborate play on old poems in an exchange between Lady Sakanoue and a lover, Fujiwara Maro: 4:523

Yoku wataru hito wa toshi ni mo ari tou o itsu no ma ni so mo wa ga koinikeru

4:525

Saogawa no koishifumiwatari nubatama no kuroma no kuru yo wa toshi ni mo aranu ka

Some can do with once a year, they say, But after just a little while I long for you. [Fujiwara Maro]

I wish your seed-black horse would come Stepping over the pebbles In the Sao river bed Even one night a year. [Lady Sakanoue]

For his poem, Maro borrows the envoy to an old song in Book XIII. There, the speaker says that he would go home if he heard his wife were still alive, and the envoy concludes: 13:3264

Toshi wataru made ni mo hito wa ari to iu 0 itsu mo ma ni so mo wa ga koinikeru

Some can make it through the years, But after just a little while I long for you.

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Maro merely changes the opening "through the years" to "once a year," essentially using the old poem to express his own feelings on the present occasion. His slight change of wording, however, also makes his poem allude to the Tanabata legend of the herdsman who can only cross the river of heaven to see his love, a weaver maiden, once a year, on the seventh of the seventh month. Probably this reference makes the old poem appropriate to the season; Maro's poem does not carry a date and is included in a section of general love poems, but he follows this work with another autumn poem, and it was usual to make one's poems timely. Certainly Maro's verse implicitly compares his own situation to that of the ill-fated legendary lovers. Maro's references and subtle twists are not lost on Lady Sakanoue, who replies with equal wit. Her poem borrows the envoy of another old song from Book XIII. Like that on which Maro models his poem, it is also set in Hatsuse. It concludes: 13:3313

Kawa no se no ishifumiwatari nubatama no kuroma no kuru yo wa tsune ni aranu ka mo

I wish your seed-black horse would come Stepping over the stones In the river shallows Every night.

In her reply, Sakanoue merely changes the "river" to the "Sao River" that flows by her home, making it suit the current situation, and replaces "every night" with "even one night a year." Like Maro, she makes the poem an allusion to the Tanabata legend.2 Sometimes, too, like much of the verse of her contemporaries, Lady Sakanoue's poems are thoroughly conventional, like the following sent to her daughter from the family manor at Takeda: 4:760

Uchiwatasu takeda no hara ni naku tazu no ma naku toki nashi wagakourakuwa

The cranes cry constantly On the fields of Takeda, Ranging far as one can see— I long as constantly for you.

This generally resembles a number of other Man'yd poems, but it is very nearly identical to one in Book XII: 2. Kume Tsunetami, Man'yoshu no shoeika (1961), pp. 385-391.

66

YAKAMOCHI AS A Y O U N G COURTIER 12:3088

Koikoromo ki nara no yama tti naku tori no ma naku toki nashi wa ga kouraku wa

The birds cry constantly On Nara mountain, Mountain of the familiar robe of love— I long as constantly for you.

Only the specific bird, the place name, and its decorative modifier have been changed to make the old poem suit the occasion at hand. The anonymous verses of Book XII, as in the above example, and the similar poems in Books X and XI, were an important source for Lady Sakanoue's poetry. Of the 25 percent of her poems that use lines that also occur in other Man 'yo poems, 85 percent appear to be from these three books. 3 Yakamochi's early poems owe much to Lady Sakanoue. Not only does he write the same sort of poetry, but he models his works on her poems and on the same sources she uses. His first datable work in the Man'yoshu, composed when he was around sixteen, resembles the verse of Lady Sakanoue's immediately preceding it, both in general aesthetic and in specific motifs: A poem on the new moon by Lady Sakanoue: 6:993

Tsuki tachite tada mikazuki no mayone kaki kenagaku koishi kimi ni aeru kamo

Today I met you For whom I have long yearned, Scratching my eyebrow, Crescent brow like the moon When the new month comes.

A poem on the new moon by Otomo Sukune Yakamochi: 6:994

Furisakete mikazuki mireba hitome mishi hito no mayobiki omohoyuru kamo

The crescent moon Calls to mind The painted eyebrow Of a maiden I once glimpsed.

Both verses display a fashionable courtliness in their association of the new moon with a woman's delicately curved eyebrow. Beauties of the period in paintings, such as the screen of women standing under trees which is preserved in the Shosoin, have very promi3. See Takagi Ichinosuke's introductory essay to the fourth volume of the NKBT Man'yoshu, p. 11.

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nent thick black brows at the natural browline. Such brows were a basic component of feminine appeal to the Nara Japanese, after the T'ang fashion. Superstition held that an itchy eyebrow meant one's lover would soon come to visit (see 11:2575). Many of Yakamochi's poems draw upon the sources Lady Sakanoue so consistently uses, the anonymous verse of Mati'yo Books X, XI, and XII. For example, a poem written when he was about eighteen or nineteen: 8:1568

Amagomori kokoro ibusemi ide mireba kasuga no yama wa irozukirtikeri

Kept in by the rain, Melancholy— When I step outside and look Mount Kasuga's turned scarlet.

This work closely resembles poems in Book X: 10:2180

Nagazuki no shigure no ame ni nuretori kasuga no yama wa irozukinikeri 10:2199

Mono omou to komorai orite kyo mireba kasuga no yama wa irozukinikeri

Soaked through In October's steady rains, Mount Kasuga's turned scarlet.

Pensive, I stayed inside. Today when I look out Mount Kasuga's turned scarlet.

Another example is a slightly later poem of Yakamochi's: 4:612

Nakanaka ni moda mo aramashi 0 nani su to ka aimisomekemu togezaramaku ni

Better I'd kept silent. Why did we begin to see each other If it was to come to nothing?

The apparent model for this verse is from Book XII: 12:2899

Nakanaka ni moda mo aramashi 0 azukinaku

Better I'd kept silent. But we began to see each other And now I long for you.

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COURTIER

aimisomete mo ware wa kouru ka

Takagi Ichinosuke calculates that nearly half of Yakamochi's models are from the anonymous verses of Books X, XI, and XII.4 These materials are commonly thought to have been an Otomo family collection that served as a handbook of examples of how to write poetry. In any case, Lady Sakanoue knew them well, and regularly composed poems resembling them. And, under her guidance, Yakamochi learned to do the same. However, his poems at least do not appear patterned directly on written examples, for he records them in quite different characters than their supposed models. Perhaps he remembers verses learned from the handbooks, or perhaps these poems were popular songs of the day, well known to all the courtiers. With these models, he had available the necessary traditional repertoire of phrases and patterns with which a poet worked. Yakamochi's early work is highly conventional, in conformity with the expectations of his age, for totally original verse would hardly have been recognized as poetry at all. Yet from his first extant poems Yakamochi is extremely skillful at working with the materials at his disposal. He consistently creates interesting poems, which in their assured exploitation of the conventions outshine those of most of his contemporaries. Most of the few extant poems from Yakamochi's teens are skillful and sophisticated, like that on the maiden's eyebrow and the crescent moon discussed above. Also among his earliest poems are the following, all composed before he was twenty, and all suggestive of his studies under Lady Sakanoue: 8:1441

Uchikirashi yuki wa furitsutsu shikasuga ni wagie no sono rti uguisu naku mo

A misting snow falls on, But in the garden of my house A warbler sings.

This work employs the common Man'yoshii pattern of wonder at phenomena of two different seasons appearing at the same time (Is it winter? Or is it spring?), and is modeled rather closely on specific poems from Books X, XI, and XII as well, but its singing rhythms are pleasing, and the intriguing suggestion that the unseasonal soft 4. NKBT Man'yoshu, vol. 4, p. 11. 69

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snow seems like the mists conventional to spring makes the poem more interesting than most of its type. 8:1446

Haru no no ni asaru kigishi no tsumagoi ni ono ga atari 0 hito ni shiretsutsu

The call of the pheasant to his mate, The pheasant feeding in the fields of spring, Reveals his hiding place.

This poem was one of the three selected by the eleventh-century poet-critic Fujiwara Kinto to represent Yakamochi in the collection of Japan's thirty-six greatest poets. Its depiction of the pheasant's ironic plight, his inability to restrain his feelings, which will bring the hunters upon him, subtly suggests the poet's own conventional concern that his excess of uncontrollable emotion may similarly reveal his secret affair to the world, that love will be his undoing. 8:1566

Hisakata no amama mo okazu kumogakuri naki so yuku naru wasada kariga ne 8:1567

Kumogakuri naku naru kari no yukite imu akita no hotachi shigeku shi omohoyu

8:1569

Ame harete kiyoku teritaru kono tsukuyo matasara ni shite kumo na tanabiki

Without waiting for a letup In the rain from heaven They come honking, hidden in the clouds— Geese of the early ripening fields. Heavy must be the ears of grain In autumn fields where geese alight— The geese that cry, hidden in the clouds.

The moon shines so clearly Now that the rain has stopped— Don't close in again, clouds!

Much of the interest of the first of this intriguing series of autumn poems is in the expression "Geese of the early ripening fields," wasada kari—wasada, "early rice fields," serves as a descriptive modifier for kari, "geese." But the association is as much by sound as meaning. Kari sounds like a form of the verb karu, "to harvest," a word naturally associated with rice fields, so wasada is extended to modify the similar sounding kari, "geese," as well. This sort of 70

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association by sound is fairly common with the old conventional decorative modifiers called pillow words. Miwa mountain, for example, is often modified by umasake, "good wine," simply because miwa sounds like the old word for sacred wine. Kari here is very nearly a pivot word meaning both "geese" (geese of the early ripening rice fields) and "harvest" (early ripening rice fields we harvest) at once—a rhetorical device that became extremely popular in Japanese poetry in succeeding centuries. But Yakamochi's use remains closer to the old-fashioned pillow-word-like association by sound, for the "harvest" meaning is simply decorative amplification and not directly related to the basic meaning of the poem. The example, however, suggests how closely related the new technique of the pivot word is to the old one of a decorative modifier associated by sound, and how Yakamochi was already extending the range of the old to something very like the new. Already skilled as a teenager in the requisite poetic conventions, Yakamochi was well prepared to begin service at court. When he came of age at twenty, he was appointed an imperial attendant. These members of the royal bodyguard wore swords, but functioned largely as decorative outriders and general personal attendants to the emperor and the imperial princes. A prestigious position, it was reserved for the sons of the highest nobility, the young men of those ten to twenty families of third rank or above, supplemented by the most talented members of the families of the lesser nobility. The assignment carried the sixth rank, the level at which those of exceptionally high birth were allowed to begin their careers. The court circles Yakamochi entered were in some disorder, for the government was struggling through a national disaster, a smallpox epidemic that had devastated the country. This catastrophic depletion of the population radically changed the existing political situation—to the Otomos' considerable advantage. The powerful opposition was suddenly decimated, while members of their own faction survived to step into positions of influence. Like all things from the continent, the disease came first to Dazaifu, and spread through Kyushu, taking an exceedingly heavy toll. Unification of the country promoted the spread of the epidemic, for the constant traffic of officials, messengers, and convoys of goods quickly carried the disease from Dazaifu to Nara and the rest of the country. Few healthy people were left to work the fields, and an untimely drought made the situation in the coun71

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tryside worse. The government could not collect taxes, and instead faced the staggering expense of feeding the people from the imperial granaries. In the summer of 737, the government circulated detailed instructions for the treatment of smallpox to every district of the country, based on the best available medical knowledge, but it was clear that little could be done to control the disease. These instructions are worth quoting at some length for the rare glimpse they give us not only of the disease and of eighth-century medicine, but also of the everyday diet of the time: The disease now going around is called smallpox. Its first symptoms resemble the chills and fever of ague. After three to six days of fever, the patient will break out in sores for three or four days. His entire body will bum with fever, and he will beg for cold water, but he must not be allowed to have any. When the sores stop breaking out, the fever will go down, but diarrhea may then begin. If not treated, there will be hemorrhaging. In some cases there is bleeding from the beginning of the diarrhea. There are four other kinds of complications: coughing, vomiting, vomiting blood, and bleeding from the nose. However, the diarrhea is of more concern than these symptoms and should be treated in the following manner. Wrap the patient's body in cloth and padding to keep him warm at all costs. Do not let him get chilled. The peasants may not have proper beds, but do not let them lie on the ground. Spread a cover on the floor for them. Give the patient rice gruel, thin porridge, or millet soup, hot or cold. He must not eat fresh fish, cold meat, fruit, or vegetables, and must especially avoid unboiled water and ice. If there is diarrhea, give large quantities of boiled onion or garlic chives. If the stools are bloody or milky, give a mixture of boiled rice flour and glutenous rice flour two or three times a day. If the diarrhea continues, increase dosage to five or six times a day. Gruel made from dried rice or glutenous rice is also good, but be sure that it is finely ground. . . . After recovery, the patient still must not eat fresh fish, cold meat, fruit, or vegetables for twenty days, and should avoid unboiled water, ice, sexual intercourse, and exposure to wind and rain. If he does not take these precautions, the diarrhea will recur. . . . After twenty days meat and fish are all right, but they should be well cooked. Dried abalone, partially dried bonito, and dried meat are acceptable, but mackerel and horse mackerel should be avoided, even if dried. Sweetfish is also bad. Milk curd, honey, and bean curd are fine. One should not try to treat the disease with various kinds of pills and powders. If the fever does not go down, the only thing that may be effective is extract of ginseng. 72

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The capital and the home provinces have been laid waste by this epidemic since May, and countless people have died. The farmers in the provinces have also suffered greatly. Therefore we send these articles of instruction to the provinces.5

The epidemic took a heavy toll among the officials in the capital. Plans for a campaign against the unsubdued tribes in the north and a punitive expedition against the Koreans had to be abandoned. Within two months in the fall of 737, the powerful leaders of all four branches of the Fujiwara family died, leaving the government without a great minister of the right and three important cabinet ministers. Dozens of lesser officials were stricken as well, leaving vast gaps in the bureaucracy. Control of the government shifted rapidly as new people filled the vacated posts. The great families aligned in opposition to the Fujiwaras benefited especially from the sudden elimination of that powerful group's leaders. The new great minister heading the government was Tachibana Moroe, a member of the same faction as the Otomos. Though the epidemic was abating when Yakamochi began his career in government, its effects remained. On the one hand, the depletion of official ranks and the surprising rise of an Otomo ally to the highest position in the land meant that Yakamochi's own future suddenly looked extremely bright. On the other hand, the loss of so many established leaders brought disorder, intrigue, and even armed rebellion in its wake, as various groups vied for power. Moreover, the devastation of the rural population brought hard times to the countryside and the economy in general, and greatly increased social tensions. Life at Shomu's court quickly resumed its usual cosmopolitan splendor, however, despite the problems of the country. The scholar Makibi, just returned from some twenty years of study in China, brought home hundreds of volumes of the Chinese classics and such useful tools for the rituals of government as a new kind of calendar, 130 volumes of the T'ang rites, music books, pitch pipes, and a sundial rule. The emperor made him one of his closest advisers. 6 The first months of Yakamochi's court service were enlivened by the arrival of a party of ambassadors from Po-hai in Manchuria, bringing gifts of tiger, bear, and leopard skins, ginseng, and honey. They stayed for several months and were lavishly entertained at 5. Ruijii fusensho, quoted in Aoki, Nara no miyako, pp. 314-317. 6. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo 7/4/26.

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numerous banquets, competing with the Japanese courtiers in archery meets, and performing their native music for the court.7 In his new position of imperial attendant, Yakamochi spent most of his time participating in ceremonies, banquets, and excursions, for ritual was the basic business of the court. The emperor was responsible for the ceremonies necessary to please the gods and ensure the land's prosperity, occasions which also served to display imperial power. TTie New Year's season, for example, opened with the traditional Great Purification Ritual to prepare the nation for the coming year. Officials of the Department of Shinto Religion arranged offerings to the native gods in six places by the main southern gate of the palace. These were specified in detail—so many yards of fine silk of various colors, of scarlet silk, of stiff silk, of hemp, of ramie, and of mulberry-fiber cloth; so many swords, bows, and arrows; so many measures of rice, rice wine, abalone, bonito, dried meats, seaweeds, and salt; several pair of deer antlers; several horses; and other assorted goods. All the officials of fifth rank or above took their seats along the eastern side of the square in a double line, ordered by rank, while lesser officials were seated by their government department. Ceremonial wands with cloth streamers attached to the ends (nusa) were distributed to everyone present, and a reader recited the ritual prayer of purification, asking the gods to let every offense of man be swept away on the rivers, blown away on the wind. Members of the congregation then performed purification by rubbing their bodies with the sacred streamers; the priests carried the streamers off and cast them away in a river.8 New Year's Day was celebrated by a state banquet at court, where songs and dances were offered for a prosperous year. Similar festivities were held on a smaller scale by each provincial governor, as the emperor's representative, for all the officials in his region. A poem by Yakamochi from one of these New Year's banquets suggests another ritual activity of the season—wearing garlands of vigorous, usually evergreen, foliage to absorb the plant's vitality and gain long life: 7. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo 11/10/17 to 12/4/20. 8. See Felicia Bock, trans., Engishiki: Procedures of the Engi Era (1970,1972), 1:83, 2:84-87; Karl Florenz, "Ancient Japanese Rituals" (1899), pp. 3-25. These complete descriptions are of slightly later ceremonies, but accord very closely with the scattered and fragmentary references to the ritual from Yakamochi's day. Presumably such traditions changed only very slowly. 74

Y A K A M O C H I AS A Y O U N G C O U R T I E R 18:4136 Ashihiki no yama no konure no hoyo torite kazashitsuraku wa chitose hoku to so

We deck our hair with mistletoe From trees in the foot-trailing hills, That we may live a thousand years.

On the seventh of the first month, twenty-one "blue" (ao) horses were led before the throne to ensure the emperor's long life and the nation's prosperity, and the ceremony brought more prayers, songs, and feasting. The number, the color (the actual color may have been black, white, or grey), the animal, the day, the month, and the season were all Yang elements in Chinese cosmology, so the combination was particularly auspicious. Yakamochi once offered the following poem on the occasion: 20:4494 Mizu tori no kamo no ha no iro no aoumao kyo miru hito wa kagiri nashi to iu

He who looks upon the sacred horses— Horses blue as a wild duck's wing— Is said to live forever.

On the first day with the cyclical calendar sign of the rat, another banquet was held, this time to encourage sericulture. At this Chinese celebration, elegant models of the whisks used to sweep silkworm beds, their twigs threaded with jewellike beads, were given to the courtiers, who again presented auspicious ritual poems. One of Yakamochi's offerings achieves the appropriate effect by referring to the jingling of beads, a sound thought to dispel evil: 20:4493 Hatsu haru no hatsu ne no kyo no tamabahaki te ni torn kara ni yuraku tama no o

Today, the first festival of spring, I take the jeweled whisk in hand— The jingling of a string of jewels.

The fifteenth of the first month was celebrated with another banquet, this one distinguished by performance of special songs accompanied by stamping of the feet. The official chronicle of the day, the Shoku Nihongi, describes one of the first of these festivities which Yakamochi attended in his new life at court: 75

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Sixteenth day. The emperor gave a banquet for the courtiers in the Hall of Great Peace. At the height of the drinking, the Gosechi dance was presented. When it was over, young girls were made to sing, stamping their feet to accompany their singing. A banquet was also given for all those with official rank and the scribes of the various departments. Here those of the sixth rank and below played the koto and sang:

Atarashiki May we serve like this toshi no hajime ni At the first of the new year kaku shi koso For ten thousand generations. tsukaematsurame yorozuyo made ni After the banquet, gifts were distributed to each according to rank.9 On another occasion when the crown princess herself (later Empress Koken) performed the Gosechi dance, the great minister of the right, Tachibana Moroe, read a proclamation from Emperor Shomu, reminding the court that the dance had been created by the great Emperor Temmu (he saw a heavenly maiden perform it), 9. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo 14/1/16.

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who had decreed that the Gosechi music and ritual be handed down as long as heaven and earth endured. The retired Empress Gensho expressed her delight that the princess had learned the dance, for it was a national treasure to be passed on forever, and served to teach the proper behavior of master and servant, parent and child. This quite Confucian pronouncement was followed by the performance of traditional Japanese ceremonial songs, including:

Yasumishishi wa go dkimi wa tairakeku tiagaku imashite toyomiki matsuru

Our wide-ruling lord Lives long and in good health, Drinking the abundant wine. 10

Not long after this banquet of the fifteenth came the important ceremony of prayers for a good crop. Though the first month was particularly crowded with annual ceremonies, much of the courtiers' time all year round was spent 10. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo 15/5/5.

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on similar ritual business of government. When not busy with ceremonies and banquets at the palace, they seem to have spent much of their time on excursions. In Yakamochi's early years in attendance, Shomu and his court went on dozens of imperial progresses—to Mount Takamato on the southeastern outskirts of Nara; to Shigaraki far to the northeast, to Naniwa near present-day Osaka; to Mikanohara near Kuni; to Uji and Yamashina near Kyoto. Like the banquets and ceremonies, the pilgrimages to shrines and sacred places often had the serious purpose of ensuring national prosperity. Despite the constant round of parties and outings, service at court for a junior official like Yakamochi was not all pleasure. Most court affairs were serious business and were very carefully ordered. One had to learn a complex and comprehensive system of rules ordering daily life. Even dress, housing, and love affairs came under imperial control. Court costume was fixed in detail—the various ranks were permitted different colors and different kinds of cloth, and various garments and accessories were specified according to the occasion. The area of the city in which one could live had long been determined by rank, but Emperor Shomu also ordered all those of fifth rank and above to replace their traditional wood and thatch dwellings with new Chinese-style homes with tile roofs, white plaster walls, and red pillars and woodwork. The pattern of daily activity was, of course, fixed with orderly regularity. When the water dripping through the series of containers of the official palace water clock filled the final tub and raised the indicator to the appropriate mark, an official was sent through the palace complex beating a drum to announce the dawn, and the gates were opened. At the sound of a second drum an hour later, the government offices opened and hundreds of officials came to their posts. Tardiness was marked in one's personnel file and adversely affected one's chances for promotion, and there was apparently a considerable rush-hour crush on the city streets. At noon the drum signaled the end of the workday, and the opening of the city marketplaces, where all business centered. At dusk the markets closed. Unlike the lively Chinese capital of Chang-an, there were apparently no wine shops in Nara for evening entertainment, and people without special business were forbidden to be out on the streets at night. 11 11. Aoki, Nara no miyako, pp. 87-91.

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Those who broke the rules, or otherwise incurred imperial displeasure, risked severe punishment. Shomu is reputed to have sentenced an entire family of peasants to death for unwittingly killing a deer he had been hunting himself, and made his powerful great minister Prince Nagaya and most of his family commit suicide upon hearing rumors questioning Nagaya's loyalty. He was also apt to punish his courtiers for such matters as neglect of duty or even unapproved love affairs. Upon discovering that the princes and courtiers had all gone off one fine spring day to play a kind of field hockey (mariuchi), leaving no one on duty in the palace, Shomu had them all confined to the palace guard house. One of these imprisoned courtiers lamented the group's fate in poems preserved in the Mati'yoshu (6:949-950), where he unrepentantly complained of missing the pleasures of spring and wondered what all the fuss was about. In Yakamochi's first year or so of attendance on the emperor, Shomu banished two officials for having love affairs of which he did not approve. We know little of the circumstances. Perhaps the women involved were of low rank, or were already married, or perhaps they were ladies of Shomu's own household. For whatever reason, Shomu's wrath was intense, and both men were specifically excluded from general amnesties in the years that followed.12 Most of the courtiers, however, apparently sympathized with the unfortunate lovers. The Mati'yoshu contains several affectionate farewell poems for the exiled men (6:1019-1021). These wishes for a safe journey are much like the songs offered at the grand send-offs for the ambassadors to China, except for the rather less dignified picture of the subject as he was taken away under armed guard: 6:1019

Iso no kami furu no mikoto wa tawayame no matoi ni yorite umajimono nawa toritsuke shishijimono yumiya kakumite okimi no mikoto kashikomi amazakaru hinabe ni makaru. . . .

Because of your love for a gentle maid, Lord Furu Isonokami, You go off to the land Distant as the heavens, In obedience to the imperial command, Bound with ropes like a horse, Hemmed in with arrows like a hunted boar. . . .

12. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo 11/3/26,12/6/15; table of contents of Man'yoshu Book XV, NKBT Man'yoshu, vol. 4, pp. 53, 484.

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Love poems exchanged by the other exile and his lover during their forced separation fill an entire half book of the Man'yoshii (15:37233785). Whatever the emperor's wrath, courtiers like Yakamochi, who presumably collected these poems, found the ill-fated lovers romantic figures. Once he entered service at court, Yakamochi began to produce poems prolifically, as his life was now filled with occasions that demanded them. He attended constant official banquets requiring the recital of poems, and his private social life consisted of drinking, singing, and composing verses with the other fashionable young courtiers of his circle, an elite with every expectation of becoming the nation's future leaders. Among these friends was the great minister's son, Tachibana Naramaro. A series of poems from one party Naramaro held for his group at his father's old residence on 2 December 738, when Yakamochi had only recently come to court, suggests the sort of entertainment at these gatherings. The host welcomed his guests: 8:1581

To orazute ch irinaba osh i to wa ga omoish i aki no momichi 0

kazashitsuru kamo

8:1582

Mezurashiki hito ni misemu to momichiba 0

taorisowagakoshi

cane nofuraku ni

I feared they would fall Before we picked them— These golden autumn leaves With which we deck our hair.

Breaking off autumn leaves I have come Through the rain,

To see the friends

For whom I've longed.

Other young men and women continued the series started by the host, taking the cue for their poems from the ones preceding, picking up the same motifs and phrases. Among the guests contributing verses were Yakamochi's younger brother Fumimochi and his kinsman Ikenushi. Yakamochi, as compiler of the collection, politely put his own poem last when he eventually included the verses in the Man'yoshii. From this poem, it is easy to imagine that he found his new life quite to his liking: 8:1591

Momichiba no

sugimaku oshimi

May this night of merrymaking never

end,

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omou dochi asobu koyoi iva akezu mo aranu ka

When together we admire The scattering autumn leaves.

Popular, along with such serious banquet poems, were playful verses, witticisms in tanka form. Sometimes the courtiers would challenge each other by setting outrageous combinations of words to be combined into a poem, as in the following example: A poem composed using "incense," "tower," "outhouse," "excrement," "carp," and "slave": 16:3828

kori nureru toninayoriso kawakuma no kusobuna hameru itaki meyatsuko

Don't come near the tower painted with incense, You defiled slave who ate the filthy carp From the river by the outhouse.

A similar diversion was composing bantering poems of insult. Among the miscellaneous verses oiMan'ydshu Book XVI are a number mocking specific people's unattractive physical characteristics— red noses, dark skin, smelly or hairy armpits (e.g., 16:3840-3845). One of Yakamochi's extant contributions to these literary games mocks an old man's thinness in incongruously pompous language: Two poems laughing at a thin man: 16:3853

Iwamaro ni ware mono mosu natsu yase ni yoshi to iu mono so munagi torimese

I address Mr. Iwamaro: They're said to be efficacious For summer loss of weight— Go and eat some eels.

16:3854

Yasuyasu mo ikeraba aramu 0 hatayahata munagi otoru to kawa ni nagaru na

Though thin, so thin, It's better to stay alive— Don't go drown in the river Trying to catch eels.

There was a man called Yoshida Muraji Oyu. He was known as Iwamaro. He was the son of Ninkyo. The old man had been very thin ever since he reached adulthood. Though he ate and drank a lot, he still looked as if he were starving. Therefore Otomo Sukune Yakamochi composed these verses in jest. 81

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According to the T'ang and Nara ideas of beauty, as evidenced by the paintings and sculptures of the time, both men and women should be very plump and fleshy. Thinness was as distasteful as red noses and smelly armpits. Eels are still a food thought especially healthful in summer in Japan. Besides parties, the main occasion for poetry among the courtiers was love. Life at court brought daily contact with numerous

attractive women. Yakamochi was soon pursuing several, and composing prolific quantities of the love poems that the pursuit demanded. He exchanged a great many widely varied poems with all sorts of different women. Many of these verses are addressed simply "to a maiden." Some scholars think his unusual failure to identify this woman (or women) suggests that the object of his affections was of very low rank. It seems equally likely, however, that this vagueness merely indicates a gentlemanly discretion. Perhaps 82

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even a desire to protect his own masculine pride is involved, since so many of these verses protest his unrequited love. These poems are very much like those of Lady Sakanoue and the anonymous songs otMan'yoshii Books X, XI, and XII, but work the conventions with assured skill and pleasing effect. 4785

Wa ga yado no kusa no ue shiroku oku tsuyu no inochi mo oshikarazu imo ni awazareba

8:1596 Imoga ie no kadota 0 mimu to uchide koshi kokoro mo shiruku teru tsukuyo kamo

It matters little if my life fades awayMy life like the dew fallen white On the grasses by my d o o r — Since I cannot see you.

It was well worthwhile to come And look upon the fields before your gate— The moon shines bright.

This final poem is especially well done. The rich harvest fields— the poem is an autumn one—and the bright moonlight are not only descriptive of the scene, but also convey the speaker's feelings on wooing and winning the maiden. Yakamochi inundated one unidentified and unrelenting maiden with complaints of his unrequited love, sometimes displaying the acuity of observation of nuances of human feeling that would become so important in the next age of Japanese poetry: 47M

Kokoro ni wa omoi wataredo yoshi 0 nami yoso nomi ni shite nageki so wa ga suru

4:715 Chidori naku sao no kawato no kiyoki se 0 uma uchiwatashi itsu ka kayowamu

4:716 Yoru hiru to iuwakishirazu

My heart is filled With yearning for you all my days, But since we've never met, I only see you from afar and sigh.

When shall I come to y o u ? — Urging my horse across the clear shallows Of the Sao River, The Sao River where the plovers cry. I yearn for you Till day seems the same as night— 83

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK wagakouru kokoro wa kedashi ime nimiekiya

Perhaps you've seen me in your dreams.

4:718

Omowanu ni imo ga emaio ime ni mite kokoro no uchi ni moetsutsu so oru

Unexpectedly you smile at me In my dreams; Flames kindle in my heart.

4:720

Murakimo no kokoro kudakete kaku bakari wagakourakuo shirazu ka aruramu

How could you not know of it?— This love so intense It rends my heart, My heart next to my liver.

The soul was thought to leave the body when one slept, and to go to visit those one loved, appearing in their dreams. Thus, in the third poem of this series, Yakamochi thought it quite likely that he would have appeared in the woman's dreams. Another of Yakamochi's women friends at court was Lady Ki. This older woman, the wife of an imperial prince, was not the appropriate object of pursuit for a lowly young courtier, and the many verses Yakamochi wrote her were unlike any of his other love poems. The two carried on a very playful correspondence, exchanging verses of sophisticated wit and punning double entendre that clearly foreshadow the developments of Heian Japanese poetry. Lady Ki once brushed off Yakamochi's advances with the verse: 4:762

Kamusabu to inabu ni wa arane hata ya hata kaku shite nochi ni sabushikemu ka

I don't refuse because I am too old, But at the end of this affair I'd be left in loneliness.

Yakamochi replied with a not very reassuring depiction of her old age: 4:764

Momotose ni oijita idete

Though you get to be a hundred, Your tongue protrudes, 84

YAKAMOCHI AS A YOUNG COURTIER yoyomu tomo ware wa itowaji koi wa masu tomo

Your back's all hunched, I won't dislike you— I'll only love you more.

On another occasion she sent him a flower from the sleeptree and some reed blossoms, and wrote: 8:1460

Wake ga tame wa gate mo suma ni haru no no ni nukeru tsubana so meshite koemase

For you, my slave, I picked these reed blossoms From the fields of spring With my own hands. Eat them and grow fat.

8:1461

Hiru wa saki yoru wa koinuru nebu no hana kimi nomi mime ya wake sae ni miyo

Should the mistress alone See the sleeptree. That opens in the day And sleeps in love at night? Look upon it too, slave.

He replied: 8:1462

Wagakimini wakewakourashi tabaritaru tsubana 0 hamedo iyayase niyasu

This slave must be longing For his mistress— Though I eat the buds of reed you send, I grow but thinner, thinner.

8:1463

Wagimoko ga katami no nebu wa hana nomi ni sakite kedashiku mi ni naraji kamo

The sleeptree you sent, love, That I might think of you, Will only bear flowers, Never bear fruit.

"Mistress" and "slave," kimi and wake, may also have the connotations of "old honored one" and "youngster," continuing the couple's banter over their disparity in age. Reed buds or blossoms were fed to children in the spring for their health; thus Lady Ki seems to be teasing Yakamochi about his youth. The sleeptree is the mimosa, which folds up its leaves and "sleeps" at night. Its name, nebu or nemu, sounds like the word for sleep, and the characters with which it is written, the Chinese way of writing the plant's name, have explicitly sexual connotations, "unite-pleasure." Per85

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haps Yakamochi gets back at Lady Ki in his reply with the implication that she is too old for anything to come of their relationship. The entire exchange is the epitome of sophisticated wit and might pass for a product of the ninth or tenth century, though it would never be mistaken for a work of the seventh. Another of the women in Yakamochi's life was Lady Kasa, who sent him dozens of passionate poems that seem to trace the course of their relationship (4:587-610). Her first poems to him are of that rare type in Japanese literature, happy expressions of love from a smooth and successful relationship. Increasingly, however, she began to complain of Yakamochi's fading interest: 4:592

Yami no yo ni naku naru tazu no yoso nomi ni kikitsutsu ka aramu au to wa nashi ni

4:600 Ise no umi no iso mo todoro ni yosuru nami kashikoki hito ni koiwataru kamo 4:608 Aiomowanu hito 0 omou wa dtera no gaki no shine ni nukazuku ga goto

Must I hear from you from afar Like the crane's cry Distant in the dark of night, Never seeing you?

Fearful as the waves Crashing into Ise's shore, Must you find m y passion for you.

Yearning for one w h o does not love me Is like worshiping the backside Of a temple statue of a hungry ghost.

Souls condemned to suffer constant starvation inhabited one of the Buddhist hells. Praying to such figures was of course useless; praying to their backsides even worse. Yakamochi's only extant replies to this talented woman's intense poems seem rather disinterested, providing much of the basis for his conventional reputation of being cool and standoffish towards women who pursued him. This impression may of course be simply an editorial accident, the coincidental result of which poems happen to have been preserved: 4:611 Ima sara ni imo ni awame ya to

Is it because I fear We'll never meet again?

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omoe kamo kokoda wa ga mune oboboshikaramu 4:612

Nakandka ni moda mo aramashi 0 nani su to ka aimisomekemu togezaramaku ni

I feel downcast.

Better I'd kept silent. Why did we begin to see each other If it was to come to nothing?

The main love of Yakamochi's early years was a woman about whom we know next to nothing, although she may be one of the unidentified maidens to whom he writes. Shortly before he entered service at court, he appears to have taken her to live with him, and to have had a child by her. In late summer of 739, when Yakamochi was twenty-one or twenty-two, the woman died. In mourning for her, he composed a series of verses, including his first long poem, in which he displayed the thoroughness with which he had learned his literary tradition, and the skill with which he was beginning to put it to his own use: A poem by Otomo Sukune Yakamochi lamenting his dead mistress, composed in July 739: 3:462

lma yori wa aki kaze samuku fukinamu o ika ni ka hitori nagaki yo 0 nemu

Cold will blow the autumn wind Fromnowon. How can I sleep The long nights through Alone?

A poem offered immediately in reply by his brother Otomo Sukune Fumimochi: 3463 Nagaki yo 0 When you wonder how to sleep hitori ya nemu to The long nights through alone, kimi ga ieba You must be thinking suginishi hito no Of the one who's gone. omohoyuraku ni Another poem by Yakamochi, composed on seeing the pinks in bloom beside the house: 3:464

Aki saraba mitsutsu shinoe to imo ga ueshi

"Come autumn," she said, "look on them And think of me," 87

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niwa no nadeshiko sakinikeru kamo

As she planted pinks beside the house. Now they're in bloom.

A poem by Yakamochi lamenting the autumn after the first of the month: 3465 I know this cicada-shell life is Utsusemi no evanescent, yo wa tsune nashi to Yet when the autumn wind blows shiru mono 0 cold, akikaze samumi I long for her. shinoitsuru kamo Another poem by Yakamochi: 3:466

Wa ga niwa ni harm so sakitaru so 0 miredo kokoro mo yukazu hashikiyashi imogaariseba mikamo nasu futari narabi i ta orite mo misemashi mono 0 utsusemi no kareru mi nareba tsuyushimo no kenuru ga gotoku ash ih iki no yamaji 0 sash ite irihi nasu kakurinishikaba soko mou ni mune koso itame ii mo kane nazuke mo shirazu ato mo naki yo no naka ni areba semu sube mo nashi

The pinks in the dooryard Are in bloom, Yet I find no solace When I see them. If my beloved were with me, Like a waterbird beside its mate, I would pick them for her— But the cicada-shell body is ephemeral. Evanescent as the dew or frost, She went down the road Into the foot-trailing hills, And like the setting sun She hid. My chest aches with longing, I find no words, No name describes my feeling . This life vanishes And leaves no trace behind, And there's nothing we can do.

3:467 Toki wa shimo itsu mo aramu 0 kokoro itaku inishi wagimo ka midorigo 0 okite

There would have come A time to leave, But my love, alas, Left a child behind.

3:468 Ideteyuku michi shiramaseba arakajime imo 0 todomemu sekimookamashio

If I had known The road she'd take, I'd have built a barrier To detain my love.

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3:469 Imoga mishi ttiwa ni hana saki toki wa henu waganaku numida imada hinaku ni

The flowers bloom in the garden She once looked out upon, As time slips past, Though my tears have yet to dry.

Five more poems composed when his grief had yet to heal: 3:470 Kaku nomi ni It came to only this, arikeru mono 0 Though we pledged to live together imo mo ware mo For a thousand years, chitóse no gotoku My love and I. tanomitarikeru 3:471 Iesakari imasu wagimo 0 todomekane yamagakushitsure kokorodo mo nashi 3:472 Yo no naka wa tsune kaku nomi to katsu shiredo itaki kokoro wa shinobikanetsu mo 3:473 Sao yama ni tanabiku kasumi miru goto ni imooomoide nakanu hi wa nashi 3474 Mukashi koso yoso ni mo mishika wagimokoga okutsuki to amoeba hashikisaoyama

I could not stop her When she left the house, Went off into the hills— My heart is gone as well.

Though I know That life is ever thus, I cannot bear the grief.

Each time I see the mist Shrouding the Sao hills, I think of her, And there are no days I do not weep.

Of old I looked on them from afar, But now my love's walled up withinHow dear the Sao hills.

Yakamochi here uses the traditional form of the elegy (banka), one of the three main types into which the verse of the Man'yoshu is classified. Originating in ceremonial funeral song, traditional public elegies reached their zenith when court funeral ceremonial was 89

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

at its most elaborate, around the time of Emperor Temmu in the late seventh century. With the relatively sudden shift to simpler Buddhist burial practices in the early years of the eighth century, elegies were no longer a necessary part of the funeral ceremony, and the practice of composing them fell into decline. Private poems expressing personal feelings of grief in the old form continued to be written, but by Yakamochi's day even they were no longer very common. The traditional elegy was a highly conventional form, using a fixed repertoire of motifs arranged in a standard pattern. 13 Often a choka, the typical elegy opens with an introductory general statement, sometimes a description of the continuity of imperial rule or of the perpetual beauties of nature (in contrast to fleeting individual life), sometimes a statement of the speaker's distress. This varying opening is followed by a description of how fine things were when the deceased was still alive, expressed with a series of standard motifs. Most often the depiction is one of elegant diversions in balanced parallel phrases, the deceased decking his or her hair with flowers or admiring the scenery in the spring and in the fall, in the morning and in the evening. Next comes the announcement of death. The deceased are never victims of fate, nor are they taken away by any outside power. They simply decide to go off into the nearby sacred hills, though for reasons incomprehensible to the living. Princes move to eternal mountain palaces and ascend from there to rule the heavens. Ordinary people slip away like phenomena of nature, leave like the flowing river or the setting sun, to disappear into the mountains and eventually float off as clouds or smoke. The speaker of the elegy reacts with shock, disbelief, and distress that death comes despite all expectations, all pledges, all rituals, and all prayers. Usually the bereaved expresses his shock and confusion with one of a group of conventional phrases that occur almost exclusively in the elegy form: "Are these deceiving lies I hear? Mad words I hear?" or "I don't know what to say or what to do." The next of the common elements of the conventional elegiac pattern is a description of the mourning of the survivors, and, finally, expression of the speaker's own grief. In public elegies, the courtiers are described at the funeral; in more personal works, the speaker is often at home and laments how empty and changed 13. For discussion of the details of the origins and formal characteristics of th« elegy see Paula Doe, "Ótomo Yakamochi and the Man'yd Tradition of Elegy" (1978). pp. 341-393.

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COURTIER

familiar things seem now that the loved one is gone. Sometimes the speaker then seeks consolation in a spirit-inhabited nature, wandering in search of the soul of the deceased. But he knows the search will be of little use, and the poems are apt to close with expression of despair, or at best of resignation: "There's nothing to be done." Consolation is found only in making a memorial of some natural object, most often the mountain where the dear one is buried. The envoys which follow a chdka elegy, like those to any choka, summarize the long poem or serve as lyric complements to its narrative. They show rather more range and freedom than the choka, but nonetheless still use predominantly the same motifs as the lyrical latter half of the elegiac pattern—distress at the upset of the natural order, shock, sadness at how familiar things seem changed in life without the deceased, grief that death is final and man helpless, search for some consolation. Sometimes the envoy backtracks to repeat or elaborate part of the pattern from the chdka; sometimes it continues the progression from where the long poem leaves off. Those elegies in the form of independent tanka also use the same repertoire of motifs. Yakamochi's poems on the death of his mistress are thoroughly conventional. The chdka opens with a general statement that the garden flowers are in bloom but bring no comfort. Next, as usual, comes a depiction of the elegant conventional pleasures of the beloved's life, though there is a slight shift in emphasis from the usual: not "when she was alive" but "if she were alive we would pick flowers." Then comes the announcement of the death in the expected natural imagery. The woman of her own volition goes down the road into the hills, hides like the setting sun. Yakamochi then expresses his own suffering and longing in a slight variant of the common "I don't know what to say" pattern—"I find no words, no name describes my feeling." Finally, he concludes with the standard despairing resignation that life vanishes without a trace and there is nothing man can do. The envoys and the five other poems which follow elaborate on the motifs of the chdka: the couple's pledges come to nothing and the woman dies despite expectations, though it is not her time yet; the speaker tries in vain to detain her; he thinks of her when he sees the mountain of her tomb and the mist that embodies her soul. Yakamochi is thus carefully following the conventional pattern expected—indeed required— of an elegy. Yet from these traditional materials he makes integral, and in some ways even innovative, poetry. 91

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First, he uses some distinctive elements from other poems that are conspicuously not part of the general pattern of the elegy, all from verses on the death of Tabito's wife in Dazaifu (see chapter 2). Perhaps he turned to these poems by Okura and Tabito simply for guidance in writing his own first elegy, but the convergent allusions add considerably to the poem, repeatedly reminding us of his father's grief under much the same circumstances. The recurrence of the situation emphasizes the universal transience and pain of life, cause for a general melancholy that extends beyond this specific tragedy. Yakamochi also combines his choka and a number of tanka into a related series. In fact, some scholars treat all these poems as one work. The motif of the pinks is repeated and developed, while the seasons and the nature of the speaker's grief gradually change through the progression of poems—all contributing to the overall theme of the passing of time and the transience of life. He recalls his mistress planting pinks to cheer him in one of the opening tanka. In the choka they are in bloom, but he finds no comfort from looking at them, since he can't pick them for her. In the final envoy, time is slipping rapidly by, but her flowers and his grief persist. The coming of the first cool winds of autumn is anticipated in the first poem. By the third, the new month and the autumn winds have come; by the final few verses, the late autumn mist shrouds the hills. There is a psychological progression through different stages of grief as well. At first, Yakamochi is distressed at the immediate loss he feels in his daily life, sleeping alone and seeing the garden his mistress has planted. By the final tanka, he is coming to terms with his grief and is able to look fondly on the hills where she is buried. Thus, like so many later Japanese poets, he makes his poems into a coherent series, a larger work expressing not only particular moments of grief, but also conveying something of their place in the greater scheme of life. Yakamochi also changes the old ceremonial song pattern to suit the fashion of his own age by beginning the series as a social exchange with his brother. This switch from public, communal ceremonial song to a private conversational exchange epitomizes the change in the role of poetry between the era of traditional elegy and Yakamochi's own age. An addition more uniquely Yakamochi's, and one that contributes much to his poem's appeal, is the depiction of his beloved planting pinks for him to enjoy later and remember her by. Perhaps she knew she was dying, or perhaps this 92

YAKAMOCHI AS A YOUNG COURTIER

is the irony of hindsight. In any case, in contrast to the shadowy figures in earlier elegies who deck their hair with flowers in the spring and with colored leaves in the fall, Yakamochi's mistress comes vividly alive for us for a moment as a real individual, and though our glimpse of her is admittedly brief, with this flash of life the poet gives a thoroughly modern turn to the conventional form, foreshadowing the qualities of his mature work. Shortly after his mistress's death, Yakamochi began seriously to court Lady Sakanoue's daughter Oiratsume. He could hardly have found a woman with closer ties. Not only was her mother his aunt, his mentor, his stand-in as acting clan head, and possibly even his stepmother, but Oiratsume's father was Yakamochi's uncle by blood—Tabito's brother. Yakamochi had sent Oiratsume a few love poems in years previous, but then had apparently stopped seeing her, perhaps because of his involvement with his mistress. That September, he once again visited the Sakanoue manor at Takeda and was warmly received despite his protracted absence: 8:1620 Aratama no tsuki tatsu made ni kimasaneba ime ni shi mitsutsu omoi so wa ga seshi

I saw you ever in my dreams As I yearned for you, Since you didn't come until this month, New like an uncut gem.

Shortly afterward he began to send love poems to Oiratsume, and broke off his amorous correspondence with other women, though he continued to send playful poems to his old friend Lady Ki. The early poems he and Oiratsume exchanged seem to hint at some sort of scandal that kept them apart, but they may simply be making literary conversation with conventional lovers' complaints. The ordinary and awkward quality of Oiratsume's verse—she shared none of her mother's gift—serves to emphasize Yakamochi's increasing skill: Two poems Otomo Sukune Yakamochi sent to Sakanoue Oiratsume after a separation of several years when they met again and exchanged letters:

4727

Wasuregusa wagashitabimoni tsuketaredo shiko no shiko kusa koto ni shi arikeri

I tucked forgetting-weed Into my undersash, But it's a stupid, useless plant, Its name a lie.

93

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E DUSK 4:728

Hito mo naki kuni mo aranti ka wagimoko to tazusaiyukite taguiteoramu

Is there a land where no one dwells? There hand in hand My love and I would go And be together.

Three poems Ótomo Sakanoue Óiratsume sent Ótomo Sukune Yakamochi: 4:729

Tama naraba te ni mo makamu 0 utsusemi no yo no hito nareba te ni makigatashi

4:730

Awamu yo wa itsu mo aramu 0 nani su toka ka no yoi aite koto no shigeki mo

4731 Waganawamo chi na no io na ni tachinu tomo kimiga na tataba oshimi koso nake

If you were a jewel I would wear you round my arm, But since you are a person Of this cicada-shell world, It's hard to wrap you round my arm. There are always nights to meet. Why when we met that night Did rumors fly?

Let my name circulate five hundred times, A thousand times, But if your name is raised, 1 weep with remorse.

Three more poems by Ótomo Sukune Yakamochi in reply: 4732 I don't care about my reputation now, Ima shiwashi Though my name's brought up na no oshikeku mo A thousand times ware wa nashi Because of you. imoniyoritewa chi tabi tatsu tomo 4733 Utsusemi no yo ya mofuta yuku nani su toka imoniawazute wagahitorinemu 4734 Wagaomoi kakute arazu wa tama ni moga

Will we see this cicada-shell world again? Why do I sleep alone, Without you?

Ah, that I were a string of jewels. I would be twined then about your arm, 94

Y A K A M O C H I AS A Y O U N G C O U R T I E R

makoto mo into ga te ni makaremu o

Instead of yearning so.

In October, Yakamochi and Oiratsume pledged themselves to each other when she sent him some garlands of early rice and the robe she wore next to her skin, which he began to wear. H e thanked her for the garment in language very reminiscent of his first elegy for his mistress a mere four months before. Whether using a specific allusion or simply similar conventional imagery, Yakamochi expresses his gratitude for this warm new love to shield him from his grief: 8:1626 Aki kaze no samuki kono koro shita ni kimu imo ga katami to katsu mo shinowamu

Now when the autumn wind blows cold I'll wear this underneath And think of you.

The gift of an underrobe was a Man'yd token of love, a pledge, even, rather like a ring in our society, probably a sign of betrothal or marriage, as the following poems attest: 16:3809 Akikaeshi shirasu to no minori araba koso wa ga shitagoromo kaeshi tabarame

The law permits Return of merchandise, So you can send me back My underrobe.

Once, it is said, there was a maiden who had a secret lover. After their affair was over, he returned the keepsake she had given him, and in her resentment she sent him this poem. 14:3350 Tsukuwane no niiguwa mayo no kinu wa aredo kimi ga mikeshi shi aya ni kihoshi mo 15:3584 Wakarenaba uchiganashikemu agakoromo shita ni 0 kimase tada ni au made ni

There are robes made of silk From worms fattened on Mount Tsukuba's Young mulberries, But I would far rather wear yours. If we part you will be lonely. Wear my robe underneath, at least, Until we meet again.

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With this pledge of love, or perhaps of betrothal, Yakamochi and Oiratsume sealed their long-lasting relationship. A match between the two was not only acceptable, it was apparently also highly practical for both parties, for it more tightly linked the acting clan head to the young heir to the position, solidly consolidating the Otomo leadership in their hands. Yakamochi and Oiratsume continued to live apart, as was common practice at least for the first few years of marriage, and between his visits to her they exchanged dozens of poems expressing their longing for each other. The number of poems of longing and complaint has led some scholars to speculate that something still kept the two apart, perhaps that Lady Sakanoue disapproved of their relationship. Some of these poems do sound as if their meeting was not always easy. For example, Yakamochi's poem: 4:736 Tsukuyo ni wa kado ni idetachi yuke toi aura 0 so seshi yukamaku o hori

I go out to the gate in the moonlight, Try evening divination, Try walking augury— How I want to come to you!

Evening divination consisted of going to the crossroads, where the word spirit was thought to work, and listening to what the passersby said, often as a means of determining if one would meet one's love (e.g., 11:2506). What is meant by walking augury, literally "foot augury," is unclear, but it perhaps involved walking to a designated spot while reciting something, and deciding the outcome by what was being said when the spot was reached. Like evening divination, it apparently often served to tell if one would see one's lover (e.g., 12:3006). It seems most likely, however, that Yakamochi's service at court, and Oiratsume continuing to live in her own household as was the custom, simply kept them from seeing each other as constantly as they would have liked, as the following poems of Yakamochi's suggest: 4751

Aimite wa ikuka mo henu 0 kokodaku mo kuruinikurui omohoyuru kamo

Few days have passed Since last we met, Yet I am crazed With yearning for you.

96

YAKAMOCHI AS A Y O U N G C O U R T I E R 4755

Yo no hodoro idetetsutsu kuraku tabi maneku narebawagamune tachiyaku gotoshi

Many the times I've left you And come home before the dawn— My heart is pierced; It flames.

Yakamochi sent Oiratsume vast numbers of poems, many clearly from this period, others of undetermined date, which show a variety that his other early poems do not. He probably had increasingly varied occasions to write to her, and he would have found her a sympathetic audience, for whom he could be somewhat more free and informal than usual. Perhaps, too, since the verses he sent her remained in the family, they were more readily available later for inclusion in the Man'ydshu. For whatever reasons, we have an unusual variety of poems to Oiratsume, including much casual and private verse of the sort not usually anthologized. There is, for example, a thank-you poem to Oiratsume for a small drawstring bag of fine cloth she had sent him. Such bags were worn hung from the belt, as an important part of a courtier's costume, holding necessities like flintstones, medicines, and needles. Admittedly an exceedingly slight verse, though fluent, it nonetheless gives an appealingly homey glimpse of Yakamochi, such as is seen of few other Man'yd poets: 4:746

Ikeru yo ni a wa imada tnizu koto taete kaku omoshiroku nuerufukurowa

In all this world of ours I've never seen one like it, It leaves me without words, This bag so nicely sewn.

But Yakamochi was also maturing as a poet from the time his relationship with Oiratsume began. He was becoming extremely skillful at composing lyrics, and beginning serious experiments with new techniques and new approaches, as the Dazaifu poets had done, though using things learned from the native poetic tradition. Among the more characteristic of Yakamochi's early experiments is a love poem for Oiratsume in the form of a choka. There are a few other extended love poems in the Man'ydshu, especially among the old anonymous songs of Book XIII and by the late seventh-century poet Kakinomoto Hitomaro, but the form was by 97

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no means common, especially by Yakamochi's day. Choka tended to be public ceremonial songs; personal and social communications such as love poems were most often tanka. Here the inspiration seems the traditional elegy, though the conventions are turned to quite new use: A poem Ôtomo Sukune Yakamochi sent to Sakanoue Óiratsume: 8:1629 Nemokoro n i mono 0 omoeba So deep is my distraction iwamu sube semu sube mo I know not what to do or what to say. nashi Hand in hand, you and I imo to ware te tazusawarite In the morning would go to the garden, ashitaniwa niwa ni idetachi In the evening would dust off the bed, yûbe ni wa toko uchiharai And sleep on each other's white hemp shirotae no sode sashikaete saneshiyoya tsune ni arikeru sleeves— ash ih iki no yamadori koso ba But could such nights last forever? 0 mukai ni tsumadoi su to ie Even the pheasant of the foot-trailing u tsusemi no hito naru ware ya hills, they say, nani su to ka hitohi hitoyo mo Flies from peak to peak to join his sakari ite nageki kouramu mate. koko omoeba mune koso itaki Why then must I, a man of this soko yue ni kokoro nagu ya to cicada-shell world, takamato no yamanimononi Be parted from you even for one day, mo one night, uchiyukite asobiarukedo To yearn and suffer so? hana nomi nioite areba My chest aches with longing. mirugotoni mashite omohoyu To find some solace, then, ika ni shite wasuremu mono so I wander in the hills and fields of koi to iu mono 0 Takamato, But there it's bright with flowers— At every one I see I long the more for you. How can I forget This thing called love? 8:1630 Takamato no nobe no kaobana omokage ni mietsutsu imo wa wasurekanetsu mo

In the maiden flowers In the fields of Takamato I see your face— I cannot get you from my mind.

Like a standard elegy, this poem opens with a general statement of the speaker's confusion in language typical of the f o r m — h e knows 98

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COURTIER

not what to do or what to say. He describes life with his love in conventional parallel phrases—they go to the garden in the morning, sleep together in the evening. He then expresses his bewilderment at being without the woman, and states his own grief with a traditional phrase: "My chest aches with longing." Then, as in dozens of other elegies, the bereaved goes off into the hills as if searching for the soul of the deceased, and is there reminded of her by the flowers. Only in the very last line is it finally made clear that no one has died, that the speaker is not grieving, but simply in love. The lines natii sutokal hitohi hitoyo mo I sakari ite, "Why then must I . . . be parted from you even for one day, one night?" from the middle of the poem could perhaps hint that Yakamochi is not separated from his love forever, but such lines would also be perfectly natural in an elegy, where the bereaved speaker often laments that he could never gaze on the loved one enough in life, yet now they are parted eternally by death. Yakamochi leaves the only unconventional element—the explanation that he is distressed not by grief for the dead or even longing for the living, but by "this thing called love," until the very end of the poem. Evidently he is making a very individual poem from the old pattern, expanding the range of his poetry by one of the few methods possible in his age—turning to the material of the poetry of the past. Yakamochi sent Oiratsume another choka as well, using the traditionally public and ceremonial form for an even more unusually personal and everyday poem: 8:1507 Ika to ika to aruwa ga y ado n i momoesashi ouru tachibana tama ni ttuku satsuki 0 chikami aenu gani haría sakinikeri asa ni ke ni ide miru goto ni iki no oni wa ga mou imo ni masokagami kiyoki tsukuyo ni tada hitóme misuru made ni wa chirikosu na

yume to iitsutsu

kokodaku ni

wa ga moru

mono 0 uretakiya shiko hototogisu akatoki no oedo oedo itazura ni

uraganashiki

ni

nao sh i ki nakite tsuchi ni chiraseba

Each day I grew more anxious, As jewel-stringing June drew near, Over the orange tree in my garden That stretched forth a hundred branches, Laden with blossoms that could fall at any touch. Morning and afternoon I would go out and look at them And pray that they not fall, whatever came, Till I could show them to my love Under moonlight clear as a fine mirror. I watched over them so carefully, But that accursed cuckoo. Though I shooed him, shooed him off,

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sube o nami yojite ta oritsu mimose wagimoko

8:1508

Mochi kutachi kiyoki tsukuyo ni wagimoko ni misemu to omoishi yado no tachibana

8:1509

Imo ga mite nochi mo nakanamu hototogisu hana tachibana 0 tsuchi ni chirashitsu

Still he came and sang In the sad hours of the dawn, And they scattered to the ground in vain. Since there's nothing I could do I took a branch and broke it off— Look upon it, love. I thought I would show them to you, love, In the clear moonlight When the moon was just past full— The orange blossoms in my yard. If only he had waited Till you'd seen them— The cuckoo's knocked The blossoms to the ground.

These poems are indicative of Yakamochi's new direction, which would eventually lead to some of his best verse. Here he finds his own everyday troubles with the cuckoo in his garden worthy material for poetry, and elaborates a conventional concern for the blossoms into verses that foreshadow the sort of individualism that make his mature work seem so modern and appealing. Yakamochi's relatively peaceful early years at court, when his fashionable post as imperial attendant afforded him leisure to occupy himself with love affairs and poetry, were abruptly cut short in the fall of 740, when a revolt against the government sent the emperor and his court fleeing the capital. The uprising was led by Fujiwara Hirotsugu, disgruntled at his demotion to a minor post in Kyushu. His father, who had died in the recent epidemic, had been head of one of the branches of the powerful Fujiwara family, and Hirotsugu himself had already served as governor of the important central province of Yamato. He apparently was the victim of factional intrigue. Shomu accused him of unfilial behavior. Hirotsugu vocally opposed Shomu's most influential advisers, the scholar Makibi and the priest Gembo, both recently returned from years of study in China, and the powerful great minister of the right, 100

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Tachibana Moroe. Some credit Hirotsugu with championing the cause of the people, who were unquestionably facing hard times. The government was embarking on an ambitious program of temple building, largely a pious attempt to regain the favor of the gods and thus restore the nation's prosperity after the devastation of the smallpox epidemic and years of drought and bad harvests. However, the farmers, especially in Kyushu where the epidemic had been worst of all, could ill spare the labor from their fields to serve in forced labor gangs to build more temples. 14 Whatever his real motivation, in September Hirotsugu petitioned the throne to remove Gembo and Makibi from power, on the grounds that the land was full of evil omens. At the end of the month, when there was no reaction from the court, Hirotsugu declared himself in rebellion. Discontented farmers and local families of influence supported his cause, and he soon had an army of some 15,000 men at his command. The central government was alarmed. Not only was the opposing force sizable, it was centered in the vital center of Dazaifu. And Hirotsugu also had powerful connections in the capital. Shomu called up 17,000 men to meet the threat, but since the draftees had been released the year before because of the epidemic, a month went by before imperial troops were ready to move against the rebels. And when the army did advance to the west, it was not immediately able to subdue them. A messenger was sent to make offerings for victory at the great shrine of Ise, and the provinces were ordered to construct seven-foot statues of the Bodhisattva Kannon and to make copies of the Kannon sutra. The emperor sent official warning to the officials and people in Kyushu: The traitor Hirotsugu was a wicked youth and came to do more and more evil as he grew up. His late father, the minister of ceremonial, wanted to disinherit him, but we intervened. However, when he slandered his family, we sent him away and were awaiting his reform. Now it comes to our ears that he has begun a ridiculous rebellion, causing suffering among the people. Because of his extreme disloyalty and lack of filial piety, the gods of heaven and earth will surely bring his destruction in a matter of days. Although we sent the above imperial message to the provinces of Kyushu several days ago, it has come to our ears that the traitor captured the man assigned to distribute it and prevented him from inform14. See Kitayama Shigeo's interpretation in his very useful Man'yd no jidai (1954; rpt. 1976), pp. 124-130, of the basic materials in the Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo 12/8/29 to 12/11/5. 101

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ing the people. This time we have made several hundred copies of the message and have distributed them everywhere, so such interference will be impossible. Let all who see this rescript immediately return allegiance to the crown. Whoever slays Hirotsugu will be promoted to fifth rank and given other rewards, even if he is one of the rebels, and even if he is not currently a member of the official class. If by any chance the man who does the deed is himself killed, we promise the reward to his descendants. Come forth now, loyal subjects and faithful retainers. Our imperial army is advancing on Kyushu. 1 5

When the fighting dragged on week after week, the emperor ordered a temporary palace readied in Kawaguchi in Ise province (modern Mie prefecture) and retreated eastward from the capital with his court, leaving one of his generals in command of the city. Presumably he feared Hirotsugu's sympathizers in Nara. Though the late autumn weather was abysmal, the emperor and some 400 men, Yakamochi among them, did not wait for it to clear. They struggled on for four days, through heavy rain and thick mud that exhausted both men and horses, before finally reaching a villa hurriedly prepared at Kawaguchi. Within a few days of their arrival, a messenger brought word that Hirotsugu had been captured and put to death, and the rebellion crushed. Yakamochi had a chance to send a note to Oiratsume, left behind in the uneasy city: 6:1029

Kawaguchi no nobe ni iorite yo nofureba imo ga tamoto shi omohoyuru kamo

Many the nights we've spent encamped On the plains of Kawaguchi— How I yearn for your sleeves.

Though the danger was over, Shomu and his men did not head back to Nara. They spent some time hunting at Kawaguchi, then proceeded further eastward to Saza. There they spent nine days, and Shomu promoted those who had taken part in the campaign. The party moved slowly along the shore of Ise Bay, then headed north to the guarded pass at Fuwa in Mino province (modern Gifu prefecture). The few verses Yakamochi wrote, as the group moved on uncertainly for weeks through the increasingly wintry weather, 15. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo 12/9/29.

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were, like those of the other courtiers, poems of longing for loved ones left at home: A poem Otomo Sukune Yakamochi composed at the encampment at Saza: 6:1032

Okimi no miyuku no manima wagimoko ga tamakura makazu tsuki so henikeru

A month's gone by On the royal expedition, And I've not slept pillowed on your arm.

A poem Otomo Sukune Yakamochi composed at the encampment at Fuwa: 6:1036

Seki naku wa kaeri ni dani mo uchiyukite imo ga tamakura makite nemashi 0

Though it were only for a moment I would come to you, Come sleep pillowed on your a r m — If there were no checkpoint here.

Finally the party turned south and headed back towards the capital. Nearly two months after leaving home they reached Kuni, ten kilometers northeast of Nara. There Shomu proclaimed a new capital. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, Kuni was readily defensible. It was also an area where Great Minister Moroe had ties, and where the emperor had sometimes visited him at his villa. Doubtless Moroe strongly supported a move away from Nara, where the old Fujiwara power was centered, to his own ground. The quiet hills of Kuni were a far cry from life in Nara among family and friends, in fine homes and palaces, amid busy markets and broad tree-lined avenues. The court had moved to earlier capitals only after most of the construction was complete, but there wasn't much of anything yet in Kuni. The emperor and his attendants lived there in retreat throughout the construction of the city. Shomu ordered all those of fifth rank and above to move forthwith to the new capital, and not to just "go on living in Nara as they pleased," suggesting that there was among the nobility a not entirely surprising lack of enthusiasm to leave their fine homes and incur the expense of building new ones in distant, uncivilized Kuni. 16 The common people of the surrounding provinces were even less enthused about the new capital, for they were forced into service to build it. A crew of 5,500 laborers was called up. Village headmen in the five provinces around Kuni sent men to serve for 103

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terms of thirty days in summer or fifty days in winter, when farm work was not so pressing. The laborers were chosen by an orderly system, taken first from households with many male members, and from the richer households when the number of men was equal. The workmen had to supply their own food for the march to Kuni; once on the job, they were supplied with a daily ration of rice and salt. On days when it rained, however, and they did not work, they were not fed. There was a constant problem with the laborers escaping from the construction gangs, and their home districts had

to maintain their assigned quota of men by replenishing the ranks with new recruits. Regular replacements were required every month, not only for dozens of workers, but even for their guards, who steadily disappeared as well. 17 The unpopular construction was mocked in popular song: Sawadagawa sode tsuku bakari ya asakeredo hare asakeredo kuni no miyahito ya takahashi watasu aware sokoyoshiya takahashi watasu

Though the Sawada River Is so shallow That it barely wets the sleeves, So shallow, The courtiers of Kuni Span it with a high bridge, Span it with a high bridge. 1 8

The depleted treasury was hard pressed to finance a new city. Officials were urged to help with the considerable expense of public construction, as well as building their own new homes. Contributions were requested from the officials of all the provinces for a city bridge. A minor bureaucrat who set a fine example by build16. Shoku Nihcmgi, Tempyô 13/Intercalary 3/15. 17. Shoku Nihcmgi, Tempyô 13/9/9; Aoki, Nara no miyako, pp. 73-79. 18. Saibara, in Takeda Yukichi, éd., Zoku Man'yôshû (1926), p. 308. 104

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ing a wall around the palace at his own expense was made a highranking nobleman. Over a year after declaring Kuni the capital, the palace was still not finished. Embarrassed at the lack of properly impressive facilities, the central government did not let visiting foreign delegations come beyound Dazaifu.19 Off in the mountains of Kuni, Yakamochi sent many poems of longing to Oiratsume, who remained in Nara: 4:765

Hitoeyama henareru mono 0 tsukuyoyomi kado ni idetachi imo ka matsuramu

4:767

Miyakojio tomi ka imo ga forno koro iva ukeite nuredo ime ni miekonu

4:768

lmishirasu kuni no miyako ni imo ni awazu hisashiku narinu yukite haya mi na

8:1632

Ashihiki no yamabe morite aki kaze no hinikenifukeba imo oshi so omou

Though a range of mountains Stands between us, Do you go out and linger by the gate When the moon is fine?

Is the road to the capital so long? Though I pray now before I sleep, You don't come to me in dreams.

I've been long without you, love. In the capital at Kuni Where the emperor now reigns. Soon would I come to you.

Each day when the autumn wind blows, Here in the foot-trailing hills, I yearn for you.

Yakamochi is distressed that Oiratsume does not appear in his dreams. If she were thinking of him, her soul would come to him at night. Here he varies the conventional motif by delicately attributing her failure to appear to the great distance from Nara to Kuni. His stress in these poems on the distance, and on the atmosphere of the site in the wooded hills, are in keeping with the new 19. Shoku Nihtmgi, Tempyo 14/8/13; Kitayama, Man'yd no jidai, p. 134; Shoku

Nihongi, Tempyo 14/2/3, 5.

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fashion for making poems specifically suited to the setting and occasion at hand. These verses also begin to hint, however, of the particularized observation that would later distinguish Yakamochi's work. Such touches of local color are notable in his poems from Kuni to his old friend Lady Ki, as he helped her construct her house in the new capital: 4:779

Itafuki no kurogi no yane wa yama chikashi asu no hi torite mochi mairikomu

4:780

Kurogi tori kaya mo karitsutsu tsukaemedo isoshiki wake to homemu to mo arazu

4:781

Nubatama no kizo wa kaeshitsu koyoi sae wareokaesu na michino nagateo

Since the mountains are close by, Tomorrow I will cut and bring you Rough logs for your wooden roof.

Though I serve you Bringing logs and cutting thatch, You will not praise me As your faithful slave.

Last seed-black night you sent me off. Don't send me back again tonight, Along the long road home.

If life in Kuni, with its hurriedly built and rather rustic houses of woven thatch with rough board roofs, was less elegant and civilized than Nara, it did have its diversions. Yakamochi and his friends occupied themselves with hunting and outings in the surrounding wooded hills, and Kuni's scenery inspired some vivid nature poems. Some of Yakamochi's earliest compositions had been poems on nature, and he had continued to write such verses now and again through the intervening years, but most of his creative energy at court went into the social and occasional verses called for by banquets and love affairs. His early nature poems were often conventional effusions on the failure of natural phenomena to regularly occur only in their allotted season. The cuckoo which was supposed to sing on the first day of summer was a favorite topic, as was the combination of the plum blossoms of spring and the snow of winter: 106

YAKAMOCHI AS A Y O U N G 8:1487 Hototogisu omowazu ariki ko no kure no kaku naru made ni nani ka ki nakanu 8:1649 Kyo furishi y uki ni kioite wagayado no fuyu ki no ume wa hana sakinikeri

COURTIER

I n e v e r w o u l d h a v e t h o u g h t it, c u c k o o ; W h y haven't w e heard your song T h o u g h t h e t r e e s give s h a d e s o thick?

N o t to b e o u t d o n e By t h e s n o w t h a t fell t o d a y , T h e b a r e p l u m tree in m y y a r d H a s p u t forth b l o s s o m s .

A few of his early poems on the cuckoo, however, depicted the bird with a new touch of realistic detail: 8:1494 Natsu yama no konure no shige ni hototogisu naki toyomu naru koe no karukesa

F a r off The cuckoo's song reverberates T h r o u g h lush t r e e t o p s O f t h e hills of s u m m e r .

8:1495 Ashihiki no ko no ma tachikuku hototogisu kaku kikisomete nochi koimu kamo

I will l o n g later F o r the c u c k o o I n o w h e a r , A s h e rises f r o m b e t w e e n Foot-trailing trees.

While there is plentiful visual imagery in the figurative language in earlier Man 'yoshu poetry, actual observed details are new and effective. Here both these poems give the impression of actual observation of a real bird, its cry heard in the distance in the first, and the bird seen rising between the trees in the second, in contrast to most poems on the cuckoo that simply praise the bird's song or lament its absence in very general terms. The "rises from between" (tachikuku) of the second poem occurs nowhere else in the Matt'ydshu; possibly Yakamochi coined the appropriate word himself, as he was wont to do now and again. 20 20. See Inaoka Kdji, "Yakamochi no 'tachikuku/ 'tobikuku' no shuhen" (1963). Rpt. in Nihon bungaku shiryo kankokai, ed., Nihon bungaku kenkyu shiryo sosho: Manyoshu I (1969), pp. 2 7 4 - 2 9 4 . 107

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK

In Yakamochi's compositions from the hills of Kuni, away from the urban life of Nara, observation really begins to bring a refreshing outdoor reality to his nature poems: 8:1598 Saoshika no asa tatsu nobe no aki hagi ni tama to miru made okeru shiratsuyu 8:1599 Saoshika no muna wake ni kamo akihagi no chirisuginikeru sakari kamo inuru

White dew like scattered jewels On autumn clover In the morning fields Where a lone buck stands.

Is it from the stag crashing through them? The purple clover blossoms have scattered. Or is it that their peak is past?

Both poems use slightly unusual techniques. The first is simply a picture, all structured as one intricately modified noun phrase. The second uses the old-fashioned pattern of positing alternative reasons, apparently characteristic of oral composition, and common in old songs like the following, the first an early work from Empress Jito's reign (r. 690-697), the second an Eastland (eastern Japan) song: 1:44 Wagimoko 0 izami no yama 0 takami kamo yamato no mienu kuni tomi kamo

M:335i

Tsukubane ni yuki kamo fwra.ru ina 0 kamo kanashikikoroga nino hosaru kamo

I would see my love. Is it because Izami Mountain is so high? I cannot see Yamato. Or is it because it is so far away? Has snow fallen On Mount Tsukuba? Or is that dear girl Drying cloth?

Yet the content Yakamochi introduces in the old form—especially the image of the deer crashing through the brush—is quite fresh and uniquely his. In other poems from Kuni's hills, he employs description of the natural scene to convey human feeling: 108

YAKAMOCHI AS A YOUNG COURTIER 8:1602 Yamabiko no aitoyomu made tsumagoi ni ka naku yamabe ni hitori nomi shite 8:1603 Kono koro no asake ni kikeba ashihiki no yama yobitoyome saoshika naku mo

In the hills a deer Cries in longing for his mate And his echo sounds reply— Alone.

When I listen now at dawn The stag's cry Echoes through the trailing hills.

The deer's mournful autumn belling, calling for a mate, in the first poem suggests Yakamochi's longing for his own love in Nara. The second verse eliminates all nonessential explanation. Convention and context supply the associations, enabling Yakamochi to convey his loneliness, as he wakes up at dawn without Oiratsume, with extremely effective economy. By the fall of 743, after some three years of construction, the new city of Kuni was finally nearing completion, and beginning to seem like a proper capital for the nation. The leader of Yakamochi's faction, Tachibana Moroe, was in his glory, just promoted to great minister of the left, and proudly overseeing his city. The young poets whom he supported offered traditional ceremonial poems in praise of the new capital. One by Tanabe Sakimaro, a minor official who served Moroe and who was the author-compiler of one of the collections from which the Man'yoshu draws, is a conventional choka praising the palace site and incidentally lauding Kuni for its rustic mountain setting, where even from the palace one could hear the rural sounds of the river flowing and the birds singing in the hills (6:1050-1052). Yakamochi too offered a traditional poem praising the wise selection of the new site for the capital: 6:1037 Ima tsukuru kuni no miyako wa yama kawa no sayakeki mireba ube shirasurashi

When I look upon the purity Of the landscape of the capital We build at Kuni now, How fit a place it seems For the seat of our lord's rule.

In this poem, Yakamochi looked to the future of the new city, fit not only for the current emperor's rule, but also particularly suit109

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able for the future reign of Shomu's son, Prince Asaka, whom the poet now served as imperial attendant. Sixteen-year-old Asaka was the candidate supported by Yakamochi and Moroe's faction for succession to the throne. Asaka's mother was not of the highest rank, however, so he had not been selected as crown prince. Instead, Shomu's daughter by a Fujiwara woman was made heir to the throne, backed of course by the powerful Fujiwara family. But once the emperor was dead, his designated successor did not necessarily manage to keep the throne, and a male ruler was traditionally preferred. Thus with the united backing of the anti-Fujiwara forces, Prince Asaka still had considerable hope of eventually becoming emperor in Kuni. But Shómu was already thinking of moving the capital again. Late in 743, he announced his intention of building a great image of Roshana Buddha in Shigaraki, the site of a villa further to the northeast. He ordered the interminable construction of the Kuni palace to stop, and work to begin instead on one in Shigaraki. The reasons for the move are unclear; probably factional politics were again involved. With Kuni finally built into a respectable city, there was understandable reluctance to move the capital again so soon. Those in Yakamochi's group probably especially opposed a change, since their leader Tachibana Moroe had apparently been among the principal instigators of the move to Kuni. The emperor hesitated. First he took the remarkable step of conducting an opinion poll. The nobility, those of fifth rank and above, were more or less evenly divided on a move—24 favored staying in Kuni, while 23 were for moving to Naniwa. The middle-level officials were more reluctant. Of those of sixth rank and below, 157 were for remaining in Kuni, while 130 favored Naniwa. In the marketplace, sentiment was overwhelmingly for Kuni—all the commoners queried were opposed to a move, with the exception of two people, and one of those wanted to move back to Nara. 21 In the midst of these deliberations over moving the capital, Yakamochi accompanied Prince Asaka and his circle of supporters on an excursion to Ikuji hill, a favorite hunting spot on the outskirts of Kuni. The poems composed there at a banquet under the pines seem oddly glum for a celebration of the New Year's season. Perhaps political intrigue was disrupting life in Kuni, and this group, whose hopes had recently been so bright, feared that the 2i. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyó 15/10/15,15/12/26,16/1/1.

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opposition was gaining ground. Yakamochi's poem on the occasion was: 6:1043

Tamakiwaru inochi wa shirazu matsu gaeo musubu kokoro wa nagaku to so omou

No one knows the lifespan Allotted to his soul. I tie a branch of pine, And hope the bond is long.

The ritual of tying was thought to bind souls together. Man'yd lovers tied each other's sashes, and knotted grasses as charms to meet again (e.g., 12:3056). Tying a pine branch would seem to be a similar charm, perhaps binding one's soul to the pine in hopes of returning to the site again. Curiously, with the exception of one later poem of Yakamochi's, all the other examples of tying a branch of pine in the Man'yoshu are elegies on the death of a Prince Arima. Arima, the emperor's teenage son and a prime contender for the throne, was killed in 658 by the designated crown prince and the founder of the Fujiwara family because he represented a likely rallying point for the opposition.22 As he went to his death he left the poem: 2:141

hoashiro no hamamatsu gaeo hikimusubi masakiku araba mata kaeri mimu

I tie a branch of pine On Iwashiro's shore. If all goes well I will return And gaze on it again.

The young prince became a kind of legendary hero, and poets continued to write of his pine at Iwashiro long afterwards: 2:144

Iwashiro no nonaka ni tateru musubi matsu kokoro mo tokezu inishie omohoyu

The pine he tied stands in Iwashiro's fields Still bound in feeling I long for the past.

2:146

Nochi mimu to kimi ga musuberu iwashiro no

Did he ever look again On the tip of that young pine That he tied at Iwashiro

22. See Ivan Morris, The Nobility of Failure (1976), pp. 2 6 - 4 0 .

111

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK komatsugaureo mikemu kamo

So that he might once more return?

Yakamochi's poem thus appears to allude to the story of Prince Arima. He similarly ties a pine, hoping to be able to return with his young prince to this favorite spot near the capital where his faction had flourished. But perhaps the allusion also suggests that Yakamochi knew that the young prince on whom his faction's hopes centered—and whose situation so paralleled Prince Arima's— was in danger. Within a few weeks Prince Asaka was dead, at the age of seventeen. The official court history attributes his death to "leg disease," perhaps beriberi, but some modern scholars strongly suspect he was, in fact, poisoned by the Fujiwaras, to whom he presented a very real threat. Emperor Shomu was on an excursion to Naniwa when he heard of his son's death, and he suddenly proclaimed that city the new capital. Yakamochi mourned the loss of his young prince, his faction's capital, and his own political hopes, in a series of elegies using the conventional form effectively for uniquely individual and even innovative expression: 3475 Kakemaku mo aya ni kashikoshi iwamaku mo yuyushiki kamo wa go okimi miko no mikoto yorozuyo ni meshitamawamashi dyamato kuni no miyako wa uchinabiku haru sarinureba yamabe ni wa hana sakiori kawase ni wa ayuko sabashiri iya hi ke ni sakayuru toki ni oyozure no tawakoto to ka mo shirotaeni tcmeriyosoite wazukayama mikoshi tatashite hisakata no ame shirashinure koimarobi hizuchi nakedomo semu sube mo nashi

3:476 Wa go okimi ame shirasamu to

To think of it is awesome beyond words; To speak of it fills me with dread. My lord, the prince, would have ruled Ten thousand generations In the capital at Kuni in great Yamato, Where in lithe spring Flowers bloom profusely in the hills, And trout sport in the streams. Just in that season When things are growing finer day by day— Is it lies or madness that I hear? The courtiers put on white hemp. On Wazuka hill he stops his palanquin To rule the distant heavens there. We collapse in grief and writhe Till muddied with our tears, But nothing can be done. Never did I think my lord Would rule the heavens there—

112

YAKAMOCHI AS A YOUNG COURTIER omowaneba onisomikeru wazuka soma yama 3477 Ashihiki no yama sae hikari saku hana no chirinuru gotoki wagoókimikamo 3478 Kakemaku mo aya ni kashikoshi Wagodkimi mikonomikoto mononofu no yaso tomo no 00 meshitsudoe adomoitamai asakarini shishifumiokoshi yükarini torifumitate omimano kuchiosaetate mikokoro o meshiakirameshi ikujiyama kodachi no shiji ni saku hana mo utsuroinikeri yo no naka wa kaku nomi narashi masurao no kokoro furiokoshi tsurugitachi koshi ni torihaki azusa yumi yuki torioite ame tsuchi to iya tdnaga ni yorozuyo n i kaku sh i mogamo to tanomerishi miko no mikado no sabae nasu sawaku toneri wa shirotae ni koromo torikite tsunenarishi emaifurumai iya hi ke ni kawarau mireba kanashiki ro kamo

3479 Hashiki kamo miko no mikoto no arigayoi meshishi ikuji no michi wa arenikeri

I looked with little interest On Wazuka hill where they cut timber.

My lord was like The flowers that scattered, The flowers that bloomed To make the mountains bright.

To think of it is awesome beyond words. My lord the prince Would call forth his eighty men, Numerous as the clans that serve the throne, And lead them out to the Ikuji hills To raise deer in the hunt of morning, Flush out quail in the hunt of eve. There he would pull his great steed up And gaze till his spirit revived. The woods grow thick there now, The blossoms have all scattered; For such is the way of life. Courtiers lively as the flies of summer Who served at the prince's side, Loyal warriors' hearts aroused, Swords girded to their waists, Catalpa bows in hand And quivers on their backs, Trusted to go on unchanging For ten thousand generations of his reign, Eternal as the heavens and earth. Now they dress in white hemp robes, Their once laughing manner Changes more with every day— What grief it brings to see. The road to Ikuji That my beloved prince Would often take to look upon the land Is overgrown. 113

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK 3:480

Otomo no na tii ou yuki oite yorozuyo ni tanomishi kokoro izuku ka yosemu

Where can I place my trust, That thought to serve him For ten thousand generations, Bearing the quiver with the name Otomo?

Possibly these elegies, like the old funeral songs, were presented publicly at a memorial ceremony. Though the grand old-style funeral rites had long since been abandoned, Buddhist memorial ceremonies were held at seven-day intervals after a death. As Ito Haku points out, the first set of poems is dated twenty-one days (3 x 7) after the prince's death. Ito suggests that the date of the second set of poems may be in error, and that it should be the twenty-fourth of the second lunar month, instead of the third lunar month, thus making the date the forty-second day ( 6 x 7 ) after the death. The first set of poems, he argues, is from the second month and we might well expect the second group to be so too. Errors in numbers are not uncommon in the Man'yoshu. As it stands, the date is the seventy-first from the death, and the seventieth-day service could easily have been postponed or continued for an extra day. Poems and songs were sometimes presented at these memorial services, as at most other rituals and gatherings. Perhaps Yakamochi prepared these poems for such an occasion. 23 Despite the possible ceremonial occasion, Yakamochi's choice of the old form is still unusual. The other Man'yd poems from Buddhist ceremonies are simply tanka, hardly distinguishable from any other tanka (e.g., 8:1594). Ceremonial choka were no longer necessary, and certainly were not common. Though personal laments for friends and lovers were still written, public elegies on the deaths of princes had not been composed for years. Hitomaro's poems on the temporary enshrinements of Prince Hinamishi in the year 689 (2:167-170) and Prince Takechi in 696 (2:199-201) are the preeminent examples of the common type. The only public elegy after the turn of the eighth century is one by the court poet Kanamura on the burial of Prince Shiki in 715 (2:230-234), which differs considerably from the standard pattern. Yakamochi's poems on Prince Asaka, then, are of an archaic type that had not been composed for almost half a century, and his use of the form is particularly 23. Ito, "Jurokken moto Man'yoshu" in Omodaka hakase kiyu kinen rombunshu kankokai, ed., Man'yogaku ronso (1961), pp. 97-98.

YAKAMOCHI AS A YOUNG C O U R T I E R

unusual because he was not a professional court poet, like Hitomaro or Kanamura, employed to produce such works. He looked to this old-fashioned form as a conscious craftsman, finding it a useful way to express his own new individual concerns, much as Tabito and Okura had looked to the poetry of China. Yakamochi's critics are fond of condemning these works as patchworks of phrases copied from earlier poems, for almost every phrase can be found in some other Mart 'yoshu verse. 24 He is, however, simply writing an elegy, and thus naturally uses the conventional motifs and patterns expected of the form. The first choka on the death of the prince (3:475), for example, opens with the usual general statement, conventionally describes the splendors of the prince's life, states the speaker's shock at hearing of the death with the traditional phrase "Is it lies or madness that I hear?", describes the courtiers mourning, and closes, as we would expect, with the comment that nothing can be done. The envoys use the common motifs of a mountain now become a memorial, and the prince leaving as the flowers scatter. The second choka (3:478) begins with a similar general statement, describes the prince hunting when he was alive, depicts the death as the scattering of blossoms, then details the courtiers' mourning, and finally expresses the speaker's own grief. In the envoys, a place the prince used to frequent is now overgrown, and those who had intended to serve forever find their expectations fruitless. All these basic motifs and their pattern of organization are simply common conventions of the elegy. Yet Yakamochi makes of them an integral work very much his own. First, by way of contrast, it is useful to note how a traditional elegy can easily consist of a mere patchwork of old phrases in the standard pattern, as can be seen in the following abbreviated version of the conventional pattern by Okisome Azumahito: 2:204

Yasumishishi wa go dkimi takahikaru hi no miko hisakata no ama tsu miya ni kamu nagara kami to imaseba soko 0 shimo aya ni kashikomi

My wide-ruling lord, My high-shining prince, God that he is, Now rules from the palace Of the distant heavens.

24. See Aoki Takako's excellent article "Otomo Yakamochi no Asaka miko banka" (1975), pp. 3-6, for a comprehensive listing of Yakamochi's "stolen" lines. See also her "Kyutei banka no shuen: Otomo Yakamochi to Asaka miko banka" (1975), pp. 61-74. "5

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK

hiru wa mo hi no kotogoto yoru wa mo yo no kotogoto fushi i nakedo akitaranu kamo

It is awesome beyond what words can tell. All the day long All the night through I am prostrate with tears, But cannot weep enough.

2:205

Okimi wa kaminishimaseba ama kumo no ioega shita ni kakuritamainu

Since my lord is a god He is hidden in the Five hundred layered clouds.

Here the pattern is reduced to its bare minimum: the prince has gone off to rule the heavens, the speaker is stunned, the speaker mourns. The envoy repeats that the prince has gone to the heavens. The language is pleasantly sonorous, and the pair of verses probably made an impressive song for a funeral. But the chdka is merely a loose grouping of familiar phrases to convey minimal content— the prince is dead and the speaker is s a d — i n decorative language. We could leave out almost any line, or substitute another from the conventional supply, and the poem would not suffer particularly. One quick reading exhausts the poem for us, for there is simply little there. Yakamochi's poems, however, are by no means patchworks of clichés. Of interest are the several implications of the opening description of spring growing finer day by day in the first chdka. There is the irony of nature continuing at its loveliest, oblivious to man's suffering and grief, and the young prince unexpectedly cut down in the spring of his life is also called to mind. The second envoy makes the association of the prince and the spring explicit with its image of him gone like the scattered blossoms. But the glories of spring are also clearly associated with the new capital city of Kuni, as indeed that envoy also suggests. The spring description grammatically modifies Kuni, and is in language recalling the old court poems in praise of capitals and palaces. The new city just being completed w a s also in its spring, getting finer day by day, and was the center of power and hope for the future of the faction of Yakamochi and Prince Asaka. But now there were plans for abandoning it. The loss of the young prince, on w h o m their hopes centered, and the desertion of their new capital brought the cheerfully high expectations of Yakamochi and his group to an abrupt 116

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end. The first envoy sums up imagistically with brilliant effect. Mountains are commonly reminders of the dead, but Wazuka hill here is particularly appropriate—the site busy with workmen felling trees to build the new capital has suddenly become the silent grave site for the prince. The poet mourns the loss of the young city and the end of his own budding ambitions as well as the death of the young prince, adding a newly personal dimension to the old pattern. The second choka makes Yakamochi's newly individualistic use of the conventional form clearer still. In marked contrast to the shadowy figures of most earlier elegies, the prince comes vividly alive in this poem for a moment, as he pulls up his horse and pauses to take in the scenery. Yakamochi displays his own characteristic concerns as well. He presents the prince's attendants, so at a loss without their leader, not as the elegant courtiers they were, but as masurao, old-fashioned warriors who accompanied their prince hunting and loyally served beside him with all their weapons ready. The final envoy sums up the series when it explicitly states: What can an Otomo warrior do now with his leader gone and his political hopes dashed? Thus these elegies based on the old conventional pattern are distinctly individual—indeed, it is hard to imagine that anyone other than Yakamochi could possibly have written them. Yakamochi carefully marshals the conventions of the elegy for his own effects in other ways as well. His treatment of the theme of change exploits the conventions with particular skill. In the first choka and its envoys, Yakamochi stresses the suddenness and the shock of the prince's death. Death is always unexpected in conventional elegies, but here abrupt change is a central theme and is emphasized for the informed reader by subtle variations from the usual pattern. After the description of spring, we naturally expect the parallel one of fall that conventionally follows, but here the depiction of the splendors of spring breaks off abruptly. Nor does the expected announcement of the death follow—we only learn that the prince is dead by the sudden intrusion of the expression of shock and disbelief that usually comes somewhat later in the poem. And even this basically conventional expression is unusually compressed. Instead of the common oyozure kalwaga kikitsuru I tawakoto kalwaga kikitsuru mo ("Is it deceiving lies I hear? Is it mad words I hear?"), Yakamochi's poem has simply oyozure no I tawakoto to ka mo ("Is it deceiving madness?"). These lines pull us up not 117

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only because they abruptly and unexpectedly break off the description of spring, but because the elliptical phrasing and choppy final string of particles must be read relatively slowly. Then the scene switches suddenly to the funeral and the courtiers writhing in helpless grief, conveying the dizzying speed of the shocking change. Change is similarly an important theme of the second choka, but now with slightly more distance from the death, change is presented as a constant and inescapable reality. The opening description of the prince going into the hills with his men and stopping his horse subtly parallels the journey of the dead prince in the preceding choka, who, accompanied by his mourning attendants, stops his palanquin on the mountain of his tomb. Thus the conventional diversion-while-the-deceased-was-still-alive ironically becomes a reminder of the transience of life. Also in contrast to the first choka, which opens with spring growing finer day by day, here, as the series ends, the courtiers' once laughing manner changes with every day. Indeed, this second choka grieves more for the change in the courtiers' position, with the loss of their leader and their hopes, than it does for the prince. They change their military regalia for mourning robes, slowly and quietly lose their old lively cheerful dispositions, and find their old haunts overgrown. The prince's death here is announced with images of the changing seasons— the spring blossoms have scattered and the woods are thick with summer growth. The young prince is closely associated with the blossoms of spring from the first poem; engulfing weeds of summer are regularly associated with abandoned capitals in traditional Man'ydshii verse. But the predominant emphasis is on gradual, natural, inescapable change. This general and inevitable transience is further emphasized by what seem to be allusions to Okura's "Lamenting the Transience of Worldly Things" (5:804-805). Specific allusions are always difficult to identify with assurance in such highly conventional verse, but Okura's work is fairly distinctive, and was well known to Yakamochi. The lines resembling Okura's come in good-sized clusters, and, most importantly, the echoes of the earlier poem add considerably to the present verse. Yakamochi's generalization yo no naka wa I kaku nomi narashi ("Such is the way of life") in the middle of his poem occurs in Okura's lament, as do the images that follow of the warrior girding on his sword and the once laughing faces. In the first part of Okura's poem, maidens in jeweled bracelets playing hand in hand soon find their hair 118

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streaked with frost and their rosy faces wrinkled. He continues, in the alternative version: 5:804 Tsutie narishi emai mayobiki saku hana no utsuroinikeri yo no naka wa kaku nomi narashi masurao no otoko sabisu to tsurugi tachi koshi ni torihaki satsuyumi 0 ta nigiri mochite akagoma ni shitsu kura uchioki hainorite asobi arukishi yononakaya tsune ni arikeru otomera ga sa nasu itato 0 oshihiraki itadori yorite matamade no tamade sashikae saneshi yo no ikuda mo araneba tatsukazue koshi ni taganete ka yukeba hito ni itowae kakuyukeba hito ni nikumae oyoshio wa kaku nomi narashi tamakiwa ru inoch i osh ikedo semu sube no nashi 5:805 Tokiwa nasu kaku shi mogamo to omoedomo yo no koto nareba todomikanetsu mo

Their once laughing faces Fade like the flowers that bloom. For such is the way of life. A warrior in manly fashion Girds his great sword to his waist, Takes his hunting bow in hand, Saddles his chestnut colt Withs/i/fSM cloth, And rides off pursuing pleasures— But will such days last forever? Few are the nights He pushes through a maiden's door And sleeps there in her arms, Before he needs a cane to walk, Faces scom here, Finds hatred there— The only treatment an old man gets. Though we would cling to life, There's nothing to be done.

I wish I were eternal as the stones, But in this world There is no stopping time.

Yakamochi's second choka thus uses echoes of Okura's poem to suggest the inevitability of change and the loss of youthful hopes. Few, if any, of the lines in these elegies of Yakamochi's could be replaced or removed without diminishing the effect. The conventional description of spring in the first choka could hypothetically be replaced by some other description of the season, but the lines traditionally associated with the praise of palaces and capitals serve to suggest that the new capital at Kuni itself is of concern, as well as the young prince. Furthermore, there is a masculine, active, energetic quality to the description, generally appropriate to these poems on loyal, manly warriors, and particularly appropriate to its association with the young prince. "Lithe" is uchinabiku, "bending, 119

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waving," and describes the waving branches. The flowers are not simply in bloom but are sakiori, "blooming and flourishing." And the young trout running in the streams also make a suitably active, even masculine, image of spring. Perhaps the attendants' mourning could be depicted in other terms without great loss, but again the sheer energy of the description, and the wild intensity of the grieving, is most appropriate for conveying the sudden shock of the death, and for depicting the prince's followers as active warriors. In the second choka, the opening hunt description might conceivably be cut down or revised, but the echo of the prince's funeral journey to the hills in the preceding poem is effective, and we must have the picture of the prince on his hunting grounds established to make fully meaningful the lines on the thick woods and the road now overgrown there. And again the attendants are presented as old-fashioned, active, happy men. Their mourning at the end of this poem might at first seem rather curiously described, but it contrasts effectively with the wild writhing immediately after the death in the first poem. In short, irrespective of whether lines and patterns have occurred elsewhere, here each is essential to the present work, a necessary part of a poem of thorough integrity that could have been written by no one but Yakamochi. The old pattern of the public elegy serves to express newly individual concerns. Yakamochi has learned his tradition well, and learned to put it to his own use.

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FOUR

The Etchù Years: The Accomplishments of a Mature Poet F Prince Asaka's death seemed the end of an era to Yakamochi, it conveniently / marks for us the end of his apprenticeship and the beginning of his most productive period. In the decade from his mid-twenties to his mid-thirties, Yakamochi accomplished most of his life's work. He collected his nation's poetic tradition, editing most of the 4,500poem Man'yoshii, and wrote prolifically, composing the majority of his own 450 or so extant poems. Most were composed while he served as governor of the northern province of Etchu. In the relative calm and isolation of provincial life, away from the distractions and politics of the capital, literature became one of his primary pursuits. His studies of the poetry of the past enriched his work and enabled him to expand its range, while a supportive group of literary friends and spectacular scenery, very different from that around the capital, provided further stimulus. The poems of these years are of a remarkable variety and originality—tanka depicting nature and sensitively evoking complex emotion; and choka attempting conventional tanka topics of birds and flowers and social repartee, working variations on traditional choka patterns, or vividly treating his own day-to-day concerns and personal feelings in a highly individualistic manner. Though working within his tradition, Yakamochi began to explore a new inner world, developing the acute subjectivity that would become the keynote of 121

A WARBLER'S S O N G IN THE DUSK

classical Japanese poetry through all the centuries to follow, and that makes him seem so modern in our own day. The politics that absorbed the court were growing increasingly unsettled and chaotic. Even before his move to the provinces, Yakamochi began to withdraw from court life, to turn his ambitions from politics to literature, and to look more and more to the better days of the past. Emperor Shomu was spending most of his time at the palace at Shigaraki, where he was having a great statue of Buddha constructed. Though he pulled on the rope to raise the statue with his own hands, and had 10,000 lanterns lit in offering at dedication ceremonies, his efforts did not seem to please the gods. A series of fires raged in the hills near the palace, sometimes requiring several thousand workers to cut firebreaks to contain them. This sudden and curious proliferation of fires was probably not coincidental; courtiers opposed to Shomu's massive building program apparently set them in protest. Earthquakes also began to take place with alarming frequency, sometimes shaking the ground continually day and night, sometimes occurring day after day, destroying houses, crumbling mountains, and killing hundreds of people. All these disasters seemed frightening omens from the gods, as nature responded to the emperor's lack of virtue. In the summer of 745—after some fifteen quakes in May and June alone— Shomu thought of moving the capital again. He once more polled the courtiers, and the consensus was for a return to Nara. Consultation with the priests of the four great temples at Nara not surprisingly brought the same recommendation. Within a matter of days, Shomu and the court fled back to the old capital, leaving the fires still raging around Shigaraki.1 Yakamochi, however, had returned directly to Nara after Prince Asaka's death, and seems to have remained there, away from court, through much of the ensuing tension. While Shigaraki burned, he was back in the family house in Sao, writing of the peace and quiet in the old capital, and thinking of the past: Poems composed when alone in the old house in Nara, 21 May 744: 17:3919 Aoniyoshi The capital in Nara, nara no miyako wa Splendid in red and green, furinuredomo Grows desolate. l. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo 16/11/13, 16/12/8, 17/4/1, 3, 8, 11; 17/5/1-6, 8-11, 18; 17/8/24, 29; 17/9/2; Kitayama, Man'yo no jidai, pp. 146-153. 122

THE ETCHU YEARS

moto hototogisu nakazu aranaku ni 17:3920 Uzura naki furushi to hito wa omoeredo hana tachibana no tiiou kono yado

The cuckoo of the past No longer sings. 2 Though others may find it desolate To hear the quail, This garden Is scented of orange blossoms.

A curious gap appears in Yakamochi's official career for the next two years. He had already been an imperial attendant for the standard six-year term, and after the death in 744 of the prince he served, he did not immediately go back to court. Early in 745, he was promoted one step to junior fifth, lower grade, but no mention is made in the Man'yoshu or Shoku Nihongi of his holding another official position until his appointment as assistant minister of the imperial household in April 746, then as governor of Etchu three months later. These years, 744-746, when Yakamochi was apparently without a government post, are those in which most of the Man'yoshu was compiled, and it seems likely that he was devoting much of his time to that process. Perhaps he was assigned the task of compiling this monumental collection, representing the best of the Japanese poetic tradition, by the great minister Tachibana Moroe, leader of the conservative faction, which was looking with increasing nostalgia on the better days of the past. Moroe is credited with compiling the Man'yoshu by the eleventh-century Eiga Monogatari and by a pair of early editions of the text.3 But from the content of the anthology, it is clear that Yakamochi did most of the actual work, as was pointed out as early as the thirteenth century by the famous poet Fujiwara Teika. 2. Nakazu araku ni is "corrected" in many texts to nakazu aranaku ni, for "the cuckoo of the past still sings." The corrected pattern is the conventional one—"the old capital is deserted but the flowers still bloom and the birds still sing." Yakamochi's poem is far more interesting and more appropriate, however, if we take it to mean just what it says. Even the cuckoo we expect to hear by poetic convention has left the city—it is surely the end of an era. The pillow word for Nara, "splendid in red and green" (ao ni yoshi), whatever its original reference to greenish local clay, was probably associated for Yakamochi with the red pillars and green-glazed roof tiles of the city's fine buildings. 3. A text of the Man'yoshu seen by the thirteenth-century scholar Sengaku, and a note to the Genryaku kohon Man'yoshu (1184); all these early references are conveniently available in Hisamatsu et al., Nihon bungaku shi: Jodai (1964), p. 372. "3

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

For example, the sections of Book III—miscellaneous poems, love poems, and elegies—are each grouped in chronological order, moving from early eighth-century poems, through numerous poems by various Otomos dated by the month and year, to many of Yakamochi's own poems dated to the day. The most recent poems in the book are by Yakamochi from 744. Book IV consists of love poems in more or less chronological order. Again, it begins with older poems, continues with those by Otomo Tabito and Lady

Otomo Sakanoue, and ends with verses by Yakamochi and his circle from around 744. The poems of Book V are from Dazaifu, probably originally collected by Tabito and Okura, and naturally among the Otomo family papers in Yakamochi's possession. Book VI contains court poems in chronological order; once again the Otomo poems are clearly dated, Yakamochi's own works are near the end, and the last poem is from 744. Miscellaneous and love poems from each season in Book VIII are not individually dated, but are ar124

THE E T C H Ü Y E A R S

ranged in generally chronological order; each section starts with early poems and ends with those by Lady Sakanoue or Yakamochi, the most recent from about 744. Book IX is unique in that it contains no poems by Ótomos, but in contrast to other books of the anthology, it draws heavily upon other readily available collections—the Hitomaro Collection, the Mushimaro Collection, the Sakimaro Collection, and the Kanamura Collection. Once again, the most recent work dates from around 744. The anonymous poetry of Books X to XII, which Yakamochi knew so well, may have been compiled from family materials he received from Lady Sakanoue. The final four books of the anthology, XVII to XX, are basically Yakamochi's own poetic diary from the years 744 to 759, though a few earlier works from Ótomo materials are included at the beginning of Book XVII—poems from Dazaifu, poems by Yakamochi's brother Fumimochi, and the like. Since so many Man'ydshü books end with poems from 744, and since almost all of Yakamochi's poems from 744 or before are included in appropriate sections of Books I to XVI of the anthology, while his poems from after 744 make up Books XVII to XX, it is generally assumed he compiled the first sixteen books sometime around 744. That year saw the death of Prince Asaka, the moving of the capital, the ominous fires and earthquakes, and general disorder at court. AH these events doubtless helped to deepen Yakamochi's—and Tachibana Moroe's—sense of the end of an era and their longing for the past, contributing to their motivation to compile this monumental collection of the nation's poetic tradition. And going carefully over so much of the poetry of the past in the process of compiling the massive anthology had its effect on Yakamochi's own poetry, which he began to produce in prodigious quantity and with more and more assured skill in the years that immediately followed. Pride and confidence at being given the important editing task may also have played a role in his new literary maturity. Such selfesteem was reinforced by his appointment, after two years without specified position and a few months in the office of the imperial household, as governor of a province. In July 746, twenty-eightyear-old Yakamochi was made governor of Etchü, modern Toyama prefecture, in the northern Japan Sea coast area known as Koshi. No longer was he simply one of many young men in attendance at court, but a man in command of an entire province. Being away "5

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN THE D U S K

from the center of civilization and power in the capital was a drawback, but provincial service was a natural and unavoidable step in the career of an aspiring Nara-period official. Provincial life also seemed to be good for one's poetry. The examples of Tabito's and Okura's poems in Dazaifu, Hitomaro's in Iwami, and Mushimaro's in Hitachi suggest that perhaps the change of scenery, the break from routine, the new experience, and the relative leisure and isolation, away from the distractions of the capital and its overwhelming poetic tradition, regularly inspired poets to compose many of their best works—indeed, in many cases, almost all of their extant poems. For Yakamochi, being away from the increasing factional intrigues and tensions at court was probably a particularly important factor in freeing his creative energy. Like so many earlier poets, he made poetry one of the chief pursuits of his years in the provinces, keeping a sort of poetic journal, preserved as Books XVII, XVIII, and XIX of the Man'yoshii. From the Man'ydshu, we are apt to get the impression that the life of an official in Etchu was occupied largely with poetry, drinking parties, and excursions to the countryside, but provincial life was not all leisure and literature. Running a province was serious business, involving a considerable bureaucracy and mountains of paperwork. There were nine officials from the capital assigned to a province the size of Etchu—the governor, lieutenant governor, magistrate, two clerks, three scribes, and a provincial master of Buddhism. A head teacher for the provincial school and the provincial doctor may have been either from the capital or appointed from important local families. There were also likely to be a crossbow master, a yin-yang master, and some fifty students, as well as many assorted servants and attendants. The essential function of the provincial governor and his staff was to oversee tax collection. They saw to the collection and disposition of the taxes in rice, cloth, local products, military service, and forced labor. Moreover, in the interests of making sure no potential government income was overlooked, detailed reports with much supporting documentation had to be regularly submitted to the offices of the central government on almost every aspect of local life imaginable—the ages, health, and distinguishing marks of the members of each family, the amount of land in production, the yield of the harvest, and the number and condition of horses, cows, chickens, boats, ponds, and ditches. Much of the necessary information was passed up the 126

THE ETCHU YEARS

chain of command—from household head to village headman to district chief to the governor's staff—but the provincial officials also spent much time on their own regular inspections. All local governmental expenditures had to be well documented and justified, and extant provincial expense accounts show that one or more officials were out traveling through their province on government business 50 percent of the time, checking the harvest, the posthorses, the pastured animals, or some other aspect of production to report to the central government. When a provincial official took these annual reports to the capital, he might spend up to several months defending the materials before central government auditors. The governor himself had to give performance ratings to all those under him, including the local district chiefs, four times a year. Standards were quite specific: each 10 percent increase in population or 20 percent increase in crop land in production in the district brought one level higher rating; conversely, decreases brought correspondingly lower ratings. The governor was also supposed to travel through his province once a year to do such things as become acquainted with the customs; know the farmers' sufferings; promote agriculture; encourage those who were pious and filial and loved learning, and correct those who were not; and see that the district chiefs were opening new fields and preventing crime. 4 Appointments to provincial office in the mid-740s were being made with more care than usual, for the government was concerned about bringing the provinces back under better control. Corruption was so prevalent that special investigators were sent out in 744 to try to clean up local government. Provincial officials and local gentry were acquiring land for themselves with alarming singlemindedness under the new law allowing private ownership of newly opened fields. Farmers were abandoning their land in increasing numbers under pressure of heavy taxation. Further, Todaiji had just been allotted considerable provincial land for support income, and it was a matter of great concern, to those who already had land in the area, where the assigned fields would be. Finally, Emperor Shomu was extremely upset that the governors had done little towards building a national temple in each province 4. Nihon seikatsu bunkashi II: Shomin seikatsu to kizoku seikatsu (1974), pp. 158-160, 173-181; Oyama, Otomo Yakamochi no kenkyu, p. 230. 12 7

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

despite his orders of several years before. He demanded that the governors make sure that these temples were finished within three years. Thus Yakamochi had a full share of problems to deal with as governor of Etchu, and he seems to have approached the job with serious dedication. As one indication of his attempt to reassert central authority in his province, he went himself to make the spring loans of seed grain from the government granaries to the farmers, instead of sending a subordinate, as was the general practice. These compulsory loans, to be repaid with 50 percent interest at harvest, were originally a benevolent service, but by Yakamochi's time had become merely another kind of tax. The money so collected was set aside for the construction of Shomu's provincial temples, so it was a wise governor who made sure that the loans went smoothly.s This important job of governor, and the considerable local power and prestige that went with it, may well have given Yakamochi a welcome sense of serving his emperor as an Otomo and a masurao should, and bolstered his pride and self-confidence to give a new assurance to his poetry. Poetry was an important part of life for the small society of officials in Etchu. As at court in Nara, the ritual business of government in the provinces involved many ceremonies and banquets, celebrating the new year and the other annual festivals with appropriate offerings, feasts, and songs to ensure prosperity, and entertaining official visitors from the capital. As the head of the local government, Yakamochi was called upon to present poems on all these occasions, and composed far more of these celebratory banquet poems than he had ever needed to when he was a lowly courtier in the capital. Parties and excursions accompanied with the exchange of poems were also the primary recreation for the small core of officials from the capital, who depended heavily on each other's company for all their private social life, isolated as they were from the local populace and from their own families, left behind in Nara. Yakamochi's many poems from these public and private affairs are extremely skillful, though this type of conventional social verse is at best an acquired taste for the modem reader. However, these cheerful banquet poems do give us a vivid picture of the social life of a provincial official in the 740s, 5. Kitayama Shigeo, Otomo Yakamochi (1973), pp. 139-140, 155; Yamamoto, Otomo Yakamochi, pp. 171-172,176-180; Naoki Kojiro, "Saiko to Otomo Yakamochi" (1955), pp. 26-29. Kitayama's historically oriented biography of Yakamochi is the best available. Yamamoto's more literary treatment is also extremely useful, although sometimes eccentric. 128

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and of the highly literary atmosphere in even an isolated northern province. They also give the decided impression that Yakamochi and his subordinates were close friends having a good time: A poem from the banquet at the residence of the lieutenant governor, Kume Ason Hironori, on May 2: 18:4068

Ori akashi mo koyoi wa nomamu hototogisu akemu ashita wa naki wataramu so

Let's stay up And drink all night! At dawn tomorrow The cuckoo sings.

A poem on the pink in his garden: 18:4070

Hito moto no nadeshiko ueshi sono kokoro tare ni misemu to omoisomekemu

To whom did I think I would show it?— This pink that I planted.

The former provincial master of Buddhism, the attendant priest Seiken, had to go to the capital. Therefore food and drink were prepared and a banquet was held. The host Otomo Sukune Yakamochi composed this lyric and offered the wine cup to Seiken. 18:4071

Shinazakaru koshi no kimira to kaku shi koso yanagi kazu raki tanoshiku asobame

I would happily feast ever thus, Making willow garlands, With all of you from Koshi, Far across the many hills.

Many district chiefs and their relatives gathered at this feast. Thereupon the governor, Otomo Sukune Yakamochi, composed the above poem. On 25 May 749, a banquet was given for the messenger who came to oversee Todaiji's new lands, the priest Heiei. A poem from when the governor, Otomo Sukune Yakamochi, offered wine to the priest: 18:4085

Yakitachi 0 tonami no seki ni asu yori wa moribe yarisoe kimi 0 todomemu

(Polish the heat-forged blade.) I will increase the guard tomorrow At Tonami pass To keep you here.

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On the 29th of the same month the officials gathered at the residence of the junior clerk Hada Imiki Iwatake. The host made garlands of lilies and put them on stands to present to his guests. Poems composed on the garlands [by Yakamochi]: 18:4086

Aburahi no hikari ni miyuru wagakazura sayuri no hana no emawashiki kamo

18:4088

Sayuribana yuri mo awamu to omoekoso ima no masaka mo uruwashimisure

18:4054

Hototogisu ko yo naki watare tomoshibio tsukuyo ni nasoe sono ¡(age mo mimu

How lovely The garland of lilies Seen by the oil lamp's glow.

I hope that we will meet again Later like the later-lily, Because we're so close now.

Come and sing here, cuckoo. We would see you With our lamplight for the moon.

A poem composed on the snow, the moon, and the plum blossoms at a banquet: 18:4134

Yuki no ue ni tereru tsukuyo ni urne no hana orite okuramu hashiki ko magamo

18:4135

Wagasekoga koto toru noe ni tsunehito no iu nageki shi mo iya shikimasu mo

Ah for a maiden To send this branch of plum, Blooming in the moonlight Which shines upon the snow.

When you, my friend, Take up the koto, We ordinary people Are overcome with sighs.

Governor Ótomo Sukune Yakamochi composed the above at a party at the residence of the junior clerk Hada Imiki Iwatake. Poems from the party at Governor Ótomo Sukune Yakamochi's residence on the festival of the third of the third month: 19:4152

Oku yama no yatsu 0 no tsubaki

Enjoy yourselves today, men, As fully as the camellias bloom 130

THE ETCHU YEARS

tsubaraka ni kyd wa kurasane masurao no tomo 19:4153 Karahito mo fune 0 ukabete asobu tou kydsowagaseko hanakazura se na

Deep in the eight-peaked hills.

Today the Chinese too Set boats afloat with poems. Deck yourselves with flower chains, My friends!

The "boats" are the wine cups floated downstream on the celebration of this holiday adopted from China. Any who failed to produce a poem before the cup reached him had to drink its contents as a forfeit. A series of poems from a lavish New Year's party in 751 at the residence of the lieutenant governor is particularly interesting for the picture it gives of the elegant diversions of this handful of courtiers so far from the civilization of the capital. Yakamochi gave his greetings on arriving at the gathering in a poem: 19:4230

Furu yuki 0 koshi ni nazumite mairi koshi shirushi mo aru ka toshi no hajime ni

Though I struggled Through the waist-deep snow, It was well worthwhile to come, At the first of the new year.

Then they piled up the snow and carved and shaped it into a mountain, and artfully painted flowers on it. A poem by the magistrate Kume Ason Hironori: 19:4231 Nadeshiko wa Pinks are flowers that bloom in fall, aki saku mono 0 But at your house kimigaieno They bloom on a snow mountain. yuki no iwao ni sakerikeru kamo A poem by the dancing girl Kamo: 19:4232

Yuki no shima iwa ni uetaru nadeshiko wa chiyonisakanuka kimiga kazashi ni

May the pinks Growing on that snowy island's crag, Bloom a thousand years, For garlands for your hair.

Everyone got drunk, and when the cock crowed the host, Kura Imiki Nawamaro, composed the following poem:

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN THE DUSK

19:4233 Uchihabuki tori wa tiaku tomo kaku bakari furishiku yuki ni kimi imasameya mo

Though the cock crows, Beating his wings, Could you go home In snow this deep?

A poem in reply by Otomo Sukutte Yakamochi: 19:4234

Naku tori wa iyashiki nakedo furu yuki no chie ni tsume koso ware tachikatene

Though the cock crows on and on, Since the snow is piled A thousand layers deep, I cannot leave.

Then the magistrate Kume Ason Hironori recited the following old poem, crediting its original author: A poem offered to the emperor by the princess Agata Inukai of the prime minister Fujiwara's house: 19:4235

Amakumo 0 horo ni fumiadashi naru kami mo kyo ni masarite kashikokeme ya mo

Could even the thunder god, Whose tread scatters the heavenly clouds, Be more awesome than this day?

Finally the dancing girl Kamò performed an old elegy, probably called to mind because of its reference to the god of thunder mentioned in Hironori's poem. Though her song is an elegy, its topic of a man's loneliness for his wife was an appropriate expression of the feelings of the provincial officials away from their loved ones: 19:4236 Ame tsuchi no kami wa nakare ya utsukushiki wa ga imo sakaru hikaru kami nari hata otome tazusaete tomo ni aramu to omoishi ni kokoro tagainu iwamu sube semu sube shirani yù tasuki kata ni torikake shitsu nusa 0 te ni torimochite na sake so to ware wa inoredo makite nesh i imo ga tamoto wa kumo ni tanabiku

Are there no gods of heaven or earth?— My beloved wife is gone. I took the hand of that maid From Hata where the god of thunder roars, And thought we'd live together, But it was not to be. Not knowing what to do or what to say, I tied up my sleeves with white hemp cords, 132

THE ETCHU Y E A R S

Took sacred streamers in my hands And prayed that she not leave, But her sleeves on which I once slept pillowed Now trail among the clouds. 19:4237

Utsutsu ni to omoite shi ka mo ime tiomi ni tamoto makine to mint wa sube nashi

I want to think it real. Only sleeping in her arms in dreams Is hard to bear.

Among the most interesting of the visitors from the capital to be entertained by the Etchu officials was the noted poet Tanabe Sakimaro: On 25 April 748, Governor Otomo Sukune Yakamochi gave a feast for the clerk of the sake brewing office, Tanabe Sakimaro, messenger from the great minister of the left Tachibana. Those present composed new songs and chanted old ones, each expressing his own feelings. Then they decided to go on an excursion to Lake Fuse the next day, and each composed a poem on this: 18:4036

Ikaniaru fuse no ura so mo kokodaku mo kimiga misemu to ware 0 todomuru

18:4037

O no saki kogi tamotdri hinemosu ni mitomo akubeki uraniaranakuni

How splendid this Fuse lake must be That you detain me Saying I must see it. Tanabe Fuhito Sakimaro You cannot tire of this bay Even if you row around Cape O And spend the whole day gazing.6 Otomo Sukune Yakamochi

A lowly official from the palace brewery was an odd messenger for the great minister to send; indeed it was odd for him to send a messenger to the junior governor of a northern province at all. The 6. After Yakamochi's poem is added the note, "In one version: kimi ga towasu mo," which seems to replace the second line, thus: You cannot tire of this bay Though you visit Cape O And spend the whole day gazing.

!33

A WARBLER'S S O N G IN THE DUSK

visit was not in the normal order of government business. Sakimaro was a noted literary figure, whose collection is frequently cited in the Man'yoshu, though whether he composed the poems or merely compiled them is unclear. He probably came to see Yakamochi about the anthology upon which Yakamochi may have still been working. Perhaps he brought Yakamochi more manuscript materials from Moroe or came to collect the parts of the Man'yoshu already completed. The retired empress Gensho, a poetry enthusiast and closely associated with Moroe, was on her deathbed and may have wanted to see the work before she died.7 The Etchu officials entertained Sakimaro royally—far more so, in fact, than his lowly rank would require. He and Yakamochi exchanged numerous poems, and Sakimaro also passed on to Yakamochi various other poems that he had heard at court. Yakamochi would have been particularly pleased to hear several by Moroe and Empress Gensho that showed the great favor in which she held the leader of their faction: A poem by the great minister of the left Tachibana Moroe: 18:4056 Horie ni wa I would have spread the canal with tama shikamashi 0 jewels, okimi 0 Had I but known mifune kogamu to The empress's boat would row there. kanete shiriseba A poem by the empress: 18:4058 Tachibana no to no tachibana yatsu yo ni mo are wa wasureji kono tachibana 0

Never will I forget The orange tree laden with oranges, This orange tree.

Some think the line makes most sense as an additional, sixth line, but was misunderstood and mislabeled by some later editor. If a sixth line, the poem would be a rare example of the bussokusekika form ( 5 - 7 - 5 - 7 - 7 - 7 ) : You cannot tire of this bay Even though you row around Cape Ó And spend the whole day gazing When you visit. 7. See Oyama, Ótomo Yakamochi no kenkyù, pp. 252-253; Kume Tsunetami, Man'yoshu no bungakuronteki kenkyù (1970), p. 468; Itami Sueo, "Man'yoshu no hensha," in Hisamatsu Sen'ichi, ed., Man'yoshu koza (1973), 1:110-111; ltd Haku and Hashimoto Tatsuo, eds., Man'yoshu monogatari (1977), p. 250. 134

THE ETCHU YEARS

Tachibana means "orange tree," and when the name was given the minister, the felicitous associations of the evergreen tree, brought from the legendary eternal land, were emphasized. As a relative of the vast imperial family, Moroe lacked a regular family name, but asked to be allowed to use his mother's. When Shomu granted the request, he noted that like the orange tree's evergreen leaves and jewellike fruit lasting into winter, the honor of the Tachibana name would last ten thousand ages, be passed on a thousand years. This language is, interestingly, very reminiscent of that of the title of the Man'yoshu, the "Collection for Ten Thousand Ages" or "Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves." The character yd used both in the granting of the Tachibana name and in the title of the Man'yoshu, can mean either "year, age," or "leaf," a frequent metaphor for "poem." Some think, in fact, that both meanings of the title are intended, and both the "leaves" and the "ten thousand ages" are to be associated with the orange tree and the minister who bore its name, and who perhaps commissioned the anthology. 8 Probably such language is too common to be a specific allusion, but the suggestion is intriguing. Certainly Yakamochi did use the image of the evergreen tree from the eternal land in a number of his poems in praise of Tachibana Moroe from this period when he was finishing the first sixteen books of the anthology. For example, the following pair of verses expressing his hope that the minister's power would be long-lasting, inspired by the poems Sakimaro conveyed from court: 18:4063

Tokoyo mono kotio tachibana no iya ten ni wagoökimizva ima ino miru goto

Shine on and on, Your Majesty, Ever bright as oranges From the eternal land, Just as we see you now.

18:4064

Ökimi iva tokiwa ni masamu tachibana no tono no tachibana hitateri tii shite

May Your Majesty be eternal as the stones; The oranges at Orange Tree Hall Shine fervently.

Not only was the general atmosphere of the Etchu provincial government a literary one that encouraged—even required— 8. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo 8/11/11; Hisamatsu, "Man'yoshu no meigi/' in his Man'yoshu koza, 1:24.

135

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

prolific composition, but Yakamochi also had close friends on his staff who were extremely interested in poetry and doubtless provided him with much stimulation and encouraging support for his work in this period. Friendships naturally developed among the small group of provincial officials who worked, drank, and wrote poetry together. Yakamochi was particularly close to the two men who served in succession under him as provincial magistrate, Ótomo Ikenushi, and, after Ikenushi was transferred, his replacement, Kume Hironori. Ikenushi's family relationship to Yakamochi is not clear, but he had been a member of the same circle around Moroe's son Naramaro in Yakamochi's first years at court, so the two had known each other for a long time. Surely Yakamochi was delighted to have an old acquaintance on his staff in his new position in distant Etchü. The two were constant companions, matching verses on countless walks and outings, exchanging regular notes full of poems and affirmations of affection. This effusive correspondence has led some to suggest their relationship was homosexual, but direct literary expression of affection for friends of the same sex was conventional in early China and Japan, and not of any unusual significance. The letters exchanged by Yakamochi and Ikenushi— virtually the only such personal correspondence remaining from eighth-century Japan—are in ornate Chinese prose, full of parallelisms and liberally laced with allusions to Chinese literature. Though stilted, these letters nonetheless make vividly clear how very conscious Yakamochi and his friend were of themselves as literary men, dashing off elaborate notes in a foreign language to extol the pleasure of nature, wine, and music, and comparing themselves to the poets of the past. For example, the following extensive exchange from a few days in April in Yakamochi's first year in Etchü, when he was confined by illness: 13 April I unexpectedly took sick and have been suffering greatly for several weeks. I prayed to a hundred gods and got some relief, but my body is still tired and sore, and my strength is limited, so I can't come to thank you, though my longing for you grows ever more intense. These spring mornings the scent of spring flowers wafts through the spring garden. These spring evenings the songs of spring birds ring through the spring grove. Truly this is the season for enjoying music and wine. I yeam after spring, but lack the strength to venture out with my cane. Lying alone within the house, I try my hand at these little verses, and offer them to you for your amusement: 136

THE ETCHÛ YEARS 17:3965

Haru no hana ima wa sakari ni niouramu orite kazasamu tajikara mogamo

17:3966

Uguisu no nakichirasuramu haru no hana itsushikakimito ta ori kazasamu

The spring flowers Must now be at their peak— Oh, for the strength To pick some for my hair.

When will we meet To deck our hair with flowers?— Flowers that must be falling With the warbler's song. Ôtomo Sukune Yakamochi

15 April Your perfumed words came unexpectedly; the garden of your sentences surpassed the clouds. You also sent poems—the forest of their words was like brocade. Now reciting them, now chanting them, my longing for you is eased. We should enjoy the spring, especially late in the season when the scenery is finest. Red peach blossoms blaze; playful butterflies dance among the flowers. Green willows droop gracefully; the dear warbler sings hidden in the leaves. How we should enjoy it! I go to my desk to begin the pure exchange of gentlemen, but my excess of feeling leaves me without words. How enjoyable! How beautiful!—All I can do is offer praises. Who would have ever thought it? Scented orchids are separated by rough brush; wine and music give no pleasure. In vain I pass this fine season; the scenery makes light of man. It is bitter and I cannot keep silent. Though it is, as they say, like adding rough cloth of wisteria vines to fine brocade, I will try to add some verses in reply for your amusement: 17:3967

Yamagai ni sakeru sakura 0 tada hitóme kimi ni miseteba nani 0 ka omowamu

17:3968

Uguisu no ki naku yamabuki utagata mo kimi ga te furezu hana chirame ya mo

What more would I long for?— If I could show you but a glimpse Of the cherries blooming In the mountain gorges.

Could these wild roses, Where the warbler sings, Scatter untouched by your hand? Magistrate Ôtomo Sukune Ikenushi 137

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

16 April Your all-encompassing virtue extends kindness to the mugwort; your immeasurable feeling gives comfort to my humble heart. There is nothing to which I can compare my gratitude at receiving your kind letter. When I was a boy I did not walk in the garden of literary art, so the weeds from my wayward brush are less skillful than carved insects. When I was a youth I did not enter the gate of the mountain persimmon, so the feelings of my verse are lost in the forest of words. You embarrass me when you say your poems are like attaching wisteria cloth to brocade; my poems are like plain pebbles mixed with your jewels. I am not gifted, but I have the habit and cannot keep silent. Therefore I offer these few lines for your amusement: 17:3969 Okimi no make no manimani shinazakaru koshi 0 osame ni idete koshi masura ware sura yo no naka no tsune shi nakereba uchinabiki toko ni koifushi itakeku no hi ni ke ni maseba kanashikeku kokoniomoide iranakeku soko ni omoide nageku sora yasukenaku ni omou sora kurushiki mono 0 ash ih iki no yama kihenarite tamahoko no michi no tokeba mazukai mo yarn yosh i mo nami omohosh iki koto mo kayowazu tamakiwaru inoch i osh ikedo semu sube no tadóki 0 shira ni komori ite omoi nagekai nagusamuru kokoro wa nashi ni haru hana no sakeru sakari ni omoudochi taorikazasazu haru no no no shigemi tobikuku uguisu no koe dani kikazu otomera ga haruna tsumasu to kurenai no akamo no suso no harusame ni nioi hizuchite kayouramu toki no sakari 0 itazurani sugushiyaritsure shinowaseru kimi ga kokoro 0

Obedient to the imperial command I came to govern Koshi Land across the many hills. But life is evanescent And warrior though I am, I grew weak and took to bed. Each day my pain grew worse. Thinking sadly of this, Painfully recalling that, My sighs were restless, My longing deep. But the jeweled-spear road stretches far And foot-trailing mountains stand between— I have no way to send a messenger And cannot convey my thoughts of love. I would cling to this soul-allotted life, But I'm at a loss for what to do. Confined indoors, Nothing lifts my spirits. Spring flowers are at their peak, But I cannot join my friends In plucking them for garlands. I haven't even heard the warbler As he flies over spring's lush fields. Idly I have missed the best of spring, When maidens go to pick new herbs, The hems of their red skirts Wet with the spring rain. How I appreciate your sympathy— 138

THE ETCHU YEARS uruwashimi ko no yosugara ni i mo tiezuni kyo mo shimera ni koitsutsu so oru 17:3970 Ashihiki no yama sakurabana hitóme dani kimi to shi miteba are koime ya mo 17:3971 Yamabuki no shigemi tobikuku uguisu no koe 0 kikuramu kimi wa tomoshi mo 17:3972 Idetatamu chikara o nami to komori ite kimi ni kouru ni kokorodo mo nashi

All last night I lay awake, All day today I sat thinking of you.

If I could join you for just one glimpse Of the cherries in the trailing hills, Would I yearn so?

How I envy you Who hear the warbler's song As he flies through The thick mountain roses.

Confined inside With no strength to go out, Restlessly I yearn for you. Otomo Sukune Yakamochi

In expressing his modesty over his poetic skill in this last famous letter, Yakamochi compares himself to the great poets of the past, for when he laments that he "did not enter the gate of the mountain persimmon" he refers to earlier poets: Yamabe Akahito or Yamanoue Okura ("mountain": yama) and Kakinomoto Hitomaro ("persimmon": kaki). Considerable scholarly controversy has centered on just what Yakamochi means here: perhaps that he didn't get a chance to study with these illustrious gentlemen in his youth, that he is not a professional court poet like Hitomaro or Akahito, that he is no longer writing their sort of traditional poetry, or simply that he is not as good as his famous predecessors. In any case, he seems to see himself as a poet somehow different from the poets of the past. 9 9. The traditional interpretation of Yakamochi's yama was that it referred to Yamabe Akahito, since he and Hitomaro are paired as the master poets of the past in the preface to the tenth-century Kokinshu, while Yamanoue Okura's eccentric verse has only come to be highly appreciated more recently. However, Okura was clearly the greater influence on Yakamochi. The "forest" here may refer to Okura's anthology, The Forest of Classified Verses. For an outline of the extensive scholarly debate on the identity of this yama, see Kondd's article on Yakamochi in the encyclopedic Man'yoshu jiten (1975), published as a supplement to the Hisamatsu, ed., Man'yoshu koza, pp. 82-103. 139

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In one of the two letters he sent Yakamochi the next day, Ikenushi effusively assured his friend he was a far better poet than Hitomaro or Akahito (or Okura), and compared him favorably to various Chinese worthies as well: 17 April Yesterday I expressed my clumsy thoughts; this morning I befoul your eyes and ears again. I received your letter, but my reply was muddled—please excuse it. Frequently you think of me and bless me with your splendid poems. Your skill is like the stars; your rich rhythms surpass all others. Your wisdom of the water, your humanity of the mountains, have the light and color of fine jade. Your talent is like P'an's river, Lu's sea; already you sit in the palace of literature. Your thoughts rush to the uncommon; your feelings ring true. In seven short steps you compose a work; several poems fill each page. With skill you dispel the sorrow of him who suffers; with talent quell the longing of him who yearns. Compared to such ability, the spring of the mountain persimmon is as nothing. Truly I am fortunate to be able to read your lines crafted finely as carved dragons. Humbly I offer these poems in reply. 17:3973

Okimi no mikoto kashikomi ash ih iki no yama no sawarazu amazakaru hina mo osamuru masurao ya nani ka mono mou ao ni yoshi naraji kikayou tamazusa no tsukai taeme ya komori koi ikizuki watari shita moi ni nagekau wa ga se in ish ie yu iitsugi ku rash i yo no naka wa kazu naki mono so nagusamuru koto mo aramu to satobito no are ni tsuguraku yamabi ni wa sakurabana chiri kaotori no ma naku shiba naku haru no no ni sumire 0 tsumu to shirotae no sode orikaeshi kurenai no akamo susobiki otomera wa omoimidarete kimi matsu to uragoisu nari kokorogushi iza mi ni yuka na koto wa tanayui

Why does the warrior sorrow so?— The warrior who came From beyond foot-trailing hills To govern this land far as the heavens, Obedient to the imperial command. Will jeweled-catalpa messengers Ever cease to go from here to Nara, Splendid in red and green. Ah, my friend, you who stay inside and sigh, Wrapped in your private thoughts, From ancient times it has been said That life is too short to measure. Hoping to give you cheer, The villagers tell me of maidens who await you, Impatient in their longing, Picking violets in the fields of spring, Where cherry blossoms scatter in the hills, Their white hemp sleeves folded back, Their red skirts trailing. How I worry over you— Promise to come out with me. 140

THE ETCHU Y E A R S 17:3974

Yamabuki wa hi tti hi ni sakinu uruwashi to iva ga mou kimi wa shikushiku omohoyu

i7 : 3975

Wa ga seko ni koi sube nakari ashikaki no hoka ni nagekau are shi kanashi mo

Each day the mountain roses bloom anew; I think of you constantly, My beloved friend. I long for you hopelessly; Wretchedly I sigh Outside your reed fence. Ótomo Sukune Ikenushi

On receiving a Chinese poem from Ikenushi, Yakamochi was obliged to reply with a matching verse of his own. The result, his only extant poem in Chinese, was not very distinguished, and his letter suggests that its composition did not come easily, though certainly some modest disclaimer would have been required in response to Ikenushi's extravagant praise: ^ ^ From my sickbed. I was delighted to receive your poem on wandering in late spring that came by last night's messenger. This morning you graciously sent your poem of invitation to go out and see the countryside. On reading the jewellike words once, my gloom lessened somewhat; on reciting the fine lines again, my melancholy vanished. How could I ever have cheered up without such poems extolling the scenery? My poor talent is hard to shape; my dull spirit does not take to polish. I held the brush until its hairs began to rot away. I sat facing the inkstone, not noticing that the water had all dried up. All day long my attention wandered and I could come up with nothing at all. Writing is a heaven-given talent that cannot be learned. How can I ever find the words and rhymes to answer your fine Chinese poem? But I hear from the village children that the ancients never failed to answer, so I've composed a clumsy verse, and humbly offer it for your amusement. A Chinese poem of seven characters per line: The scenery of the remaining days of late spring is lovely; The soft wind of April gently sweeps the earth. The swallows come with mud for their nests, bringing good fortune to the house. The returning geese carry reeds out to the distant sea. I hear you called your friends and again made poems beside the river, Urged wine on them at the banquet, floated cups on the clear stream. How I wished to join you at this splendid fete. But I am still weak, my legs unsteady still. 141

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

Two tanka 17:3976 Sakeri tomo shirazu shi araba moda mo aramu kono yamabuki 0 misetsutsu motona 17:3977 Ashikaki no hoka nimokimiga yoritatashi koikere koso ba itne ni miekere

If I didn't know they were in bloom I could keep silent, But now you've shown me The mountain roses, My longing rages. Since you thought of me And came to stand outside my fence, I saw you in my dreams. Otomo Sukune Yakamochi

Among the most interesting of the letters and poems exchanged by Yakamochi and Ikenushi are those which display a bantering sort of humor, where the friends tease each other in a sophisticated and very literate manner. After reading such poems, one indeed begins to wonder if the pompous exchanges like the ones above are really meant to be taken entirely seriously. An example of one of these humorous compositions is the following curiously ungrateful thank-you note in mock bureaucratic legalese, which Ikenushi sent Yakamochi upon receiving the gift of a needle bag from his old friend: 25 December 749 I received your unexpected gift and was delighted. When I sat down alone and, smiling to myself, proceeded to open it, the label did not match the contents—indeed they were veiy different. I suppose perhaps you were careless in making the tag. Since you knew what was inside, what other explanation could there be? Substitution of inferior merchandise for the original is a serious offense. You must immediately return the article and remit double compensation. I dispatch a collection official by the wind and clouds; you must reply at once. The lowly official whose goods were taken humbly petitions the office in charge of prosecuting thievery P.S. I cannot keep my enthusiasm to myself. Here are some poems to wake you up. 18:4128 Kusa makura tabi no okina to

You thought me a wandering old man, Crass for my pillow, 142

THE ETCHU YEARS

omohoshite hari so tamaeru tiuwamu mono moga 18:4129 Haribukuro toriage mae ni oki kaesaeba ono tomo ono ya ura mo tsugitari 18:4130 Haribukuro obi tsutsuke nagara sato goto ni terasai arukedo hito mo togamezu

And sent me needles— Next time send something to sew too.

I pick up the needle bag And turn it over. How strange, how strange— The back's patched too.

I fasten this needle bag to my sash, Parade everywhere to flaunt it, But not a soul reproaches me.

This final poem seems to mean that no o n e minds him flaunting the new bag because it is so shabby. Yakamochi sent Ikenushi his share of tongue-in-cheek poems as well, such as the following, with its unconventional twist at the end, sent to his friend after Ikenushi had been transferred to the neighboring province of Echizen: A poem on the cuckoo sent to the Echizen magistrate, Otomo Sukune Ikenushi, on 12 May, expressing my feelings on being unable to bear thoughts of the past: 19:4177 VJa ga seko to te tazusawarite At break of dawn akekureba idetachimukai My friend and I yü sareba furisakemitsutsu Would go out hand in hand omoinobe minagishiyamani And look upon the mountains; yatsu oniwa kasumi tanabiki When evening fell tanibe ni wa tsubaki hana saki Would turn and gaze at them. uraganashi haru no sugureba We found solace in these mountains, hototogisu iya shiki nakinu Quiet for our souls. h i tori nomi kikeba sabush i mo Now mist enfolds the eightfold peaks, kimi to are to hedatete kouru Camellias fill the valleys. tonamiyama tobikoeyukite As melancholy spring draws on ake tataba matsu no saeda ni The cuckoo cries incessantly— yü saraba tsuki ni mukaite How bitter to hear it by myself. ayamegusa tama nuku made ni Fly across dear Tonami Mountain nakitoyome yasu i neshimezu That stands between my friend and kimi 0 nayamase me, cuckoo, Sing out till we string irises as gems. 143

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK At morn from the pine branch, At eve in the moonlight, Sing o u t ! — Don't let him sleep in peace. 19:4178 Ware nomi shi kikeba sabushi mo hototogisu niu no yamabe ni iyuki naka na mo 19:4179 Hototogisu yo naki 0 shitsutsu wa ga seko 0 yasu i na neshime yume kokoro are

To hear you by myself, cuckoo, Brings only loneliness— Go and sing by Niu Mountain.

Sing all night through, cuckoo, Make sure he does not Sleep in peace.

The point is not simply that the cuckoo's noise keep Ikenushi awake, but that Ikenushi be made to feel the sad longing traditionally evoked by the song of this bird, said in Chinese legend to weep for its home, and thus to think of his old friend Yakamochi. Not long afterwards, Yakamochi sent Ikenushi a cormorant. Such birds were a popular method of fishing among the sporting nobility as well as the general populace. A cord around the bird's neck kept it from swallowing; a leash brought the bird and its catch back to its keeper. Yakamochi accompanied the gift with a poem, again with a bantering ending: 19:4189 Amazakaru hina to shi areba soko koko mo oyaji kokoro so ie sakari toshi no henureba utsusemi wa mono moi shigeshi soko yue ni kokoro nagusa ni hototogisu naku hatsukoe 0 tachibana no tama ni aenuki kazu ra kite asobau hash i mo masurao 0 tomonae tatete shikuragawa nazusai nobori hirase ni wa sade sashiwatashi hayaki se ni u 0 kazuketsutsu tsukinihini shika shi asobane

Here in the land far as the heavens You must feel as I, Deep our worldly yearnings As the years pass far from home. For solace, then, When you string the first cuckoo's song With garlands of jewels from the orange, Wade up the Shikura River with your men, Spread nets in its still pools, Loose cormorants in its fast-flowing stream— 144

THE ETCHÛ Y E A R S

hashiki wa ga seko

19:4190

Shikuragawa se 0 tazunetsutsu wa ga seko wa u kawa tatasane kokoro nagusa ni

19:4191

U kawa tate torasamu ayu no Shiga hata wa ware ni kakimuke omoishi omowaba

May you enjoy each day Of every month like this, My beloved friend. Seek the Shikura River shallows, my friend, And send out this cormorant, As solace for your soul.

When this cormorant takes a trout, Offer at least the fin to me, If you still care. 10

After Ikenushi left for Echizen, his replacement as the Etchù provincial magistrate, Kume Hironori, became Yakamochi's close friend and literary confidant. Though he never wrote poems for Hironori in the same profusion as he did for Ikenushi, he nevertheless shared a lot of poetry with his new friend. Among these verses is the following bantering example: 19:4207

Koko ni shite sogai ni miyuru wa ga seko ga kakitsu no tani ni akesareba hannosaedani Yû sareba fuji no shigemi ni harobaro ni naku hototogisu wa ga yado no ueki tachibana hana ni chiru toki 0 madashimi ki nakanaku soko wa uramizu sh ikaredomo tan i katazukite ie iseru kimi ga kikitsutsu tsuge naku mo ushi

In the valley where you live, Just visible from here, I faintly hear the cuckoo's song, far off— In the alder branches at dawn, In the thick wisteria at dusk. Since the orange tree I planted in my yard Is still in blossom, I'm not upset that he hasn't Yet come here to sing, But I am deeply hurt That you heard him in your valley And didn't tell me.

10. The last lines are literally "turn the fin towards me," a somewhat cryptic statement. I follow those, who, like Omodaka (Man'yoshu chushaku, 1957-1968), take it as a reference to the custom of offering food to absent friends and relatives. The

Shogakkan Nihon koten bungaku zenshu edition (1970-1975) of the Man'yoshu glosses the line, "at least send me the fin as a memento."

145

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK 19:4208 Wagakokoda matedo ki nakanu hototogisu hitorikikitsutsu tsugenu kimi kamo

Alone you heard the cuckoo, And didn't tell me, The cuckoo I've been waiting for That never came.

Hironori denied the omission: 19:4209 Tan i ch ikaku ie iva oredomo kodakakute sato wa aredomo hototogisu imada ki nakazu naku koe o kikamaku hori to ashita ni wa kado ni idetachi yübe ni wa tani o miwatashi kouredomo hitokoe dani mo imada kikoezu 19:4210 Fujinami no shigeri wa suginu ashihiki no yama hototogisu nado ka ki nakanu

Though my house is in the valley, Near the village of tall trees, The cuckoo hasn't come here yet. Longing to hear his song, I go to the gate in the morning, Look out over the valley at eve, And wait— But I've yet to hear one note. The wisteria are past their peak. Why haven't you come to sing, Cuckoo of the foot-trailing hills?

Besides his literary friends like Ikenushi, the main stimulus to Yakamochi's poetry in Etchu was the area's scenery. To a courtier from the gentle and civilized inland hills of Yamato, the Etchu area must have seemed spectacularly wild. The provincial capital was just back from the sea at the foot of a high, forested hill, Mount Futagami, or Twin Peak Mountain, and beside the wide Imizu River. From their houses in the small capital complex, the officials looked out on Nago Bay, where strong winds and storm clouds swept in from the Pacific. Inland, and visible across the curving bay, were the rugged Japan Alps, dominated by glaciercapped Mount Tachi (now called Tateyama). Winter in Etchu was harsh, with constant gray weather and extremely heavy snowfall. Much of the vegetation was of unfamiliar types suited to the northern climate. Their jobs required extensive travel through the province, and the officials from Nara spent a great deal of their leisure time outdoors as well, walking along the coast, riding on horseback through the hills, falconing, fishing with cormorants, boating on a 146

THE ETCHÜ YEARS

ETCHÜ PROVINCE (DETAIL)

Hakui

*{(Htmt) Lake\Malsuäae Fusji$Shtbutmi

-.Mount A Futagami*

x^SS ^ (Takaoka )

Imizu

Tonami

147

Mount Tachi

A

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN THE DUSK

large lake nearby—and all the time composing poetry on the splendid north coast scenery. Yakamochi was fascinated with this land. He composed numerous poems on its notable features—snowcapped Mount Tachi, Twin Peak Mountain behind the capital, and the various unfamiliar plants. Rather like vacation travel slides, many of these works are not terribly interesting, having little more to say than "what a lovely tree" (19:4159) or "what a lovely mountain" (17:3985), though their cumulative effect gives us an idea of the things that impressed him. Yakamochi also sometimes adds explanatory notes on local curiosities to his poems—citrus trees don't do well in Etchu's climate, the cuckoo comes later in the spring, the steady east wind is called ayu in the local dialect. This interest in Etchu's imposing scenery, so different from that of the capital, seems to have reinforced Yakamochi's developing concern with realistic observation, for much of his work from Etchu is enlivened by fresh and vivid details of the local scene, as in the following descriptive poems inspired by the view from his house and office in the capital complex: 17:4017 Ayu no kaze itaku fukurashi ttago no ama no tsurisuruobune kogi kakuru miyu 17:4ms Minato kaze samuku fukurashi nago no eni tsuma yobikawashi tazu sawa ni naku

Fiercely the east wind blows. The Nago fishing dinghies Row into hiding.

Cold blows the wind From off the river. The cranes cry to their mates On Nago bay.

This same solid and appealing sense of place also naturally appears in the social poems. Yakamochi presented the following poems at gatherings of provincial officials: 17:3989 Nago no umi no oki tsu shiranami shikushiku ni omohoemu kamo tachiwakarenaba

I will think of you as constantly A s whitecaps fleck the Nago sea, W h e n we must part.

148

THE ETCHU YEARS

17:3960 Niwa nifuru yuki wa chie shiku shika nomi ni omoite kimi 0 agamatanaku ni

The snow falling in the garden Piles up a thousand layers thick— I waited for you with longing deeper far.

17:3961 Shiranami no yosuru isomio kogu fune no kaji torn ma naku omohoeshi kimi

Steadily as the boatmen pull the oars Along the rocky shore where the waves roll in, I yearned for you.

In September the magistrate, Otomo Sukune Ikenushi, left for the capital as the great register messenger. In December of the same year, he returned to his post. Thereupon they held a wine and poetry party and enjoyed themselves playing music and drinking. In a sudden snowfall that day, more than a foot accumulated. Then the fishing boats put out to sea and drifted about on the waves. Governor Otomo Sukune Yakamochi expressed his feelings with these two poems. Among the most appealing of these social poems is the work with which Yakamochi welcomed his friend Hironori back from presenting the provincial accounts in Nara. The metaphorical language of the second half is full of images of the wild northern landscape, and the poem even closes with a sense that Hironori's stay in the capital has set him apart from his countrified friends: 18:4116 Okimino maki no manimani torimochite tsukauru kuni no toshi no uchi no koto katane mochi tamahoko no m ich i n i idetach i iwanefumi yamakoenoyuki m iyakobe n i maish i wa ga se 0 a ratama no tosh i yukigaeri tsuki kasane minu hi samanemi kouru sora yasuku shi araneba hototogisu ki naku satsuki no ayamegusa yomogi kazuraki sakamizuki asobinaguredo imizugawa yukike haurite yuku mizu no iya mashi ni nomi

I haven't seen you for many days, You, my friend, who at the imperial command, Gathered up the records Of this province where we serve, And set out along the jeweled-spear road, Treading rock roots, Climbing mountains, crossing fields, Headed for the capital. The new year came, an uncut gem, And the months rolled by. I grew distraught with yearning, And sought cheer in wine and music, Making garlands of iris and sage In June when the cuckoo sang; 149

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

tazu ga naku nago e no suge no nemokoro ni omoi musubore nagekitsutsu a ga matsu kimi g" koto owari kaerimakarite natsu no no no sayuri no hana no hana enti ni niubu ni emite awashitaru kydohajimete kagami nasu kaku shi tsune mimu omogawari sezu

18:4117 Kozo no aki aimishi manima kyo mireba omo ya mezurashi miyako kata hito 18:4118 Kaku shite mo aimiru mono 0 sukunaku mo toshi tsukifureba koishikereyamo

But ever stronger Like the Imizu River's surge As it rises with the melting snow, Deep as grow the sedge roots In the bay of Nago where cranes cry, Were my longing and my sighs. Now you whom I awaited have returned, Your business through. We meet, joyful as the lilies Of the fields of summer. From now on I will look upon you always, As on my mirror, And see no changes. I haven't seen you since last fall, And now how changed you are, You city sophisticate.

Though now we meet like this, How could my longing not be intense, Since so much time has passed?

Yakamochi's various business trips and pleasure excursions about his province also provided ample opportunity for landscape poems vividly evocative of Etchu. For example, a poem from one of his frequent holidays spent rowing on Lake Fuse, which once covered a large area near the preserrt-day resort town of Himi: A poem expressing his feelings on seeing the wisteria upon anchoring in Tako bay on an excursion to Lake Fuse on 21 May: 19:4199 Fujinami no Waves of wisteria kage nasu umi no Reflect on the clear sea— soko kiyomi The pebbles on the bottom shizuku ishi 0 mo Are like jewels. tama to so wa ga miru Official visits to various districts of his province were also the occasion for composition; there was probably some pressure for the 150

THE ETCHU YEARS visiting p o e t f r o m t h e capital to p e r f o r m for t h e local district chiefs. F o r e x a m p l e , t h e following series of v e r s e s f r o m t h e various districts Y a k a m o c h i visited to o v e r s e e t h e distribution of g o v e r n m e n t s e e d loans in 748: A poem composed by the Okami River in Tonami district: 17:4021 Okamigawa The Okami River is dyed scarlet— kurettai ttiou Maidens stand in the shallows otomerashi Picking river weed. 1 1 ashitsuki torn to se rti tatasurashi A l m o s t all attractive w o m e n in Man'yoshu poems wear h i g h - w a i s t e d r e d skirts, e v e n c o u n t r y girls g a t h e r i n g w a t e r to b e dried o r pickled a s a vegetable. W h i l e t h e p o e m m a y t h e river a s r e d s i m p l y b e c a u s e of t h e red skirts reflected in m o r e likely r e f e r e n c e is to t h e n o t o r i o u s l y e p h e m e r a l r e d d y e ing o u t a n d c o l o r i n g t h e w a t e r . In a n y c a s e , t h e result is a ingly vivid c o u n t r y s c e n e . T h e series c o n t i n u e s :

long, plants depict it, t h e washpleas-

A poem composed by the Usaka River in Mei district: 17:4022 Usakagawa Crossing the many pools of the Usaka, wataru se dmi Water splashed up by my horse kono a gauma no Wets my robes through. agaki no mizu ni kinu nurenikeri A poem composed on seeing the cormorant keepers: 17:4023 Meigawa no Lanterns shining hayaki se goto ni In each fast-flowing kagari sash i Shallow of the River Mei, yaso tomo no 0 wa Eighty attendant men u kawa tachikeri Set loose their cormorants. A poem composed on crossing the Haitsuki River in Niikawa district: 17:4024 Tachiyama no The snows of Tachi Mountain yuki shi kurashi mo Must be melting— haitsuki no The Haitsuki wets my stirrups kawa no watarize As I ford. abumi tsukasu mo 11. I follow Tsuchiya Bummei, Man'yoshu shichu (1949-1956), and Kubota Utsubo, Man'yoshu hydshaku (1943-1952) in taking niou here as "dyed" instead of simply "looks bright." 15 1

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

A poem composed on going along the sea to the Keda shrine: 17:4025

Shioji kara tada koe kureba hakui no umi asa nagi shitari fune kaji mogamo

We came straight over the mountains Along the Shio road. The sea of Hakui Lies still in the morning calm— Ah, for a boat and oars.

From another trip: A poem composed on looking up at the moon along the beach on the way home: 19:4206

Shibutani o sashitewagayuku kono hama ni tsukuyo akitemu uma shimashi tome

Going along the beach towards Shibutani I would gaze my fill upon the moon— Stop the horses for a while.

Whatever the beauties of Etchu's snow-capped mountains and scenic coast, they were very different from Yakamochi's home in Nara, and he sometimes used reference to the remote northern land to express his feelings of lonely isolation: 17:4019

Amazakaru hina to mo shiruku kokodaku mo shigeki koi kamo naguru hi mo naku 17:4020

Koshi no umi no Shinano no hama 0 yukikurashi nagaki haruhi mo wasureteomoeya 19:4213

Ayu 0 itami nago no urami ni yosuru nami iya chie shiki ni koiwataru kamo

As surely as I know This is a land far as the heavens, I long for home, And have no days of peace.

Though I spend the long spring day Walking on Shinano beach on Koshi's sea, Could I cease to think of home?

As wave after wave surges into Nago bay And breaks upon the shore When the east wind blows, My longing presses in on me.

If Yakamochi's life on the north coast sometimes brought feelings of isolation and loneliness, it also allowed great individuality and freedom. Some of his nature poems not only vividly describe 152

THE ETCHU YEARS

distinctive features of the local landscape, but use that imagery in expressing distinctive personal feelings: 19:4217 li no hana 0 ku tasu nagame no mizu hana ni yoru kozumi nasu yoramu ko mogamo

Like the sticks and branches Borne upon the waters after rain, The long spring rains that rot the deutzia, Ah, that maids would flow to me.

Indeed, in his years in Etchu, Yakamochi composed a prolific quantity of poetry of remarkable diversity and originality, trying a variety of techniques and expressing highly individualistic feelings in works of great artistic integrity. He had an especially productive period in mid-April 750, composing many of his best-known works, poems full of subtleties, rich ambiguities, and complex reverberations, that display the extreme sensitivity and the pervasive sadness on which his reputation as a "modern" poet largely rests. This series of poems, composed in the space of a few days and preserved at the beginning of Book XIX, begins with a pair of verses on "viewing the blossoms in the spring garden on the evening of April 11" that are intriguing in their deliberate ambiguity and their break from the Matt'yo tradition: 19:4139

Haru no sono kurenai niou momo no hana shitaderu michi ni idetatsu otome

19:4140

Wa ga sono no sumomo no hana ka niwa nifuru hadare no imada nokoritaru kamo

Spring garden Rosy glowing Peach blossoms On the flower-lit path A maiden. Are these plum blossoms In my garden? Or lingering patches Of thin fallen snow?

Man'yoshu commentators have interpreted these poems in a bewildering variety of ways. However, unlike most Man'yd poems that are the subject of scholarly controversy, here the problem does not result from any lack of understanding of the eighth-century vocabulary or writing system, nor from any corruption of the text. We understand all the parts perfectly well; it is simply that these parts can be put together in a number of different ways. The original 153

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

eighth-century audience would have found the poems equally ambiguous. Surely the ambiguities are deliberate, and in fact constitute a great part of the poems' appeal. The first verse consists of a series of noun phrases and modifiers that can be combined in a number of different ways for the following varying translations: The spring garden Glows with rosy light. Peach blossoms Shine brightly. On the path Stands a maiden. Spring garden. Bright red Peach blossoms. On the rosily lit path Stands a maiden. In the spring garden, Rosy glowing Peach blossoms Shine down— Maidens come out along the path.

Each of these readings is quite possible, for the relationships between the various nouns and modifiers are left unspecified, as is perfectly acceptable in early Japanese grammar. Indeed, the flexible grammar of this series of images preserves the ambiguities of the scene, which are much of the point of the poem. Does the garden glow with the rosy light of the setting sun? Or is the apparent glow from the bright pink peach blossoms? Or both? Is the path bright with the evening light? Or does it seem lit by the brightness of the falling petals? Or both? A more central tension is whether the poem's emphasis is on a maiden, lovely as the blossoms, or on a blossoming tree, lovely as a maiden. Since the title says the poem is on the blossoms, perhaps there is no real woman by the path at all, but simply a metaphorical depiction of a peach tree in blossom, a motif long and intimately associated with feminine beauty in Chinese poetry. Or, if we take the final image as "maidens" in the plural, come out along the path, as is equally possible, the reference could be to the feminine blossoms scattered on the ground. In any case, choosing any one of these readings lessens the poem considerably, for it is in the interplay between the rosy evening light and the rosy blossoms' brightness, and between the blossom154

THE ETCHU YEARS

ing tree and the lovely maiden, that the interest lies. The result is a subtle and appealing elaboration of the conventional pretended confusion of Six Dynasties Chinese verse, as seen in the "plum blossoms or snow?" verses from Dazaifu, and so important in Japanese poetry of succeeding centuries. The second poem of the pair, with precisely this "plum blossoms or snow?" confusion, is more conventional and less successful, but here too Yakamochi makes the language of the poem reflect the ambiguities of the subject. The middle line niwa tii chiru or furu, "falling in the garden" can go with the flowers of the preceding lines: "the flowers falling [chiru] in the garden." Or it can modify the snow of the succeeding lines: "snow fallen [furu] in the garden." Eminent commentators vigorously defend each interpretation, but again much of the point of the poem seems to be this very ambiguity, though here somewhat forced and affectedly clever. The reading of this middle line determines if the poem becomes one predominantly on the plum blossoms that look like snow (cut after the second line for two alternative questions), or predominantly on the snow which seems like blossoms (cut after the third line; kamo becomes the emphatic particle). If the general confusion is conventional, the specific picture of the petals scattered on the ground like a dusting of snow (or vice versa) is vivid and fresh. Given the title and the preceding poem of the pair, perhaps the pure, cold beauty of the scattered white plum blossoms is being contrasted to the rich, warm beauty of the fallen peach blossoms. The day he composed this pair of poems given tension by their purposeful ambiguity, Yakamochi also added one of his first works of the type that so characterize and endear him to the Japanese, a verse that focuses on one subtle detail—often a faint sound— and finds it powerfully evocative of mono no aware, the ephemeral beauty of life that moves man to bittersweet melancholy. 19:4141 Haru makete monoganashiki ni sayofukete habuki naku shigi tagatanikasumu

Where will he come to rest?— The snipe that comes crying, Beating his wings, In the late night sadness of spring.

Here Yakamochi, awake late at night, hears the snipe in the darkness and identifies with that migratory traveler. The markedly choppy final lines are effectively broken and slowed for emotional 155

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

impact. But most notable are the keen sensitivity and the feeling of inexplicable sadness, gentle melancholy, or mono no aware, features commonly said to characterize Japanese literature. And, indeed, Yakamochi's reputation as a "modern" poet rests largely on poems like this, where for the first time in their literary history the Japanese can feel real personal and emotional identification with an early poet. Nine poems of high quality were composed on the following day: A poem composed on taking up the willow charcoal and thinking of the capital on the twelfth: 19:4142 Harunohini I pick a branch of willow, hareru yanagi 0 Its buds swelling in the spring sun, torimochite And long for the wide boulevards of Nara. mireba miyako no ochi omohoyu Willow charcoal is eyebrow charcoal, a fancy Chinese term apparently used to mean simply "willow." Or perhaps the title underlines the association of willow leaves with graceful eyebrows and hence with beautiful women, suggesting that Yakamochi is thinking of the ladies of the capital as much as of its willow-lined streets. This apparently remote possibility, first suggested by the eminent early Man 'yd scholar Keichu, is somewhat bolstered by the poem's resemblance to one of the anonymous songs of Book X: 10:1853 Ume no hana torimochite mireba wagayadono yanagi no mayo shi omohoyuru lamto

I pick a branch of plum blossoms And long for those Willow eyebrows at home.

Spring, it might also be noted, was the season for changing governors, and Yakamochi had already been in Etchu for nearly four years, a longer period than most governors stayed at their provincial posts, giving him particular reason to think longingly of home. A poem on breaking off an alpine lily: 194143 Mononofu no Maidens numerous yaso otomera ga As the emperor's myriad men kumi magau Cluster to draw water— tera i no ue no Alpine lilies katakago no hana By the temple well. 156

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Here again, flowers and women are implicitly compared— maidens like flowers, and flowers like maidens. The humble, nodding, lavender-hued spring wild flower is another element of Etchu local color; there are no other examples of its use in the Man'yoshu. Certainly the maidens clustering around the temple well, whether real or metaphorical, make an appealingly realistic rustic scene. Calling the women "eighty maidens like warriorofficials" is a lighthearted play on the common phrase mononofu no yaso tomo no o, "eighty attendant men like warrior-officials," yaso otome even sounding much like yaso tomo. Two poems on hearing the cry of the plover in the night: 19:4146 Yogutachi ni As I lie awake nesamete oreba Far into the night, kawase tome A plover cries with all his soul, kokoro mo shino ni Seeking the shallows. naku chidori kamo 194147 Yogutachite naku kawa chidori ubeshi koso mukashi no hito mo shinoi kinikeri

Plover crying in the night, Well I understand How your song moved men of old.

Again we have an expression of Yakamochi's famous "modern" sadness, inescapable and undefinable. The plover's cry was rich in implications, and particularly associated with the past. Yakamochi's "men of old" may specifically include Hitomaro and Akahito, whose well-known poems the above verses recall: 3:266 Orni no umi yù nami chidori naganakeba kokoro mo shino ni inishie omohoyu

Plover of the evening waves Of Omi's sea, I long for the past with all my soul When you cry. [Hitomaro]

6:925 Nubatama no yo no fukeyukeba hisakiouru kiyoki kawara ni chidori shiba naku

The seed-black night deepens And in the pure stream bed Among the birches, A plover cries steadily. [Akahito] 157

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK

The golden past was becoming a common theme in Yakamochi's poetry. Not surprisingly, he felt nostalgia for the days when men were masurao unified behind the emperor, when the Otomos were among the leaders of the land, and when the great poets of old wrote the poems he collected in the Man'yoshu. The concern appears in a startling variety of verses. For example, in an exchange of poems with the Etchu provincial master of Buddhism, Yakamochi took up an oak leaf and contemplated an ancient custom mentioned in the Kojiki: 19:4205

Sumeroki no to miyo miyo wa ishiki ori ki nomiki to iu so ko no hohogashiwa

In reigns of emperors long past, I hear, Men would fold them to make wine cups— These oak leaves.

Or, after a choka praising Mount Futagami behind the local capital as the sacred mountain of the god who ruled the land, he added the envoy: 17:3986

Shibutani no saki no ariso ni yosuru nami iya shikushiku ni inishie omohoyu

As the waves roll ever in To Shibutani's rocky shore, I long ever more for the past.

But his poem on the plover above is among the most effective expressions of these feelings, drawing as it does upon the literary associations of the plover's cry, and ironically reminding us that even the early poet Hitomaro longed for some better, earlier time. Yakamochi s poems on waking late at night and hearing the plover were followed a few hours later by three of similar feeling and similarly keen sensitivity to sound in the quiet hours of dawn: Two poems on hearing the pheasant cry at daum: 19:4148

Sugi no no ni sa odoru kigishi ichishiroku ne ni she mo nakamu komorizuma kamo

Pheasant strutting on the cedared plains, Do you weep aloud so all will know, Like some secret lover?

158

THE ETCHU YEARS 19:4149 Ashihiki no yatsu 0 no kigishi nakitoyomi asake no kasumi

At the dawn mist Echoing with pheasants' cries In the eight-ranged trailing hills, I am somehow sadly stirred.

mireba kanashi mo A poem on hearing the song of the boatman rowing upstream in the distance: 19:4150 Asadoko ni kikeba harukeshi imizugawa asa kogishitsutsu

Far off he sounds As I listen from my morning bed— The boatman singing as he rows up the Imizu.

utau funabito

All three of these poems are extremely skillful in their separate ways. The first, though slight, gives an appealingly vivid picture of the pheasant, and quite precisely conveys the speaker's mixture of sympathy and amused exasperation. The second may strike us as a bit explicit in its bald statement of feeling, but the vast, mistshrouded scene, its expanse emphasized by the occasional isolated pheasants' cries, is indeed somehow oddly moving. Yamamoto Kenkichi suggests that the concluding poem, in its context, expresses a very modern lassitude, as Yakamochi lies in bed and listens to the boatman's song—a weariness with his job, with the business of government, and with politics, achievement, and worldly affairs in general.12 At the very least, the seemingly simple and straightforward statement is extremely effective in its suggestion of space, of human isolation, of beauty, of vague, barely expressible sadness, and of mono no aware. Though Yakamochi's reputation in Japan is based largely on skillful tanka such as these, what first appeals to most Westerners are the uniquely personal choka he also wrote in this period. These are the works most often translated, and by which the poet is best known in the West. Yet Japanese scholars and critics are, for the most part, surprisingly uninterested in these longer poems. Part of the difference in opinion is doubtless a consequence of translation. While the subtle appeal of a tanka easily disappears, a choka is apt to have narrative, development, patterns of imagery—more content that can be preserved in translation. But a difference in basic assumptions about what poetry should be also seems to be at work. 12. See Yamamoto, Otomo Yakamochi, pp. 208-209. 159

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Since the tanka was the standard classical form for centuries, the Japanese tend to see choka as something of an aberration from real poetry. Even in the Man'yoshu, the thirty-one syllable form is already by far the most common. Choka account for only some 260 of the anthology's 4,500 or so poems, and most of these are among the older works—the traditional ceremonial songs for court occasions. Thus popular collections of best loved Man'yd poems are apt to include only tanka. Scholars and critics writing on the anthology give most attention to the short poems, and often judge the choka by the tanka standard of concentrated lyricism, dismissing them as too long when they add elaboration, description, narration, variation, and complexity to the expression of some basic feeling that would have made a good tanka if only properly compressed. We Westerners, on the other hand, brought up on longer poems, tend to feel ten, twenty, or even fifty lines a most reasonable and comfortable length for a poem. Probably our prejudice towards longer poems somewhat distorts our overall view of what is most important in Yakamochi's accomplishment, but it also allows us to enjoy some lovely works not so well known in Japan. Yakamochi's enthusiastic use of the choka was unusual for a poet of his day. Those earlier Man'yd choka that were not traditional ceremonial songs were mostly by professional court poets like Hitomaro, and, later, Akahito and Kanamura, and were still quite public works. Okura's choice of the form for his personal verses was unprecedented—or rather the precedent was clearly in the Chinese literary tradition from which so much in his verse derived. Yakamochi's contemporaries wrote predominantly lyric tanka; for more intellectual concerns, or for expression demanding longer treatment, they turned increasingly to composition in Chinese, as Japanese writers would do for centuries thereafter. Perhaps partly because of his conservative values, Yakamochi remained determined to express his uniquely individual concerns in Japanese, working within the Japanese poetic tradition. That required that he turn increasingly to choka for the range he needed, and he produced a remarkable variety of distinctive works in the form. Some of his attempts at long poems do reflect what we might call a "tanka mentality"—the assumptions of his age as to what a poem should be. He tries choka with essentially the conventional content of tanka, expressing his feelings on seeing the birds and flowers, or assuring friends and lovers of his affection. Such poems 160

THE ETCHU YEARS

say basically what a tanka on the subject would say, but without its discipline of concentration and suggestion, and largely resemble the verses Yakamochi's contemporaries produced when they occasionally tried the long form. We can agree with the Japanese that these poems frequently simply seem too long. Yakamochi's tankastyle choka, however, like most everything else he tried, show his considerable skill, and are often far more interesting than those by his contemporaries. While not among his most significant works, these extended conventional verses are worked with great charm and with an assured style that grows in one's appreciation with each rereading. Probably they have more appeal to most Western readers than similar slight verses on birds or flowers that are properly compressed into thirty-one syllables. For example the following long poem by Yakamochi praising the cuckoo and the flowers of the season: 19:4166 Tokigoto ni iya mezurashiku yachi kusa ni kusa ki hana saki naku tori no koe mo kawarau mimi ni kiki me ni miru goto ni uchinageki shinae urabure shinoitsutsu arasou hashi ni ko no kure no uzuki shi tateba yogomori ni naku hototogisu inishie yu katari tsugitsuru uguisu no utsushi mako kamo ayamegusa hana tachibana 0 otomera ga tama nuku made ni akane sasu hiru wa shimera ni ashihiki no yatsu 0 tobikoe nubatama no yoru wa sugara ni akatoki no tsuki mukaite yuki kaeri nakitoyomuredo ikaniakidaramu 19:4167 Tokigoto ni iya mezurashiku saku hana 0 ori mo orazu mo miraku shi yoshi mo

When I see the myriad plants That bloom more freshly every year, And hear the voices of the songbirds That are even finer than years past, I languish sighing, Struggling over which to love the best. Then in tree-shaded May The cuckoo sings by night— Is he really the warbler's child As the old story says? His song resounds Till maidens string jewels of iris and orange. All the rosy shining day He flies across foot-trailing mountains, Many peaked. All the seed-black night He flies under the lingering m o o n — But could I ever tire of his song? Whether I pick them or n o t — These flowers that bloom More freshly every y e a r — It is a joy to look upon them.

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19:4168 Toshinoha ni ki naku mono yue hototogisu kikeba shinowaku awanu hi 0 dmi

Although he comes each year, I love to hear the cuckoo's song, Since we've been apart so many days.

The cuckoo, of course, leaves its eggs in other birds' nests. The warbler, as the other favorite Japanese songbird, was the appropriate adoptive parent. Another of these bird-and-flower poems stretches out the conventional praise of the orange tree by cataloging all its appealing qualities: 18:4111 Kakemaku mo aya ni kashikoshi sumerokino kami no dmiyo ni tajimamori tokoyo ni watari ya hoko mochi maide koshi toki tokijiku no kaku no ko no mi 0 kashikoku mo nokoshitamaere kuni mo se ni oi tachi sakae haru sareba hikoe moitsutsu hototogisu naku satsuki ni wa hatsu hana 0 eda ni ta orite otomera ni tsuto ni mo yarimi shirotae no sode ni mo kikire kaguwashimi okite karashimi ayuru mi wa tama ni nukitsutsu te ni makite miredomo akazu akizukeba shigure no amefuri ashihiki no yama no konure wa kurenaini nioi chiredomo tachibana no nareru sono mi wa hitateri ni iya migahoshiku miyukifuru fuyu ni itareba sh imo okedomo sono ha mo karezu tokiwa nasu iya sakabae n i shikare koso kami no miyo yori

To think of it is awesome beyond words. In the great reign of the ancestral gods Tajimamori crossed to the eternal land And brought back eight spearlike shoots; Thus the fruit of the ever-fragrant tree Happily passed down to us, And flourished until it fills the land. In spring new branches bud, In cuckoo-singing June We pick boughs of the early blossoms And send them in remembrance to our loves; Or as the scent is sweet, We tuck them in our white hemp sleeves And keep them till they're dry. We string the fruit that drop as jewels To twine around our arms, And though we gaze upon them, We cannot gaze our fill. In autumn, in the November rains, The trees in the foot-trailing hills Turn scarlet and then grow bare, But the ripening fruit the orange tree bears Glow ever more appealingly. 162

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yoroshi nae kono tachibana o tokijiku no kagu no ko no mi to nazukekerashi mo

In winter when the snows fall Its leaves stay green despite the frost; Eternal as the stones, It flourishes the more. From the age of the gods, therefore, The orange is rightly named The fruit of the ever-fragrant tree. 13

18:4112

Tachibana wa hana ni mo mi ni mo mitsuredomo iya tokijiku ni nao shi migahoshi

Though I've seen the orange In flower and in fruit, I would gaze eternally upon it.

This curious poem probably has some political implications. As noted, the orange tree (tachibana) is inescapably associated with Yakamochi's patron Tachibana Moroe. Few of Yakamochi's audience could fail to see that this exhaustive praise of the eternally flourishing tree, so rightly named, implied praise of Tachibana's glory and the wish that it continue forever. Besides birds and flowers, the other main topic of tanka was human relationships, and chdka similarly expressing affection for friends and lovers were naturally also written on occasion. Yakamochi was a far more enthusiastic practitioner of the form than most of his contemporaries; in fact, many of the other examples in the Mati'ydshu are the polite replies his friends were obliged to make to the chdka he persistently sent them. As usual, Yakamochi was thoroughly skillful at working within the conventions expected in such social communications. At their best, these 13. Two textual problems in this poem, part of an unusually high proportion of unusual language or apparent textual corruptions throughout Book XVIII, lead many to suspect the book suffered at the hands of some later editor or copyist perhaps trying to "correct" the original to make it seem more classical. Here instead of the usual moetsutsu for "budding" we have moitsutsu. And to get the Japanese lines seven to nine to fit the expected sense and rhythm we must stretch our imaginations a bit. The traditional and most natural reading would be one syllable per character, for ya hoko mochi I maide koshi I tokijiku no. However, that gives us three five-syllable lines in a row instead of the expected long-short-long alternation. Most modem commentators suggest making toki part of the preceding line (maide koshi toki), and then creating another toki to preserve the line tokijiku no, by reading the ji of jiku as toki and postulating that the ku is a mistake for some character that can be read jiku.

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poems give specific and personal elaboration to the traditional generalities of love and longing which often follow in the envoys, presenting a speaker, a situation, and a particularized feeling that we can easily accept as convincing and moving. For example, he once wrote to Oiratsume telling her of his longing for her and how he looked forward to seeing her on an upcoming official trip to Nara to deliver the annual tax records: 17:3978

Imo mo ware mo kokoro wa oyaji tagueredo iya natsukashiku aimireba toko hatsu hana ni kokorogushi megushi mo nashi ni hashikeyashi a ga okuzuma okimi no mikoto kashikomi ashihiki no yama koe nu yuki amazakaru hina osame ni to wakare kosh i sono hi no kiwame aratamano toshiyukigaeri haru hana no utsurou made ni aimineba ita mo sube nami shikitae no sode kaeshitsutsu nuru yo ochizu ime ni wa miredo utsutsu ni shi tada ni araneba koishikeku chie ni tsumorinu chikaku araba kaeri ni dani mo uchiyukite imo ga tamakura sashi kaete nete mo komashi 0 tamahoko no michiwa shidoku seki sae ni henarite are koso yoshi e yashi yoshi wa aramu so hototogisu ki nakamu tsuki ni itsu shi ka mo hayaku narinamu u no hana no nioeru yama 0 yoso nomi mo furisakemitsutsu omiji ni iyukinoritachi ao ni yoshi nara no wagie ni

Our hearts are one, yours and mine; When we're together Our love only grows the more intense. Like everlasting flowers, There is never pain or ugliness Upon our meeting. My beloved wife, the last I saw you Was the day I left at the imperial command To cross foot-trailing mountains, Traverse the plains, To govern this land far as the heavens. Since we cannot meet Till the rough-jewel year renews And the blossoms fall, There is nothing whatever to be done. I turn back my quiltlike sleeves Every night when I lie down, And though I see you in my dreams, It is not real— My longing piles a thousand layers deep. If you were only near, I would go sleep pillowed on your arm, Though it were but to head right back. But the jeweled-spear road stretches far And the barrier stands between. . . . Yet that's all right, There'll be a way. In the month the cuckoo sings— May it come soon— I will set out along the Omi road 164

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nuedori no uranakeshitsutsu sh itagoi n i omoi urabu re kado n i tach i yuke toitsu tsu a o matsu to nasuramu imo o aite haya mimu

17:3979

Aratama no toshi kaeru made aimineba kokoro mo shino ni omohoyuru kamo

17:3980

Nubatama no ime ni wa motona aimiredo tadaniaraneba koi yamazukeri

17:3981

Ashihiki no yama kihenarite tokedomo kokoro shiyukeba ime ni miekeri

17:3982

Haru hana no utsurou made ni aimineba tsuki hiyomitsutsu imo matsuramu so

Turning to look on the mountains Where the deutzia gaily bloom, As no concern of mine. At home in Nara, splendid in red and green, You must be languishing with hidden longing, Weeping softly like the nue bird, Must go to the gate for evening divination, Must sleep awaiting me. Soon would I see you, love. Since we cannot see each other Till the rough-jewel year renews, Longing weights my heart.

Though we meet continually In seed-black dreams, My longing grows no less.

Though the way is far Across foot-trailing hills, Our hearts go back and forth in dreams.

Since we cannot meet Until the blossoms fall, You must be waiting, Counting the days.

The mountains Yakamochi will so blithely ignore as he rushes off to Nara are probably those conventional ranges that stand between lovers, though he might also mean he doesn't pause to admire the mountain scenery. 165

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

On another occasion, Yakamochi elaborates with charmingly exuberant hyperbole on a common tanka theme of wishing to send some gifts from one's travels to a loved one, as he wishes for heaping handfuls of the rare and precious abalone pearls sometimes found by the local divers, as a suitably wonderful present for his wife: 18:4101

Susu no ama no oki tsu mikami ni iwatarite kazukitoru to iu awabi tama iochi mogamo hashikiyoshi tsuma no mikoto no koromode no wakareshi toki yo nubatama no yodoko kata sari asanegami kaki mo kezurazu idete kosh i tsuki h i yom itsu tsu nagekuramu kokoro nagusa ni hototogisu kinaku satsuki no ayamegusa hanatachibana ni nukimajie kazura ni seyo to tsutsumiteyaramu

Ah, that I had five hundred of the pearls That they say the Susu fishermen Dive for from the sacred islands out at sea. Ever since I left my dear wife's arms I fear she has been sighing, Counting the days since I left, Sleeping on but one side Of our bed of seed-black night, Never combing her sleep-tangled hair. I would send her pearls to cheer her, To string with the iris and flowering orange In June when the cuckoo sings, To make garlands for her hair.

18:4102

Shiratama 0 tsutsumiteyaraba ayamegusa hanatachibana ni ae mo nukugane

If I could wrap white pearls And send them, She could string them With the iris and the orange.

18:4103

Oki tsu shima iyukiwatarite kazukuchu awabitama moga tsutsumite yaramu

Ah, that I had the pearls They dive for from the island out at sea, Pearls to send to her.

18:4104

Wagimokoga kokoro nagusa ni yaramu tame oki tsu shima nam shiratama mogamo

I would send them to cheer my love, If I only had pearls From the island out at sea.

166

THE ETCHU YEARS 18:4105 Shiratama no iotsu tsudoi 0 te ni musubi okosemu ama wa mugashiku mo aru ka

How I wish some fisherman Would scoop up five hundred pearls And bring them to me. 1 4

Among the most interesting of these chdka extensions of conventional tanka themes are those that are made convincing by the use of personalized details, such as the following poem based on the standard motif of finding in a flower a reminder of a loved woman, and the common association of yuri ("later") and yuri ("lily"), yet expressing the very real and individualistic comfort Yakamochi found working in his garden: 18:4113 Okimi no to no mikado to makitamau tsukasa no manima miyukifuru koshi ni kudariki aratama no toshi no itsu tose shikitae no tamakura makazu himo tokazu marone 0 sureba ibusemi to kokoro nagusa ni nadesh iko 0 yado n i maki osh i natsu no no no sayuri hikiuete saku hana 0 ide miru goto ni nadeshikoga sonohanazuma ni sayuribana yuri mo awamu to nagusamuru kokoro shi naku wa amazakaru hina ni hito hi mo arubeku moareya

18:4114 Nadeshikoga hana miru goto ni otomeraga emai no nioi omohoyuru kamo

Appointed to serve In the emperor's distant outpost, I came to Koshi of the falling snows, And here for five renewing years I've slept full clothed, My sash kept tied, Never pillowed on my love's white hempen sleeves. For consolation in my melancholy I sowed pinks beside the door, Brought lilies from the fields of summer. But for the cheering thought, Each time I go out and see them bloom, That later like the later-lily I will see my flower bride so like the pinks, Could I live through a single day In this land far as the heavens? When I look upon my pinks, They seem aglow with maidens' smiles.

14. I follow Takeda Yukichi, Man'yoshu zenchushaku (1948-1951; rpt. 1957) in taking musubu as "scoop up" instead of "join" or "string," after the example of Man'yoshu poem 7:1142. 167

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK 18:4115

Sayuribana yuri mo awamu to shita hauru kokoro shi tiaku wa kydmohemeyamo

If deep within my heart I didn't know we'd meet again, Later like the later-lily, Could I get through the day?

Óiratsume did eventually join Yakamochi in Etchu, and at her request he prepared a choka for her to send to her mother, Lady Sakanoue, in the capital, which succeeds by its integral and appropriate use of the conventional imagery: 19:4169

Hototogisu ki naku satsuki ni saki niou hanatachibana no kaguwashiki oya no mikoto asayoi ni kikanu hi maneku amazakaru hina ni shi oreba ash ih iki no yama no taori n i tatsu kumo 0 yoso nomi mitsutsu nageku sora yasukenaku ni omou sora ku rash iki mono 0 nago no ama no kazukitoru tou shiratama no migashoshi miommva tada mukai mimu toki made wa matsukae no sakae imasane to toki a ga kimi

Many days have passed Since last I heard your voice At night or morning, Your words lovely as orange blossoms, Fragrant in June when the cuckoo sings. Here in this land far as the heavens I can look but from afar On the clouds rising over The foot-trailing mountain pass. My sighs are laden with distress, My longing bitter. Until I can gaze upon your face, For which I long as for the pearls Brought up by Nago's divers, May you thrive as a great oak, My dear mother.

19:4170

Shiratama no migahoshikimio mizu hisa ni hina ni shi oreba ikeru to mo nashi

Long I've been in the country far from you— You whom I would gaze on like a pearl— I no longer feel alive.

The cuckoo and the orange blossoms are not only beautiful, but by convention they are always yearned for, and associated with longing for one's home and past, and thus particularly appropriate for expressing Òiratsume's longing for her mother. Mountains traditionally separate loved ones, as an emphatic physical barrier underlining their psychological distress. Clouds are frequently messengers, as in Chinese poetry. Thus Óiratsume here looks off at 168

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Etchù's real and distinctive Japan Alps, separating her from home, and sighs that the clouds bring no messages from her mother. One of the best of all Yakamochi's social choka elaborating on standard tanka patterns is one addressed to Ikenushi as Yakamochi was about to leave to take the tax records to the capital. Though Yakamochi would return from his business trip before long, Ikenushi was soon to be transferred to Echizen. Here the vivid description of the view from the Etchu capital complex convinces us of the attraction of the life he shared with his friend there: 17:4006

Kakikazou fu tagam i yama n i kamusabite tateru tsuga no ki motomoemo oyajitókiwani hash ikiyosh i wa ga se no kim i o asa sarazu aite kotodoi yü sareba te tazusawarite imizugawa kiyoki kdchi ni idetachite wa ga tachimireba ayunokaze itakushifukeba minato ni wa shiranami takami tsuma yobu to sudori wa sawaku ashikaru to ama no obune wa irie kogu kaji no oto takashi soko o shi mo aya ni tomoshimi sh inoitsu tsu asobu sakari o sumeroki no osukuni naréba mikoto mochi tachiwakarenàba okuretaru kimi wa aredomo tamahoko no michi yuku ware wa shirakumo no tanabiku yama o iwanefumi koe henarinaba koishikeku ke no nagakemu so soko moeba kokoro shi itashi hototogisu koe ni aenuku tama ni moga te ni makimochite asayoi ni mitsutsu yukamu o okiteikabaoshi

Close and constant as trunk and branches Of the sacred ancient hemlock tree That stands on Twin Peak Mountain, Are you and I, beloved friend. Every morning we meet and talk. At evening, hand in hand, We go down to the clear pools of the Imizu River And stand and gaze. When the easterly blows brisk And whitecaps fleck the bay, Birds of the shallows start up Calling to their mates; Loudly comes the splash of oars Of small fishing boats that row the inlet, Going to cut reeds. Though too fine for words to tell, We praise it on and on. But our great lord rules this land, And in the midst of our delight I receive the royal command And must depart. You may stay, But I must set out Along the jeweled-spear road, Tread over rock roots, Cross the mountains wrapped in clouds. Long will be my days of yearning, And heavy is my heart. I wish all this were jewels 169

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

I could string with the cuckoo's song, I would wrap them round my arm To gaze on night and d a y — What sorrow to leave it all behind. 17:4007

Wagasekowa tama ni mogamo na hototogisu koe ni aenuki te ni makite yukamu

I wish you were a jewel, my friend, I could string with the cuckoo's song, To wrap around my arm.

Not only did Yakamochi write numerous skillful choka elaborating on conventional tanka materials, he also tried his hand at choka on those subjects standardly treated in the long form, often using old traditions for quite new purposes. One common kind of traditional choka was that in praise of sacred sites and palaces, once offered by court poets on ceremonial imperial excursions. Yakamochi put this old conventional pattern to new and personal use in the following poem from an outing with his friends to Lake Fuse. The activities described are the everyday ones of boating, fishing, and watching the birds, diversions of purely personal significance, for the excursion is merely for pleasure, not ritual. Yakamochi expresses none of the usual ceremonial wishes for the emperor's long reign or the nation's eternal prosperity, but instead hopes simply that his friendship with his companions will be long-lasting: 17:3991

Mononofu no yaso tomo no 0 no omou dochi kokoro yaramu to uma namete uchikuchtburi no shiranami no ariso ni yosuru shibutani no saki tamotori matsudae no nagahama sugite unaigawa kiyoki se goto ni u kawa tachi ka yuki kaku yuki mitsuredomo sokomoakanito fuse no umi ni fune ukesuete okiekogi henikogimireba nagisa ni wa aji murasawaki shimami ni wa konure hana saki kokobaku mo mi no sayakeki ka

We warriors of the eighty serving clans, Close friends, Set out in search of consolation. Horses side by side, We round Cape Shibutani Where crashing breakers roll, Pass the vast beach of Matsudae, Loosing our cormorants In the Unai's clear pools. Here and there we wander, Taking in the scene, But can never gaze enough; So in Fuse Lake we launch our boats, Row out to the center, Row along the bank.

170

THE ETCHU YEARS tamakushige futagami yama ni hau tsuta no yuki wa wakarezu arigayoi iya toshinoha ni omou dochi kaku shi asobamu ima mo miru goto

We see wild ducks start up along the shore, And blossoms in the treetops on the islands— How can scenery be so fine? The crawling vines may part On Twin Peak Mountain, Lidded like a jeweled comb box, But may we always stay together And return; May we grow ever closer with the years, And go wandering again as we do now.

17:3992

Fuse no umi no oki tsu shiranami arigayoi iya toshinoha ni mitsutsu shinowamu

Constant as the whitecaps on Lake Fuse, I would come back every year And sing its praises.

Another traditional type of chdka w a s the elegy. W h e n chi had occasion to compose p o e m s of grief in Etchu, he conventional form. T h e first he composed a f e w m o n t h s arrival in the north, u p o n learning of the death of his brother Fumimochi: 17:3957 Amazakaru hiña osame ni to ôkimi no make no manimani idete koshi ware 0 okuru to ao ni yoshi nara yama sugite izumigawa kiyoki kawara ni uma todome wakareshi toki ni masakikute are kaerikomu tairakeku iwaite mate to kataraite koshi hi no kiwami tamahoko no michi 0 tadômi yama kawa no henarite areba koishikeku hi nagaki mono 0 mimaku hori omou aida ni tamazusa no tsukai no kereba ureshimi to a ga machi tou ni

Yakamou s e d the after his younger

He saw me off when I left In obedience to the imperial command, To govern this land far as the heavens. We passed Nara mountain, Nara splendid in red and green, And stopped our horses On the pure Izumi river plain To take our leave. "I'll be aU right," I said, "Pray for me and do not be concerned." Many long days have I yearned for him Since that last time, 171

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

oyozure no tawakoto to ka mo hashikiyoshi naotonomikoto nanishikamo tokishiwa aramu o hada susuki ho ni zuru aki no hagi no hana n ioeru yodo o asa niwa ni idetachinarashi yü niwa ni fumitairagezu saonouchino satooyukisugi ashihiki no yama no konure ni shirakumo ni tachi tanabiku to are ni tsugetsuru

17:3958 Masakiku to life shi mono 0 shirakumo ni tachi tanabiku to kikeba kanashi mo

For mountains and rivers lie between us And the jeweled-spear road stretches far. While I longed to see him, A messenger of jeweled catalpa came,. But when I waited with delight for news— What are these mad rantings? These unfounded lies? His time would have come sometime, But why does my beloved brother No longer go out to his garden at morning, No longer walk in his garden at dusk?— The garden where the clover brightly blooms, In autumn of flaglike pampas crowns. This man tells me my brother left His home in Sao; White clouds trail above the trees In the foot-trailing hills. "I'll be fine," I said, But now I grieve to hear He drifts among the clouds.

17:3959

Kakaramu to kanete shiriseba koshi no umi no ariso no nami mo misemashi mono 0

If I had known that this would be, I would have shown him the breakers Pounding in to Koshi's rocky shore.

Yakamochi generally uses the old pattern of the elegy here, though he omits the opening general statement, as well as the description of the funeral and the search for consolation with which such poems often conclude. He focuses instead on the central core of the elegiac pattern—when the deceased was alive we rode out together, but now I hear his garden is deserted and he floats off as a cloud. Yakamochi is not at home for the death or the funeral—he 172

THE ETCHU Y E A R S

merely hears from afar that his brother is no more. Thus his poem does not allude to the usual elements of a funeral and the search for consolation in the familiar hills near home. It focuses instead on those aspects of the conventional pattern that can serve to convey his own reaction in the present circumstances. The opening description of the last time Yakamochi saw his brother is wonderfully solid and individualized, in marked contrast to the conventional treatment of the loved one decking his hair with flowers and leaves in the spring and fall. Fumimochi rides out for a way to see his brother off for Etchu, worried about Yakamochi going off to the wild northern land. Yakamochi glibly says that he'll be fine and tells his brother not to worry—but ironically it is Fumimochi, supposedly safe at home, who unexpectedly dies, and Yakamochi is unable to see him off. Similarly ironic is Yakamochi's cheerful anticipation of word from home, only to find that the news is of tragedy. Also effective is the omission of any treatment of the death, the funeral, the wandering in search of consolation, and the like— all of which Yakamochi misses. Instead, he hears suddenly that his brother is gone, and is left to imagine Fumimochi's garden deserted, with its fall flowers in bloom, and his brother's soul drifting among the clouds. Thus Yakamochi again makes an old form the vehicle for newly personal expression. Some time later, Yakamochi composed another elegy in Etchu, which he sent to his son-in-law Fujiwara Nakachiko, offering his condolences on the death of that young man's mother. A note to the poems tells us that Nakachiko was of the house of the great minister of the right of the southern branch of the Fujiwaras. This minister was Fujiwara Toyonari. Nakachiko ("second son") may be Toyonari's son, or perhaps the son of Toyonari's brother Nakamaro. Nakamaro's second son had corresponded with Yakamochi earlier, apparently seeking to court the poet's daughter (4:786792), and it is often thought that he married the girl.15 Presumably Yakamochi's daughter is the child mentioned as left behind by his mistress in the elegies on her death in 739. She would by now be an adolescent. In any case, this tie with the influential Fujiwaras is of interest, and may have considerably complicated Yakamochi's position in the factional politics of later years. This poem from the summer of 750, the last in the long tradition of Man 'yd elegy, perhaps shows the inevitable final development of the old communal, 15. Takeda,

Jodai kokubungaku no kenkyu 173

(1921), p. 67.

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

ceremonial funeral song—Yakamochi's verse is a private social communication, an expression of sympathy sent to a friend. Though Yakamochi takes considerable liberties with the old pattern, the basic elements unmistakenly remain: 19:4214

Ametsuch i no hajime no toki yu utsusomi no yaso tomo no 0 wa dkimi ni matsurou mono to sadamareru tsukasa ni shi areba ókimi no mikoto kashikomi hinazakaru kuni 0 osamu to ashihiki no yama kawa henari kaze kumo ni koto wa kayoedo tada ni awazu hi no kasanareba omoikoi ikizukioruni tamahoko no michi kuru hito no tsutekoto ni ware ni kataraku hashikiyoshi kimi wa kono koro urasabite nagekai imasu yo no naka no ukeku tsurakeku saku hana mo toki ni utsurou utsusemi mo tsune naku arikeri tarachine no mioya no mikoto nani shi ka mo toki shi wa aramuo naso kagami miredomo akazu tanta no 0 no oshiki sakari ni tatsu kiri no useyuku gotoku oku tsuyu no kenuru ga gotoku tamamo nasu nabiki koifushi yuku mizu no todomikanetsu to magakoto ya hito no iitsuru oyozure 0 hito no tsugetsuru azusayumi tsuma hiku yo to no tòto ni mo kikeba kanashimi niwa tazumi nagaruru namida todomikanetsu mo

Since the beginning of heaven and earth The duty of the emperor's men Has been to serve their sovereign lord, So obedient to the royal command, I came to rule this distant land, Beyond foot-trailing hills, Across the rivers. We sent messages by wind and clouds, But the days went by and still we could not meet. As I sat thinking of you, sighing, A traveler came along the jeweled-spear road Into my longing, And told me of your grief. Ah, my beloved friend, This world is a sad and painful place. The blossoms scatter with the season, And life, too, is evanescent. Her time would have come some day, But why did it happen now, Just when your mother of the ample breasts Was in her prime of life, Preci9us as a string of jewels, As a clear mirror that one can gaze upon forever? As the rising mist trails away, As the dew disappears, Like gem weed she languished on her bed, And like the flowing waters, You could not keep her back. What are these mad rantings? These unfounded lies? Though I hear it from afar Like the distant twanging 174

THE ETCHU YEARS Of a catalpa bow in the night, I grieve And cannot stop the downpour of my tears. 19:4215 Tdto ni mo kimi ga nageku to kikitsureba ne nomishinakayu aiomou ware wa

When even from afar I hear of your loss I break down and weep, I who feel as you do.

19:4216 Yo no naka no tsune naki koto wa shiruramu 0 kokoro tsukusu na masurao ni shite

You must know that Nothing in this world can last. Don't be so sore distressed, True warrior that you are.

This unusual experiment with the old pattern—just the sort of thing we expect of Yakamochi—is a most successful one. Brower and Miner single it out in their treatment of Japanese court poetry to illustrate Yakamochi's particular genius, "a personal and yet formal style of great beauty and integrity."16 Part of the poem's appeal is the skillful use of imagery in its second half, culminating in the evocative twang of the catalpa bow, suggestive of the guards on nightwatch in the palace and of the slightly ominous spirit world, for catalpa bows were sometimes plucked to keep away evil spirits. And who but Yakamochi would have pointed out not only the evanescence of all life, but also the obligations of a masurao, in trying to help his friend control his grief? Related to the elegies is a long poem from Yakamochi's first year in Etchu, "Expressing his grief when he was suddenly taken ill and nearly set out on the road to the springs of the netherworld." Poems on one's deathbed were a relatively common Man'yd type, and were also called elegies. They were usually tarika, thirty-one syllables being quite enough for the dying to manage. Yakamochi, however, tried a choka on the subject. The work's apparently selfcentered emphasis on how much his family must all miss him may seem somewhat annoying, but the stance is not uncommon in Man'yoshu poems about separation, and it may in fact have been thought to show particular sensitivity to lament the unhappiness of 16. Brower and Miner, Japanese Court Poetry, pp. 130-131. 175

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN THE DUSK

one's loved ones instead of one's own. The poem is, however, of interest for its expression of personal frustration very characteristic of Yakamochi as he finds himself unable to live up to his ideal of a masurao. He is sick, lonely, discouraged, and helpless, when he is supposed to be a strong warrior in control not only of his own life but of an entire province as the emperor's representative. Composed about three years before the preceding elegy to Nakachiko, it seems markedly the work of a younger poet, lacking that poem's mature perspective and polish: 17:3962

Okimi no make no manimani masurao no kokoro furiokoshi ashihiki no yama saka koete amazakaru hina ni kudariki iki dani mo imada yasumezu tosh i tsuki mo iku ra mo aran u

u tusemi no yo no hito nareba uchinabiki toko nikoifushi itakeku shi hi ni ke ni masaru tarachine no haha no mikoto no obune no yukura yukura ni shitagoi ni itsu ka mo komu to matasuramu kokoro sabushiku hashikiyoshi tsuma no mikoto mo akekureba kadoniyoritachi koromode 0 orikaeshitsutsu yu sareba toko uchiharai nubatama no kurokami shikite itsu shi ka to nagekasuramu so imo mo se mo wakaki kodomo wa ochikochi ni sawaki nakuramu tamahoko no michi 0 tadomi mazukai mo yaru yoshi mo nashi omohoshiki kototsuteyarazu kouru ni shi kokoro wa moenu tamakiwaru inochi oshikedo semu sube no tadoki 0 shira ni kaku shite ya arashi 0 sura ni nageki fuseramu

Obedient to the imperial command I aroused my warrior's heart And crossed foot-trailing hills To this land far as the heavens. Before any time had passed, Before I had yet caught my breath, I grew weak and took to bed, My pain each day increasing. My mother of ample breasts must be waiting, Wondering to herself when I will come, Uneasy as a great ship And sorrowing. My beloved wife Must lean on the gate at dawn Folding back her sleeves, Must sweep our bed at evening Spreading out her seed-black hair, Wondering with sighs when I'll return. My son and daughter must be crying, Making a din throughout the house. I cannot send a messenger To tell them of my love, Since the jeweled-spear road stretches far. I burn with longing, And though I cling to my soul-allotted life, I know not what to do. Can I do nothing but lie here and sigh, Strong man though I am? 176

THE ETCHU Y E A R S

17:3963 Yo no naka wa kazu tiaki mono ka haru hana no chiri no magai ni shinubeki ontoeba 17:3964 Yama kawa no sokie 0 tomi hashikiyoshi imo 0 aimizu kaku ya nagekamu

Our days are too few to number. I will die, it seems, As the blossoms flutter down.

The mountains and rivers Stretch far between us. Can I do nothing but sigh, Without my beloved wife?

Yakamochi also tried his hand at another subject distinctive to the choka—the recounting of legends. These poems are often closely related to the elegy. Many deal with the deaths of legendary figures, are classed in the Man'yoshu as elegies, and follow a very similar formal pattern. When Yakamochi writes a choka on the legend of the maid of Unai, who killed herself when two young men fought over her, he tells us in his note that his work is inspired by "the song on the maiden's grave," perhaps suggesting that his model was a song everyone knew: 194211 lnishie ni arikeru warn no kusubashiki koto to iitsugu chinu otoko unai otoko no utsusemi no na 0 arasou to tamakiwaru inochi mo sutete arasoi ni tsumadoi shikeru otomera ga kikeba kanashisa haru hana no nioe sakaete aki no ha no nioe ni tereru atarashiki mi no sakari sura masurao no koto itawashimi chichi haha ni moshi wakarete iezakari umibe ni idetachi asayoi ni michi kuru shio no yae nami ni nabiku tamamo no fush i no ma mo osh iki inoch i 0 tsuyu shimo no sugimashinikere okutsuki 0 koko to sadamete nochi no yo no kikitsugu hito

A wonderous tale has been Handed down from ancient days Of the lads from Chinu and Unai. Each threw away his soul-allotted life Competing for a worldly name. How sad to hear the tale Of the maiden they both loved. She was in her best years, With the rosy glow of spring blossoms, The bright shine of fall leaves. But moved by the warriors' words, She bade farewell to her parents, Left her home and went down to the sea. Her precious life was gone Like the dew or frost, Her life like a section of gem weed Swaying in the eightfold waves On the tide rolling in night and day. 177

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

mo iya to ni shinoi ni seyo to tsugeogushi shika sashikerashi oite nabikeri

19:4212

Otomera ga nochi no shirushi to tsugeogushi oikawarioite nabikikerashi mo

Into the ground they stuck her boxwood comb, Marking a site for her tomb, A reminder far into the future For generations yet to come. The comb took root, And now its branches wave. An eternal reminder of the maiden— Her comb grew into a tree And waves new shoots each spring.

The legend of the maid of Unai is recounted in more detail in poems from the Takahashi Mushimaro Collection (MYS 9:18091811). Perhaps these are the poems that inspired Yakamochi's version, or perhaps all are based on a common legend or popular song. In her youth, the legend goes, the maiden of Unai was kept inside, hidden even from the neighbors. Therefore everyone knew that she must be truly beautiful, and men flocked to woo her. When two lads, one from the neighboring village of Chinu and the other from her own village, took up their weapons and threatened to fight over her, the maiden told her mother that she feared she would never be able to marry the one she loved, and then drowned herself. As she died, her soul came to her favorite, the lad of Chinu, in a dream. He immediately killed himself to follow her; the lad of Unai soon did the same. The two men were buried on either side of the maiden. After her death, the poet Mushimaro suggests that she continued to favor the Chinu lad, for the tree that grew from her comb leaned towards his grave. Quite possibly local pride and intervillage rivalry kept her from choosing the outsider despite her own feelings. Yakamochi is little concerned with the story in his poem on the legend; he seems to assume that his audience already knows it. He is, characteristically, interested instead in the men fighting for their honor, and in the maiden in her prime throwing away her young life and thus achieving lasting fame. The evocative plant imagery is quite well done—her life short as a section of seaweed stem, and frail and washed about by circumstances as the seaweed tossed about on the constant waves, contrasts nicely with the sturdy and ever-renewing tree that grows from her grave. 178

THE ETCHU YEARS

Perhaps the ultimate inspiration for extended narrative poems on legends was Chinese. Vocabulary items and basic motifs of at least Mushimaro's poems do also occur in poems in the Yii-tai Hsin-yung.17 Certainly poems that told stories were far more common in Chinese than in Japanese. Most of those Man'yoshii legend chdka that are not elegylike reminiscences on seeing the tomb of some famous figure, are on the Chinese legend of the herdsman and the weaver maiden who were turned into stars separated by the Milky Way and allowed to meet just once a year. Yakamochi tries a chdka on this common chdka topic too, and again he treats the subject in a very distinctive manner: 18:4125 Amaderasu kami no miyo yori yasu no kawa naka ni hedatete mukai tachi sode furi kawashi iki no 0 ni nagekasu kora watari mori fune mo mdkezu hashì dani mo watashite araba sonoeyumo iyuki watarashi tazusawari unagakeri ite omohosh iki koto mo kata rai nagusamu ru kokoro wa aramu 0 nani shi ka mo aki ni shi araneba kotodoi no tomoshiki kora utsusemi no yo no hito ware mo koko 0 shi mo aya ni kusushimi yuki kawaru toshinoha goto ni ama no hara furisakemitsutsu iitsugi ni sure 18:4126 Ama no kawa hashi wataseraba sono he yu mo iwatarasamu 0 aki ni arazu tomo 18:4127 Yasu no kawa komukaidachite

Kept apart since the age Of the goddess Amaterasu, Separated by the River of Peace, You face each other, Sighing wistfully, Waving your sleeves, But no ferryman is to be found. If a bridge spanned the river You could cross over, Sit hand in hand, Arms round each other, Sharing thoughts of love, And be consoled— Why is it you can only meet in autumn? Mere man of this cicada-shell world, I find it stranger than words can tell. Each renewing year I gaze upon the plain of heaven, And pass on the tale. If a bridge spanned the river of heaven You could cross over, Even when it was not autumn.

The stars separated by the River of Peace,

17. See Kojima, Jödai Nihon bungaku to Chügoku bungaku, 2:1116-1117. 179

A W A R B L E R ' S SONG IN THE DUSK

toshi no koi ke nagaki kora ga tsumadoi no yo so

Whose days are long with a year's love, Will meet tonight.

Here Yakamochi gives the popular Chinese legend a Japanese setting. The lovers have been kept apart since the age of the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu, and the river that separates them is the River of Peace (yasu no kawa) in the heavens where the Japanese gods gather in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki. No fanciful phoenix chariot or bridge of magpies serves the lovers here, as happens in the Chinese poems; instead they wish for such commonplace means of transportation as a ferry or a bridge, as in most Japanese treatments of the subject. Unique to Yakamochi, however, is the tone. Instead of expressing the usual grief at the lovers' fate or joy at their reunion, Yakamochi—modern and rational figure that he is—wonders why the lovers suffer this curious and unjust fate. Some suggest, in fact, that this questioning of the legendary heavenly order is a veiled protest against government rules that prevent his wife from joining him in Etchu. In any case, the poem is as much an individual as a conventional statement. From the above poems, it is readily apparent that Yakamochi was adept at using traditional choka materials for his own distinctively personal expression. Most interesting of all, however, are his long poems that break radically with the tradition and simply treat his own, everyday concerns in leisurely detail impossible in tanka. Some of these highly individualistic poems still show the influence of other literary sources. Yakamochi's "Poem Lamenting the Impermanence of Worldly Things," for example, seems inspired by Okura's distinctive "Poem Lamenting the Transience of Worldly Things" (5:804-805, see chapter 3) in both its subject matter and in some of its motifs, though much of the language is merely conventional: 19:4160

Ame tsuchi no toki hajime yo yo no naka wa tsune naki mono to katari tsugi nagarae kitare ama no hara furisakemireba teru tsuki mo michi kakeshikeri ashihiki no yama no konure mo haru sareba hana saki nioi

From the very beginning of the world The teaching has come down That all is evanescent. The moon shining in the plain of heaven Waxes and wanes; The trees in the foot-trailing hills Bloom in the spring, 180

THE ETCHU YEARS akizukeba tsuyu shimo oite kaze majie momichi chirikeri utsusemi mo kaku nomi narashi kurenai no iromoutsu roi nubatama no kurokami kawari asa no emi yiibe kawarai fuku kaze no mienu ga gotoku yuku mizu no tomaranu gotoku tsune mo naku utsurou mireba niwa tazumi nagaruru namida todomi kanetsu mo

19:4161

Koto towanu ki sura haru saki akizukeba momichi chiraku wa tsune 0 nami koso

19:4162

Utsusemi ni tsune naki mireba yo no naka ni kokoro tsukezute omou hi so oki

And in the freezing dew of autumn Scatter their leaves before the wind. Man's fate is much the same. Ruddy cheeks fade, Seed-black hair turns grey; The smiles of morning Are gone by evening. When I see this flow of constant change Like the wind that blows unseen, The stream that rushes ever o n — I cannot stop the downpour of my tears. Even the silent trees Bloom in the spring And drop their leaves in fall, For nothing in this world can last.

When I see the evanescence Of this cicada-shell world, Many are the days I spend in listless longing.

Here, too, Yakamochi makes the materials he uses distinctively his own. Okura's realization of life's transience leads him to a fierce attachment to life, clearly exhibited in his essay lamenting his illness (see chapter 2) and in numerous other poems, where he declares that he cannot bear to leave his children and wishes to live a thousand years (e.g., 5:897-903). Similarly, in his poem on transience, he laments the scorn heaped on the aged, expresses a desire to cling to youth and life, and longs to live forever. Yakamochi reacts very differently to the same phenomena: seeing the evanescence of the world, he is moved to tears and listless longing. Some suggest that his world weariness stems from disillusionment with politics and court intrigues. In any case, the reaction is far different— perhaps far more Japanese—than Okura's rather Taoist fierce enthusiasm for youth and eternal life, and Yakamochi may well be using allusion to the earlier poet's well-known work to emphasize his own contrasting feelings. 181

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

Also perhaps drawing upon other sources is Yakamochi's unusual prayer for rain in choka form, accompanied by a tanka celebrating the prayer's effectiveness: There had been no rain since 25 June and the people's fields looked parched. On 19 July he unexpectedly saw what looked like rain clouds. Thereupon he composed this poem on the clouds: 18:4122 In all the land the emperor rules Sumeroki no shikimasu kuni To the furthest point reached by no ame no shita yomo no michi ni horses' hooves wa Along the roads that stretch uma no tsume itsukusu kiwami In four directions under heaven, funa no he no ihatsuru made ni To the furthest port of ships by sea, inishie yo ima no otsuzu ni From ancient times to now, yorozu tsuki matsuru tsukasa The harvest is the greatest offering to Of all ten thousand given. But now rainless days stretch on and tsukuritaru sono rtanwai 0 on; amefurazu hi no kasanareba ueshi ta mo makishi hatake mo The planted paddies, the sown fields asagotoni shibomi kareyuku Grow more parched with every so 0 mireba kokoro 0 itami morning— midori ko no chikougagotoku It rends my heart to look upon the ama tsu mtzu aogtte so matsu land. ashihiki no yama no taori ni I look up to the heavens for water ko no miyuru ama no Like a babe crying for his mother's shirakumo breast. watatsumi no oki tsu miyabe ni White clouds of heaven, tachiwatari tonogumori aite Rising from the foot-trailing mountain ame mO tamawane pass, Come to the sea god's palace, Cloud all the skies, And give us rain. 184123 Kono miyuru kumo hobikorite tonogumori amemofuranu ka kokoro darai ni

May these clouds Spread and cover all the sky, And bring the rain we need.

A poem celebrating the rainfall [22 July]: 184124 Wagahorishi The rains we hoped for came; amewafurikinu The harvest will be rich kakushiaraba Without our prayers. 182

THE ETCHU Y E A R S koto age sezu tomo toshi wa sakaemu

A prayer for rain seems an appropriate communal topic for a traditional ceremonial choka, and the opening description of the emperor's land stretching to the farthest reach of horses' hooves and the farthest reach of ships by sea appears to be traditional liturgical rhetoric. Similar language also appears in the Shinto prayer (norito) from the spring ceremony for a good harvest, conducted annually at court and by the governors in each province. 18 However, Yakamochi is not composing any conventional ceremonial song here—he is making up his own quite unique prayer for the occasion and giving it an appropriately old-fashioned air. Poetic prayers for rain were not traditional. In fact, there are no other even remotely similar prayer poems for rain, or even for good harvests, in the Man'yoshu. There seems even to have been an assumption that one should have faith in the gods mercifully providing without being asked, as long as man kept up the proper purifications and ceremonies. The tanka accompanying this choka suggests as much. It doesn't say "my prayer worked," but "I didn't need to pray." A number of other early Man'yo poems are more explicit, such as the following example from the Hitomaro Collection: 13:3253 Ashiharano wa kamu nagara kuni shikaredomo suru. .

mizuhonokuni koto age senu

This reed plain land of abundant rice Is a godlike land In w h i c h w e need not offer prayers, But I will say them. . . .

koto age zowaga . .

Prayers for unsure human matters, such as the safety of travelers or the long life of parents and leaders are quite common; the lines quoted above are from such a prayer for a loved one's safety. However, the goodness of the land is usually simply affirmed—the rivers are wide and pure and eternal, the land is rich, the country thrives—as is perhaps to be expected in a land where the very mountains and rivers are gods. Yakamochi's poem expresses his own hope for rain on the specific occasion of noticing clouds appearing in the distance, just becoming visible over a low place in 18. Though our earliest text of the norito dates from the ninth century, the language of these liturgies is usually assumed to be far older. It is not impossible, however, that Yakamochi's poem influenced the norito, not vice versa. 183

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK

the Mt. Tachi range, the direction from which Etchu's rains usually came. The topic is a unique and original one, for which the choka form and the dignified norito language are appropriately chosen. Treating another seemingly old-fashioned, communal, and ceremonial topic is Yakamochi's famous long poem celebrating the imperial edict on the discovery of gold in Michinoku province (modern Aomori prefecture) in 749. But here, too, the poem is in fact a personal statement without precedent: 18:4094

Ashi hara no mizu ho no kuni 0 amakudari shirashimeshikeru sumeroki no kami no mikoto no miyo kasane ama no hitsugi to shirashikuru kimi no miyo miyo shikimaseru yomo no kuni ni wa yama kawa 0 hiromi atsumi to tatematsuru mitsukitakara wa kazoe ezu tsukushi mo kanetsu shikaredomo wagoôkimino morohito 0 izanaitamai yoki koto 0 hajimetamaite kugane kamo tash ikeku aram u to omohoshite shita nayamasu ni tori ga naku azuma no kuni no michinoku no oda naru yama ni kugane ari to môshitamaere mikokoro 0 akirametamai ametsuchi no kami aiuzunai sumeroki no mitama tasukete tokiyoni kakarishikotoo u>a ga miyo ni arawashite areba osu kuni wa sakaemu mono to kamu nagara omohoshimeshite mononofu no yaso tomo no 00 matsuroe no muke no manimani oihito mo omina warawa mo shi ga negau kokoro darai ni nadetamai osametamaeba

For generation upon generation The emperors have ruled this land Which stretches out in four directions, Descendants of the ancestral gods Sent down from heaven To govern this abundant reed plain land Reign upon reign. The land is so vast and rich The treasures offered to the throne Are too numerous to count. Yet when our lord called his people To begin his good work, He was anxious over where He would find sufficient gold. Then in Michinoku in the cock-crowing East Gold was found in Oda's mountains. At the news he brightened with relief, And in his godlike majesty he thought: "The gods of heaven and earth approve; The spirits of past emperors protect us. Since such things as were in ancient times Occur in my reign too, This land I rule will prosper." He exhorts men of the eighty serving clans To faithful service, Benevolently rewards the aged, The women, and the young, Fulfills their every want. 184

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koko o shi mo aya ni totomi ureshikeku iyoyo omoite ótomo no tó tsu kamu aya no sono na oba dkumenushi to oimochite tsukaeshi tsukasa umi yukaba mi tsuku kabane yama yukaba kusa musu kabane okimi no he ni koso shiname kaerimi wa seji to kotodate masu rao no kryoki sono na o inishie yo ima no otsutsu ni nagasaeru aya no kodomo so ótomo to saeki no uji wa hito no oya no tatsuru kotodate hito no ko wa oya no na tatazu okimi ni matsurou mono to iitsugeru koto no tsukasa so azusa yumi te ni torimochite tsurugi tachi koshi ni torihaki asa mamori yü mamori ni okimi no mikado no mamori wareookite hito wa araji to iya tate omoi shi masaru okimi no mikoto no saki no kikeba totomi

I am moved to reverence, I feel ever greater joy. The distant ancestors of the Otomo clan Were known as masters of the royal Kume guard. They pledged: "If we go by sea Water will cover our corpses, If through the mountains Grass will grow from our bones. We will die beside our lord With never a look back." We are the Otomo and Saeki, Sons of those who bore The unsullied warrior name, The name passed on from ancient times Down to the present. Our fathers pledged: "Our sons shall uphold the ancestral name By giving service to His Majesty," So the trust was handed down. We will take up our catalpa bows, Gird on our mighty swords. As sentries of the morning, As keepers of the night, We alone shall guard the royal gate. Ever more firm grows my resolve. As reverently I hear The august royal decree.

18:4095

Masurao no kokoro omohoyu dkimi no mikoto no saki o kikeba totomi

My warrior soul is stirred— Reverently I hear The august royal decree.

18:4096

Ótomo no to tsu kamu oya no okutsuki wa shiruku shime tate hito no shirubeku

Mark off the ancestral grave Of those long-ago Otomos, So all will know of it.

185

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK 18:4097 Sumeroki no miyo sakaemu to azuma naru michinoku yama rti kugane hana saku

Glorious will be his reign— For golden flowers bloom On Michinoku's mountains in the Eastland.

Full appreciation of this poem is aided by some knowledge of its context, an awareness of what the poet's contemporaries would immediately have understood. In the imperial edict in question, Shomu celebrated the discovery of gold with particular enthusiasm because it came precisely when needed to complete the gilding of his new fifty-three-foot statue of Roshana Buddha in its huge wooden hall at Todaiji in Nara. This extravagant project—like other of Shomu's massive building programs—did not inspire universal enthusiasm among the courtiers. Among the most vocal of its opponents was Yakamochi's old friend, Great Minister Tachibana Moroe's son Naramaro, who claimed that the opposing faction was evil to make the people suffer by building Todaiji. 19 Interestingly, Naramaro appears in a Buddhist anecdote in the early ninth-century Nihott Rydiki as a thoroughly evil and antiBuddhist figure, who used a mock-up of a monk for target practice, aiming at its eyes. 20 Naramaro's opposition was probably aimed as much at the rival faction promoting Buddhism and Tddaiji to its own advantage as it was at the religion itself, and in that he had much support among his father's followers.21 Emperor Shomu, however, took his project very seriously, for the pious construction was to bring sorely needed prosperity to the country. As the statue neared completion, he worried that the absence of popular support and lack of gold for the gilding might mean that the work would not be completed in his lifetime. He hoped, in that case, to be able to return in his next reincarnation to finish the project. 22 Fortuitously, gold was just then discovered in Japan's northernmost province. The timely discovery was taken not merely as a good omen, but as a miracle, a sign from the gods that they approved of the project and of the emperor's benevolent 19. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyd Hoji 1/7/4. 20. NKBTNihon rydiki, pp. 290-291; Nakamura, Miraculous Stories, pp. 212-213. 21. Kitayama's treatment of this period particularly stresses the conflict over the construction of Todaiji that divided the courtiers. See his Man'yd no jidai, pp. 154-196. 22. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo Hóji 2/8/9. 186

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rule. Shomu used the opportunity of this convenient heavenly vote of confidence to try to reinstill loyalty among the courtiers and reunite them behind the throne. He changed the era name from Tempyo to Tempyo Shoho ("excellent treasure") in honor of the discovery, and after formally presenting his thanks before the huge image, issued a proclamation pointing out what a wonderful sign the discovery was and conferring favors on one and all in a lavish elaboration of standard practice on the appearance of a good omen. Yakamochi draws heavily on this edict in his poem, so it is worth quoting at some length: Princes, minister, officials, and all people of the realm, hear the word of the emperor who rules all Yamato as an incarnate deity. All harken to the proclamation of the lord whose acts are godlike in the land under heaven he blesses with his rule, from the lofty royal throne, as heavenly successor to reign upon reign of emperors in unbroken line, from that first sovereign who descended from the high plain of heaven, down to the present. Now in our reign as emperor, successor to those benevolent ancestral rulers, we were extremely worried and were feeling exceedingly inadequate, when we learned that gold had been discovered in the Oda district of Michinoku province in the eastern reaches of this land we rule. We had heard that of all the various laws the great word of the Buddha was the best for protecting a nation. Thus we enshrined the Sutra of the Sovereign Kings of the Golden Light in all the provinces of this land under heaven, and, in order to make a statue of Roshana Buddha, we prayed to the gods of heaven and the deities of earth and did obeisance to the ancient emperors whose names are spoken with awe. We guided the people in order that evil might cease and good come about, that danger might end and peace be everywhere. But everyone doubted that our goals could be accomplished, and we were worried that there might not be sufficient gold, when we were granted a sign of the awesome sacred word of the three treasures, given gracious approval by the gods of heaven and the gods of earth, given indication of the loving care of the spirits of the ancestral emperors. Joyfully we receive it; reverently we receive it. Not knowing whether to go forward or back, night and day we reflect in humble awe. To think that the same thing that happened in the age of the emperors of old who ruled the land with wisdom and with kindness, has occurred again in our own inept and unworthy reign fills us with humble awe. Do we receive this great and precious sign by ourselves? No, we feel we must receive it together with all people under heaven and make them rejoice as well. We will reward the people and we will change the era name. 187

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We will grant rice lands to all the gods, beginning with those of the great shrines, and will give gifts to all priests. We will permit newly opened fields to all temples, and will honor and reward all monks and nuns, from the abbots on down. All new temples that desire to become public temples, we will allow to do so. We will reward several of the guardians of the imperial tombs. Further, we will mark off the graves of those outstanding ministers who served for reign upon reign protecting the nation under heaven, so that they will be honored with the heavens and earth and not defiled. . . . Furthermore, the Otomo-Saeki Sukune, as is always said, are those who serve as guards of the imperial court, without ever a look back. We hear that their ancestors passed down the pledge: "If we go by sea, water will cover our corpses. If we go by the mountains, grass will grow from our corpses. We will die beside our lord. We will not die quietly." From the reigns of ancient emperors down to our own, they have served as what we think of as our own troops. Therefore the sons must have the will to make their fathers' feeling their own. To encourage them to preserve this feeling and serve with pure, bright hearts, we will reward several of them, both men and women. Moreover, we will reward the children of those of fifth rank and above. Those of sixth rank and below we will promote one level. Those who worked on Todaiji will advance two levels. For those of senior sixth rank, upper grade, we will reward one of their offspring. Also, to those of fifth rank and above and to the imperial attendants and various officials who are members of the imperial family, aged thirteen and above, we will give gifts. We will reward old people. We will give charity to the poor. We will grant tax exemptions to those who show filial piety and will give them land. We will pardon criminals. We will reward pregnant women. We will reward the learned. We will reward the person who discovered the gold, and the Michinoku provincial officials, district officials, and farmers. We will cherish and bless all people under heaven. 23

Some thirty people were then individually mentioned for promotions, among them Ô t o m o Yakamochi, w h o w a s raised from junior fifth, lower grade, to junior fifth, u p p e r grade. Eight other members of the Ô t o m o clan or its branch, the Saeki, and the disapproving Tachibana N a r a m a r o were also specifically promoted. Perhaps inspired by the great o m e n , in a matter of weeks Emperor Shômu abdicated his throne to devote himself to Buddhism. Succeeding to the throne w a s his daughter, the Fujiwara candidate w h o had rivaled Yakamochi's Prince Asaka. 188

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Yakamochi's poem clearly draws heavily upon this edict, summarizing the first part and then switching rather suddenly to the old Otomo song. The presentation of the discovery of gold from the viewpoint of the emperor is nicely done—Shomu seems quite human as he is first anxious, then relieved and quite cheerfully proud of the omen. And the envoys are perfectly appropriate, especially the last one with its image of the golden flowers. But most interesting of all is the uniquely individual attitude expressed. One's personal response to an imperial edict is a most unusual new topic for a Man'yoshu poem, and Yakamochi's response is specific and distinctive. In the opening summary of the events referred to in the edict, he takes little interest in the Buddhist aspects of the great event, the construction of the great Buddha and the Buddhist blessing of the country that were so important to Shomu. Yakamochi refers to the Todaiji project with remarkable vagueness as simply "his good work"—more literally, "a good thing" (yoki koto). Even when he quotes the emperor on the omen, only the blessing of the Shinto gods of heaven and earth and the spirits of the emperors of the past are mentioned—the 23.

Shoku Nihongi,

Tempyo 21 (Tempyo Shoho l)/4/4, 14.

189

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Buddhist three treasures (the Buddha, the law, and the priesthood) which Shomu himself so emphasized, are conspicuously absent. Indeed, the wondrous significance of the discovery is stated only by the emperor in Yakamochi's poem, not by the poet-narrator. Instead much is made in the opening section of how plentiful treasure always is in the rich land. If, on reading the first half of the poem, we remain less than entirely convinced of the greatness of the miracle of discovery of gold for Shomu's great statue, that may be precisely what Yakamochi intended. Perhaps like his friend Naramaro, Yakamochi was not enthused by the project. The emperor's singling out of the Otomos in his edict, pointedly reminding them of their great family tradition, admonishing the sons to serve with continuing loyalty, and rewarding a few of them as further encouragement, suggests that he may have thought that members of the clan were in particular need of exhortation to continued faithful service. The inclusion of such a high proportion of Otomo-Saeki clan members among those singled out for promotion on the day of the edict was probably also meant to encourage their support. Shomu's concern was not misplaced. Many of the Otomo and Saeki probably retained military appointments traditional to the clan, which made their loyalty of particular concern. But, more importantly, those who had been associated with Prince Asaka were not enthusiastic supporters of Shomu's daughter, the Fujiwara princess who would soon succeed him as Empress Koken. And, indeed, when the disgruntled Naramaro did finally attempt his long-planned coup against Koken several years later, the Otomo and Saeki were massively involved. Yakamochi's emphasis in his poem is clearly in pledging the loyalty requested of him, in a situation where his group's support is a matter of real concern. The edict's appeal to the noble Otomo tradition doubtless touches a soft spot of Yakamochi's, and he elaborates on it with considerable energy in the second half of his poem. In fact, we are left with the distinct impression that Yakamochi resolves to pledge continued loyalty not because of the omen of the gold, or because the emperor's virtue has the approval of the gods, but because his family obligation as an Otomo and a masurao is to do so. While on a suitably public and choka-like topic, once again the poem is an exceedingly individual statement. If some of Yakamochi's distinctively personal choka have clear precedents in earlier literature—whether in the shape of careful use of the structured pattern of traditional elegy, loose references to such various sources as Okura's verse or Shinto prayers, or choice 190

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of appropriately public topics—others are radically original. In these remarkably individualistic verses, he finds his simple, personal, everyday concerns worthy material for poetry, a thoroughly new and extremely appealing accomplishment. He writes, for example, of a minor Etchu official's affair with a wandering dancing girl who entertained the men in the provincial capital. Okura, it is true, had written a poem admonishing one negligent in his filial duties (5:800-801), but that work is a generalized exhortation to moral behavior and bears little resemblance to Yakamochi's vivid words to his scribe: In the Seven Grounds for Divorce, the law says: If the wife commits one of these offenses she may be immediately divorced, but he who lightly abandons his wife when she has not committed such an offense shall serve a year and a half of forced labor. The Three Cases Prohibiting Divorce say: Even if the wife is guilty under the Seven Grounds, she cannot be divorced. Those who disobey will receive 100 lashes. Divorce in these cases will be permitted only for adultery and disease. The Bigamy Law says: He who has a wife and takes another will serve a year of forced labor. The second wife shall receive 100 lashes and be separated from him. The Imperial Edict says: Compassion will be granted the righteous husband and faithful wife. It is my humble opinion that the above several articles are the basis for the establishment of the law, the source for fostering the Way. A couple's feelings should be as one, their property undivided. How could you abandon the old and love the new? Therefore I have composed some lines of poetry to point out your error in casting aside your wife: 18:4106 Önamuchi sukunabikona no From the ancient reign kamiyo yori iitsugikeraku Of the gods Onamuchi and chichi haha 0 mireba tötoku Sukunabikona, me ko mireba kanashiku The saying has come down megushi That the rule of this world u tsusemi no yo no kotowari to Is to revere one's parents, kaku sama ni iikeru mono 0 To love one's wife and children. yo no hito no tatsuru kotodate Such is the old saying, chisanohana sakeru sakari ni But the rumor now about you hashikiyoshi sono tsuma no ko Differs sharply. When the snowbells were in bloom to asa yoi ni emimi emazu mo You were glum and never smiled, uchi nageki katarikemaku wa But said to your dear wife, tokoshie ni kaku shi mo arame It will not always be like this. The gods will bless us and we will ame tsuchi no kami koto yosete have 191

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haru harta no sakari mo aramu to matashikemu toki no sakari so hanare ite nagekasu imo ga itsu shi ka mo tsukai no komu to matasuramu kokoro sabushiku minami fuki yukike masarite imizugawa nagaru minawa no yorube nami saburu sono ko ni himo no o no itsugari aite niodori no futan narabi i nago no umi no oki ofukamete sadowaseru kimi ga kokoro no sube no sube nasa

18:4107 Aoniyoshi nara ni aru imo ga takataka ni matsuramu kokoro shika ni wa araji ka

Our own full-blooming springs." The rich season you awaited is now come. The wife you left behind must be lonely, Waiting and sighing as she wonders When a messenger will come, But you are bound by the sash Of a dancing girl who wanders Homeless as the foam drifting by on the Imizu When the south wind blows And the water rises with the melting snow. By her side, as a grebe with its mate, You plunge into depths of folly Deep as the open sea off Nago— What's to be done with you? Left in Nara, splendid in red and green, Your wife will be as if on tiptoe, Won't she?— Anxiously awaiting word from you.

18:4108 Satobito no miru me hazukashi saburu ko ni sadowasu kimiga miyade shiriburi

How shameful To be seen by the villagers On your way to the great hall, Lost in love for that Saburu girl.

18:4109 Kurenaiwa utsurou mono so tsuruwami no narenishikinu ni nao shikameyamo

Scarlet will fade, But will the well-worn cloth Dyed acorn brown?

A poem composed when the wife came without waiting for her husband's messenger: 18:4110 Saburu koga A post-horse without bells itsukishi tono ni Comes to the villa suzukakenu Where the dancing girl enshrines him. hayuma kudareri The village jangles. sato mo todoro ni 192

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The seven grounds for divorce were childlessness, adultery, disobedience to the husband's parents, loquacity, theft, jealousy, and disease. The three cases prohibiting divorce were (1) when the wife had observed three years of mourning for the husband's parents, (2) when the husband had married when he was of low rank and then risen to high rank, and (3) when the wife was without near relatives. The standards of these laws and of Yakamochi's poem are somewhat puzzling, since polygamy was common practice in early Japan. Perhaps one could have only one official wife. Provincial officials were supposed to behave in an exemplary manner. The government decidedly frowned upon excessively close ties of any kind with the locals in the provinces, and serious relationships with disrespectable itinerant entertainers were definitely unacceptable. An imperial edict of 744 had, in fact, complained that many of the provincial officials had local concubines and specifically forbade the practice. Further, the scribe appears to have married when he was of low rank and now has advanced to a respectable position, his "rich season," thus violating the second of the three cases prohibiting divorce. The problem, nonetheless, seems more one of human relationships than of law. If the scribe's wife really came by herself to Etchu, as the final tanka describes, it would indeed have caused a stir. Bells were official tokens allotted sparingly to officials traveling on government business, allowing them to get fresh horses and food and lodging at regularly spaced government post stations. Travel was carefully controlled by the government, and amenities were few outside of the official post-station system. An independent journey of some ten days by the wife of a minor official, without the benefit of the government approval the bells signified, would have been a remarkable undertaking. More personal are Yakamochi's reflections on his own favorite diversions of hunting and fishing. He writes, for example, of his enjoyment of hawking: 19:4154

Ashihiki no yama saka koete yuki kawaru toshi no 0 nagaku shinazakaru koshi ni shi sumeba dkimi no shikimasu kuni wa mxydko 0 mo koko o mo oyaji to kokoro ni wa omou mono kara katarisake misakuru hitóme

I have crossed foot-trailing mountains And for many changing years Lived in Koshi far across the hills. I know that whether here or in the capital My great lord's rule is one, Yet still I am often saddened By how few here are the friends 193

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tomoshimi to omoi shi shigeshi With whom I can visit and converse soko yue ni kokoro nagu ya to For some diversion. akizukeba hagi saki niou So thinking perhaps to lift my spirits, iwase no ni uma dakiyukite I spur my horse to the moors of Iwase ochi kochi ni tori fumitate In autumn when the clover blooms full shiranuri no kosuzu mo yura bright, ni Flush out birds across the fields, awase yari furisakemitsutsu And loose my hawk, ikidoru kokoro no uchi o Silvered bells tinkling. omoinobe ureshibi nagara I rejoice to watch him soar, makurazuku tsumaya no uchi My constricted soul set free. ni I've fixed a bird-stand in my house for tokurayui suetesowagakau him— mashira fu no taka My great white spotted hawk. 19:4155

Yakata 0 no mashiro no taka 0 yado ni sue kaki node mitsutsu kmvaku shi yoshi mo

I keep my pure white arrow tail In my house Where I can stroke him— What a pleasure to keep a hawk.

If Yakamochi sounds a bit defensive about his enthusiasm for hawking, as he carefully explains his need for diversion in Etchu, it is perhaps because the old sport was becoming slightly suspect with the growing influence of Buddhism. In keeping with the Buddhist proscription of killing living beings, imperial edicts repeatedly banned hunting and ordered all hawks set free. 24 Thus the governor was breaking the imperial law he was supposed to administer, though it is clear from the regular repetition of the order that the sport's popularity persisted. The poet does, indeed, seem to keep the bird in his house— tsumaya in the choka and yado in the envoy. Tsumaya ("wife house") originally referred to a building built for a bride to protect the main house from the ritual pollution of sex, menstruation, and childbirth. Various scholars think Yakamochi's use means anything from "shed" to "bedroom," but since the main use of a tsumaya was sleeping with one's wife, it seems to indicate a part of the house usually used by people. The yado of the envoy usually means "house," or sometimes "entry way." Yakamochi, of course, by no means completely ignores the Man'yd tradition in this poem. The language of the opening is traditional. Also included in the poem is a slightly ironic allusion to a 24. Especially in 722, 729, and 745. See Takeda, Man'yoshu zenchushaku, 11:495,

and Oyama, Otomo Yakamochi no kenkyu, p. 247. 194

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poem of Tabito's from his provincial service in Dazaifu. When asked if he longed for home, Yakamochi's father patriotically replied: 5:956 Yasumishishi In this land wa go okimi ni Where my great lord's rule osu kuni wa Extends to every corner, yamato mo koko mo Here and Yamato oyaji to so omou Are as one to me. Even the effective association of his soaring hawk and the release of his constricted soul in Yakamochi's poem may stem from the traditional association of the souls of the dead with birds flying off to heaven, as in the Man'yd elegies. But the various conventional elements are applied to a radically new topic, and are integrated into a unique and convincingly personal expression. Similarly, Yakamochi wrote of his enjoyment of cormorant fishing: 19:4156 Aratama no toshiyukikawari haru sareba hana nomi niou ashihiki no yama shita toyomi ochi tagichi nagaru sakita no kaxva no se ni ayu ko sabashiru shimo tsu tori ukai tomonae kagari sash i nazusai yukeba wagimoko ga katami gatera to kurenai no yashio ni somete okosetaru koromo no suso mo torite nurenu

194157 Kurenai no koromo niowashi sakitagawa tayuru koto naku ware kaeri mimu 19:4158 Toshinoha ni ayu shi hashiraba sakitagawa u yatsu kazukete kawase tazunemu

When the rough jewel year renews And spring comes round, Young trout swim the shallows Of the River Sakita That thunders down the mountains Bright with flowers. With the keepers of the cormorants I light a torch and wade into the water. The hem of my robe, Deep red, eight times dyed, Sent by my wife that I should not forget her, Is wet clear through. Constant as the River Sakita That dyes my red robe deeper still, I will return.

If the trout run every year I will send cormorants into the River Sakita, Searching the shallows.

195

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Cormorant fishing had also been repeatedly banned, most recently just a f e w years before this poem, but w a s never attacked with quite the same vigor as hunting. Particularly effective here, and also suggestive of the Mati'yo nobility's working k n o w l e d g e of the production of their food and clothing, is Yakamochi's use of the d y e d robe to evoke his w i f e ' s love. Red w a s a troublesome color to get w i t h the available vegetable dyes, and a dark tone necessitated many dippings. T h u s Oiratsume has gone to great trouble to make him this d e e p red robe, indicating her considerable love for him. The river water that w e t s the robe makes it look darker still, a s the first envoy explicitly states, giving Yakamochi further reason to feel kindly towards the river. Another of Yakamochi's poems on h a w k i n g is a m o n g his best k n o w n choka. Its treatment of the loss of his favorite hawk is an altogether remarkably n e w and individualistic subject for a Mati'yo poem: A poem composed on longing for his escaped hawk and rejoicing at seeing it in a dream:

17:4011 Ókimi no td no mikado so miyukifuru koshi to na ni oeru amazakaru hiña ni shi areba yama takami kawa tdshiroshi no o hiromi kusa koso shigeki ayu hashiru natsu no sakari to shima tsu tori ukai ga tomo wa yuku kawa no kiyoki se goto n i kagari sashi nazusai noboru tsuyu shimo no aki ni itareba no mo sawa ni tori sudakeri to masurao no tomo izanaite taka wa sh i mo amata aredomo yakata o no aga dkuro ni shiranuri no suzu toritsukete asa kari ni io tsu tori tate yü kari ni chi tori fumitate ou goto ni yurusukoto naku tábanare mo ochi mo kayasuki kore o okite mata wa arigatashi sa naraberu taka wa nakemu to kokoro ni wa omoihokorite emaitsutsu wataru aida ni

Here in Koshi of the falling snows, The emperor's distant outpost In the land far as the heavens, The mountains are high, The rivers grand; The plains are vast, The grasses lush. In full summer when the sweet smelt run, Men with cormorants, birds of the islands, Light their lanterns And wade into each clear pool Of the flowing streams. In frosty autumn When birds flock in the fields, I go out with my stout-hearted friends. Though there are many hawks, I tie silvered bells To my arrow-tailed Big Black. In the morning hunt We raise five hundred birds, In the evening hunt

196

THE ETCHU Y E A R S taburetaru shiko tsu okina no koto datti mo ware ni wa tsugezu tonogumori ame no funi hi o togati su to na nomi onorite mishima no o sogai ni mitsutsu fu tagam i no yama tobikoete kutnogakuri kakeri iniki to kaeri kite shiwabure tsugure oku yoshi no soko ni nakereba iusubeno tadokioshirani kokoroniwa hi sae moetsutsu omoi koi ikizuki amari kedashiku mo au koto ari ya to ashihiki no ote mo kono mo ni temami hari moribe o suete eh ihayabu ru kam i no yash irò ni teru kagami shitsu ni torisoe koinomite a ga matsu toki ni otomera ga ime ni tsuguraku na ga kouru sono ho tsu taka wa matsudae no hama yukigu rash i tsunashi toru himi no e sugite tako no shima tobi tamotdri ashigamo no sudaku fumé ni ototsu hi mo kind mo aritsu chikaku araba imafutsuka dami tdku araba nanuka no ochi wa sugime yamo kinam u wa ga seko nemokoroni nakoisoyotoso ima ni tsugetsuru

Flush out a thousand. None he chases get away; Lightly he leaves my hand, A n d lightly he returns. Never could I find another like him; No other hawk could ever be his match. While I w a s smiling smugly to myself With thoughts like these, That damn dotard, without a word to me, Mumbled vaguely he w a s going hawking. The day w a s clouded over, drizzly. "I saw him fly off Across the plains of Mishima, O v e r Twin Peak Mountain, A n d disappear into the clouds," The old man coughed and said w h e n he returned. There was no w a y to bring the great hawk back, I w a s at a loss for words But flamed within, Sighed uncontrollably in yearning. Hoping against hope To somehow get him back, I stretched bird-netting Through the foot-trailing hills A n d posted watchmen. I offered a shining mirror A n d shitsu cloth with prayers, To the shrine of the stone-crushing gods, A n d then a maiden came to tell me in a dream: ' T h e fine hawk that y o u long for Flew all day along the beach of Matsudae, Passed Himi bay where they catch tsunashi fish, A n d flew around the isle of Tako. Yesterday and the day before He spent in Furue,

197

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK Where reed ducks flock. At earliest two days from now, At most not more than seven, He will come back, my friend, Be not so sore distressed," She told me in my dream. 17:4012 Yakata 0 no taka 0 te ni sue mishima no ni karanu hi maneku tsuki so henikeru 17:4013 Futagami no ote mo kono mo ni amisashite a ga matsu taka 0 ime ni tsugetsu mo 17:4014 Matsugaeri shii ni te are ka mo sa yamada no ojiga sono hi ni motome awazukemu 17:4015 Kokoro ni wa yuruu koto naku suka no yama sukanaku nomiya koi watarinamu

Many are the days Since last I hunted on the plains of Mishima, My arrow-tailed hawk on my arm— A month has passed without him. My hawk's return was told me in a dream, The hawk I sought Setting nets on Twin Peak Mountain.

Is he growing dim with age? Old man Yamada Couldn't find my hawk that day.

My gloom is not assuaged— Like Weary Mountain, I pass weary days of longing.

In Furue village in the Imizu district I obtained a black hawk. He was handsome, and fierce beyond compare in catching pheasants. His keeper, Yamada Fuhito Kimimaro, gave no thought to the proper time for hawking, paid no attention to the season for hunting in the fields. The bird soared up on his wind-beating wings and disappeared into the clouds. We tried to lure him back with a dead mouse for bait, but it was useless. I stretched nets, hoping for the impossible, and offered cloth to the gods, praying for an end to my anxiety. A maiden then appeared to me in a dream and said: "Don't distress yourself with needless worry. Your escaped hawk will be caught before long." I awoke with a start and in a moment was ecstatic. Thereupon I composed this poem to dispel 198

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YEARS

my resentment and express how I had been moved to faith. Governor Otomo Sukune Yakamochi. 3 November [747].25 This radically individualistic poem, unlike anything else before it, was possible for its author and for its audience in the conventional world of Man'yd poetry at least partly because of the established tradition of the elegy, which provided a basic general framework and much of the language. The poem follows the general pattern of the elegy. It opens with a general overture on the land, then describes the pleasures Yakamochi found in his bird in the standard parallel phrases—in spring, in autumn, in the morning, in the evening. The bird departs much like the souls of the d e a d — w h o often fly off as birds—going to the nearby sacred fields and mountains and then into the clouds. Yakamochi finds himself not knowing what to do or say, goes off to seek the lost one in the hills, and makes prayers and offerings for its return. But, unlike the conventional elegy, where such actions are quite hopeless, here the gods send reply that his hawk will soon be found. Yakamochi once again puts the old elements to new and thoroughly unconventional uses. Not only are the everyday matters 25. This poem has a remarkable number of unusual expressions and obscure words, some of which are hawking terms and others perhaps dialect or colloquialisms. The note following the poem calls the bird ao, "blue," which may mean simply black, though the tenth-century dictionary Wamyd ruijusho says a " b l u e " h a w k is a three-year-old male. W h e n the servant takes the bird he says togari su to I na norni o norite, literally, " g o i n g hawking, telling only the name." This seems to mean something like " o n l y saying he w a s going h a w k i n g and not giving any details," though some think it may mean that the old man announces his o w n name. Dami of futsuka dami, " t w o d a y s from n o w , " appears from context to mean " j u s t " or "about," but there are no other examples of its use. Matsugaeri I shii nite are ka mo, in the third envoy, freely rendered here as "Is he g r o w i n g dim with age?" is most puzzling of all. It, too, m a y be hawking jargon. O n e school takes matsugaeri as "pine changing," analogous to the hawking terms yadogaeri, " h o u s e changing," meaning a hawk molting in his bird house, and yamagaeri, "mountain changing," molting in the mountains. Matsugaeri would then mean molting in the pines. In the poem it would serve as a pillow w o r d , relation u n k n o w n , to shii, w h i c h perhaps means " d i m " or " s t u p i d " since meshii ("eye"-shii) m e a n s " b l i n d " and mimishii ("eaf'-shu) means "deaf." Hence the line would mean "Is it because he w a s pine-molting stupid?" (NKBT Man'yoshu; Omodaka, Man'yoshu chushaku). Others propose matsugaeri is instead matsu; kaeri, " o n e waits; it returns," perhaps an old proverb or a hunter's saying meaning that w h e n one waits for a h a w k it will return. Shii is interpreted as "something that doesn't w o r k " or " a lie"; hence, the line becomes "Is it because the saying 'if y o u wait, he'll return' has little truth?" (Kubota, Man'yoshu hydshaku; Takeda, Man'yoshu zenchushaku). 199

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of the escape of a hawk and the efforts to retrieve it found suitable material for poetry, but the focus is on Yakamochi's own personal reactions—his anger at his servant, his desperation, and, finally, the hope restored by his auspicious dream. The incident is presented with convincing reality, through skillful although spare selection of details—Big Black so light at leaving the hand; the poet-speaker smugly proud of his irreplaceable bird; the old servant coughing nervously as he returns and simply announcing that the hawk is gone; the divine maiden reporting the bird's route along the Etchu coast day by day. The narrator of the poem speaks with a distinctly individual voice when he expresses his anger at the old man: "that damn dotard" (taburetaru I shiko tsu okina), "Is he growing dim with age?" (matsugaeri I shii ni te are ka mo), and even views his early pride in the hawk with some ironic detachment: "as I was smiling smugly to myself " (kokoro ni wa / omoihokorite I emaitsutsu I wataru aida ni). In these highly original choka and the sensitively evocative tanka composed on the isolated north coast, Yakamochi's studies of the poetry of the past enabled him to find ways of expressing his concern with his own inner life. His thoroughly personal and individualistic expression of his reaction to everyday events points the way to Japanese poetry's future greatness, and moves us with its very human truth.

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FIVE

The Final Years: Alienation and Silence

J

N the quiet isolation of Etchû, Yakamochi had achieved a new type of expression of individual feeling in his poetry; upon his return to the social world of the capital, his poems began to be increasingly concerned with society and even politics. At their best, these poems attain a mature depth and breadth of vision in their treatment of the individual in relation to his society that make them among Yakamochi's supreme accomplishments. Ultimately, however, the press of politics became too strong, and Yakamochi's own conflict with his society too severe for resolution within the old native verse tradition. The age-old tradition based on communal song could only be stretched so far, and Yakamochi had already taken it further than anyone else—already his contemporaries were composing their serious poetry in Chinese, the medium of expression that predominated in Japan for the next hundred years. There was no ready means to express such conflicts and feelings in the Japanese tradition, and Yakamochi's own personal defeats left him without the heart to try to break any more new trails. In August 751, after some five years service in Etchu, Yakamochi was appointed minor counselor (shônagon), a middle-level post in the Great Council of State under the great ministers. The three minor counselors kept the official seals and dispatched government communications to the provinces, for which they kept charge of post-horse bell tokens, passes, passports, and the like. They also served concurrently as chamberlains to the emperor. 201

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Despite the appeal of returning home to Nara, Yakamochi had regrets at leaving his comfortable quiet life and his friends in Etchu, all so conducive to his poetry. His close friend Kume Hironori was off delivering the annual tax records to the capital when Yakamochi learned of his own transfer, and had yet to return by the time the governor had to depart himself. The best Yakamochi could do was leave a note to say goodbye, accompanied by a pair of poems recalling their years of companionship: Already I have filled my six-year term; suddenly 1 face transfer to a new position. Sadness at parting wells up within me. How could I ever dry the sleeves that wipe away my tears? Therefore I have composed two poems of lamentation, andwith them leave behind my feelings—I will not forget you. 19:4248

Aratama no tosh i no 0 nagaku aimiteshi sono kokorobiki wasuraemeya mo

19:4249

Iwase no ni aki hagi shinogi uma namete hatsu togari dani sezu ya wakaremu

Could I forget this friendship Bom of being with you Through these long renewing years?

Must I leave before The first hunt of the season?— When we would plunge through the bush clover On Iwase's moors, Our horses side by side.

Naturally, the other Etchu officials staged a series of farewell banquets for their governor, who presented the formal farewell poems the occasion required: Yakamochi was to leaveforthe capital on 30 August with the great register. Accordingly, on the twenty-ninth a farewell banquet prepared by the official cook was arranged at the residence of the lieutenant governor Kura Imiki Nawamaro. A poem composed by Otomo Sukune Yakamochi on that occasion: 19:4250

Shinazakaru koshi ni itsu tose sumi sumite tachiwakaremaku oshikiyoikamo

How sad this evening When I must leave Koshi, Land beyond the many hills, Where I've lived for five long years.

At dawn on the thirtieth Yakamochi left for the capital. The rest of the provincial officers saw him off. The chief of Imau district prepared a farewell banquet in the grove before the gate. A poem by the great register messenger 202

THE FINAL YEARS Otomo Sukune Yakamochi on being offered the winecup then by Kura Imiki Nawamaro: 19:4251 Tamahoko no I who set out michi ni idetachi Along the jeweled-spear road yuku ware wa Will take your good records with me. kimigakototoo oite shi yukamu

En route to the capital Yakamochi stopped in Echizen to see Ikenushi, and there he also chanced to run into Hironori, who was on his way back to Etchu. The old friends drank and composed verses together with enthusiasm this one last time. Yakamochi offered to Hironori: 19:4253 Tachite ite matedo machikane idetekoshi kimi ni koko ni ai kazashitsuru hagi

I stood up, sat back down, Tried to wait but couldn't and set out— Now I meet you here And clover blossoms deck our hair. 1

At the very thought of returning to the society of the capital, Yakamochi began to write poems concerned not with his inner life, but with court politics, though he still continued to use traditional models for his own new and individual ends. He prepared a poem in advance to offer to Great Minister Tachibana Moroe, wishing him not just the conventional long life, but continued imperial favor, a matter of more immediate concern: 19:4256 lnishie ni kimi ga miyo hete tsukaekeri wagadnushiwa nana yo mosane

In days gone by, a minister, they say, Once served three generations— May you, my lord, serve seven.

On his journey back to Nara, Yakamochi prudently prepared poems to offer in praise of the new empress Koken, Shomu's daughter by a Fujiwara woman. The old rival of Yakamochi's Prince Asaka, Koken was now the focus of the Fujiwara faction's growing power, 1. I follow Omodaka, Man'yoshu chushaku, and Takeda, Man'yoshu zenchushaku, in taking Yakamochi instead of Hironori as the subject of the opening string of verbs, as seems to make by far the most sense, since the modifying shi ending can also be an emphatic form (e.g., Man'yoshu 8:1506).

203

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much to the alarm of the Tachibana-Otomo group. Yakamochi used a conventional sort of poem offering praises to the throne to express his hope that the empress would look with favor on all the flowers—that is, on all the factions: A poem to offer in reply to the imperial decree, composed ahead of time when he was inspired en route to the capital: 19:4254

Akizushima yamato no kuni 0 amakumo ni iwafune ukabe tomo ni he ni makai shiji nuki ikogitsutsu kunimi shi seshite amorimashi haraikotomuke ch iyo kasane iya tsugi tsugi n i shirashikeru ama no hitsugi to kamu nagara wa go dkimi no ame no shita osametamaeba mononofu no yaso tomo no 00 nadetamai totonoetamai osu kuni no yomo no hito 0 mo abusawazu megumitamaeba inishieyu nakarishi shirushi tabi maneku moshitamainu ta udakite koto naki miyo to ame tsuchi hi tsuki to tomo ni yorozu yo ni shirushi tsugamu so yasumishishi wa go dkimi akinohana shiga iroiro ni meshitamai akirametamai sakamizuki sakayuru kyo no aya ni totosa

19:4255 Aki no toki hana kusa ni ari to irogotoni meshi akiramuru kyo no totosa

A thousand generations have gone by Since first the gods Set sail over the heavenly clouds In a stone boat with myriad True oars at bow and stern, Rowed out to look upon the land, And descended from the heavens To pacify the dragonfly island of Yamato. Now our sovereign rules the underheaven. Godlike successor to a long line of gods. With mercy she guides officials Of the myriad serving clans, Gives blessing to all people In the four directions of the realm. Hence omens not seen since ancient times appear, Foretelling ten thousand generations Of arm-folded peaceful rule, Eternal as the heavens and earth, The sun and moon. Our sovereign who rules To every corner of the earth Looks on all of autumn's flowers, Takes cheer in every kind. How glorious this day When her rule is bounteous As the free-flowing wine. Many are the autumn flowers— How glorious this day When she favors every kind.

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This poem's emphasis on ten thousand generations of imperial rule and on the empress seeing and enjoying all the myriad different kinds of plants, may suggest that the work was prepared as a dedication to accompany the presentation of Yakamochi's "Collection for Ten Thousand Generations" or "Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves," or as acknowledgement of recognition he expected to receive at court for his work on the anthology.2

Once back in a post of some importance in the central government, Yakamochi found all his associates absorbed in factional power struggles and even talking of armed rebellion. The position of Moroe and his supporters had become somewhat precarious, for the new empress had surrounded herself with her own people in the reorganized and newly important Office of the Empress's Household. This department was headed by Kôken's favorite, 2. Oyama, Ôtomo Yakamochi no kenkyu, p. 54.

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Fujiwara Nakamaro, who was apparently the empress's lover as well as her chief adviser, and it had come to rival the Great Council of State headed by Great Minister Tachibana Moroe for control of the government. Moroe remained influential, but Fujiwara Nakamaro had replaced him as the real power in the country, and tensions between their factions were high, especially over the vital issue of selecting a successor to Koken. The retired emperor Shomu's health was failing, and the Tachibana faction was naturally concerned that he might die without lending his considerable support to one of their candidates for crown prince. Upon the emperor's earlier illness in 745, shortly after Prince Asaka's mysterious sudden death, Moroe's son Naramaro had tried to stir up support for a rebellion to force the selection of a crown prince acceptable to his faction. Now he was again secretly asking friends and associates if they would join a rebellion, though he had yet to find sufficient enthusiasm for his proposal.3 In the midst of this considerable tension between the two rival government factions, grand dedication ceremonies were held for the great Buddha, Shomu's symbol of national unity. Though the Man'yoshu is conspicuously—and perhaps significantly—silent about the occasion, the festivities involved the entire court for days in the spring of 752. Four hundred guards were stationed around the capital for extra security several days before the main event, and artificial flowers were collected as offerings from all the courtiers. On the culminating day of a week of ceremonies, the temple was decorated with great banners, while artificial flowers were scattered even over the ground. The emperor led a crowd of ten thousand priests and all the courtiers and officials in worship. The famous priest Bodaisena from India painted in the eyes of the statue to invest it with spirit, while the royal family and all the court held onto a long cord attached to the brush to participate in the good work. After a lecture on the Flower Wreath Sutra, priests from the major Nara temples made offerings. Then various courtiers and entertainers offered performances of music and dance before the Buddha. Twenty Otomos played the koto and sang, while twenty Saekis danced with swords. Tachibana Moroe himself played the drum with a group of other officials. Also performed was a vast assortment of various kinds of Chinese, Korean, and Southeast Asian music and dance, by hundreds of participants. 3. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo Hoji 177/4.

206

THE F I N A L Y E A R S

Of this lavish display the court history of the period says: "Never once since the teaching of the Buddha came to the east has there been a ceremony such as this." 4 The dedication of the great Buddha brought little national unity; immediately after the ceremony, Empress Koken made the situation worse by going to stay at the house of her counselor Fujiwara Nakamaro. For an emperor or empress to grant one of his or her subjects a visit was a rare honor; for the empress to make an extended stay at Nakamaro's house suggests an unprecedented— some said scandalous—relationship with her favorite adviser. 5 The tensions around him at court left Yakamochi in an uncomfortable position. The Otomo clan was firmly in the Tachibana camp, and Yakamochi's own personal ties to both Tachibana Moroe and his son Tachibana Naramaro were extremely close. His current job, too, was under Moroe on the council that served as the minister's power base, and his own professional advancement was largely dependant on the faction's maintaining its position. On the other hand, Yakamochi had ties to the opposition too—his daughter was apparently married to Fujiwara Nakamaro's son. Further, it was very clear that the future belonged to the new empress and her supporters. More importantly, however, Yakamochi firmly believed in the old-fashioned masurao virtues of patriotism, honor, and loyalty that the Otomo clan, which he now headed, had so long represented, and found the idea of armed rebellion against the divine descendant of the sun goddess unthinkable. Serving the imperial line was the Otomo family trust, and the foundation of the clan's proud tradition. It also appeared to be sound politics, for Tachibana Naramaro's planned revolt had little realistic hope of succeeding, and might accomplish nothing but the complete ruin of the Otomo clan, for which Yakamochi now felt responsible. He thus began to feel increasingly isolated and alienated not only from court society as a whole but even from his own group. The responsibilities of his job, and the tension of the political situation left Yakamochi little time or emotional energy for poetry. He was, after all, a government official first, and a poet only secondarily. Much as he had stopped writing for a while in his discouragement after Prince Asaka's death years before, he produced few poems during the years of tension when he served on Moroe's Great Council of 4. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo Shoho 4/4/9; Todaiji yoroku in Kitayama, Otomo Yakamochi, pp. 230-232; Aoki, Nara no miyako, pp. 362-365. 5. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo Shoho 4/4/9.

207

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

State. While the poems from his five years in Etchu fill three books of the Man'yoshu, one book of the anthology suffices for his poems from the next six years back in Nara. Gaps of several months to a year often occur between verses. The poems Yakamochi does compose or record in this period often have to do with politics. He finally took over as head of the Otomo clan, and began to host the family gatherings and to record some of the poems in which his juniors expressed their devotion: Poems from New Year's Day, 754, when the clan gathered at the residence of the minor counselor Otomo Sukune Yakamochi for a banquet of celebration 20:4298 Shimo no ue ni I will come year after year, arare tabashiri Steadily as the hail iyamashini Dances over the frost. are wa maikomu toshi no o nagaku The above is by the captain of the middle palace guards, left division, Otomo Sukune Chimuro. It is not clear whether the poem is an old one or a new one. 20:4300 Kasumi tatsu haru no hajime 0 kyd no goto mimu to amoeba tanoshi to so mou

What delight To meet as we do now, In the mist of early spring.

The above is by the junior secretary of the office of the capital, left division, O t o m o Sukune Ikenushi.

Yakamochi composed the poems required of him on numerous official occasions—banquets, New Year's Day, farewell ceremonies, and the like—and continually expressed his loyalty, affection, and close ties to Tachibana Moroe and his son Tachibana Naramaro: A poem composed on breaking off a willow branch at the banquet at the residence of Great Minister of the Left Tachibana on 28 March [753]: 194289 Ao yagi no I break an end of willow branch hotsue yojitori And twine it in my hair, kazuraku wa Wishing a thousand years of glory kimi ga yado ni shi To your house. chitose hoku to so 208

THE FINAL YEARS

Yakamochi even recorded a correction the great minister once offered to one of his poems at a party to send Naramaro off on a trip to audit a provincial government: Poem from the farewell banquet for the imperial investigator of Taji Province, Tachibana Naramaro Ason, at the residence of Prince Hayashi on 5 January [753): 19:4281 Shirayuki no I will long for you furishiku yama 0 Who'll cross the mountains white with koeyukamu snow, kimi 0 so motona Long desperately, with all my soul. iki no oni omou The great minister of the left told Yakamochi to change the last line to "Long desperately, using all my soul" (iki no 0 ni suru), but then he changed his mind and said to leave it as it was. 6

Yakamochi did sometimes manage to escape from the tensions of his political life. He occasionally got out of the city with his old friend Ikenushi and some others, and they diverted themselves with poems: On 13 September 753, several men each took a jar of wine and went up to the plain ofTakamato. There they composed these three poems expressing their feelings: 20:4295 Takamato no Let's loose our belts before the autumn obana fukikosu wind aki kaze ni Blowing through the pampas crowns himo tokiakena on Takamato, tada narazu tomo Even if it doesn't blow right on our skin. 7 Otomo Sukune Ikenushi 6. The point of Moroe's suggestion is not entirely clear. Yakamochi's version is the usual usage, which might be literally translated "I long for you as my thread of life." Moroe's version means essentially the same thing: "I make you my thread of life." Moroe's suru instead of omou avoids the repetition of 0 sounds and makes the line a regular seven syllables instead of eight, though some do read omou here as simply mou (NKBT Matt'yoshu; Takeda, Man'ydshu zenchushaku). 7. I follow Kubota, Man'ydshu hyoshaku, in my rendering of Ikenushi's somewhat cryptic last line, which actually merely says, "though it's not direct." The phrase is one usually used in love poems—"though we cannot meet face to face I see you in my dreams." Loosening the sash in Matt'yoshu poems is conventionally preparation for making love. Hence we should recognize Ikenushi's double 209

A WARBLER'S S O N G IN THE DUSK 20:4296 Ama kumo ni kari so naku naru takamato no hagi no shitaba wa montichi aemu kamo

Geese cry among the c l o u d s — Will the under leaves of clover O n Takamato plain Soon turn to gold? Nakatomi Kiyomaro Ason

20:4297 Ominaeshi aki hagi shinogi saoshika no tsuyu wake nakamu takamato no no so

Pushing through the maiden flowers A n d the high autumn clover, The buck cries, scattering the dew, O n the fields of Takamato. Otomo Sukune Yakamochi

Even these verses, however, are probably not entirely free of political implication. Takamato, a hill region on the southeast outskirts of the city was once the site of a favorite retreat of Emperor Shomu, and thus intimately associated with earlier and happier times. Yakamochi shortly afterward composed another series of poems on thinking of Takamato, again apparently with the days of Shomu's court in mind: 20:4315 Miyahito no sodetsuke goromo aki hagi ni nioiyoroshiki takamato no miya

Where courtiers' long-sleeved robes Shine bright among the autumn clover— The splendid Takamato palace.

20:4316 Takamato no miya no susomi no nozukasa ni ima sakeruramu ominaeshi wa mo

The maiden flowers Must be blooming now, O n the rise of land Below the Takamato palace.

20:4317 Aki no ni wa imakosoyukame mononofu no otoko omina no hana nioi mi ni

I would go now to the autumn moors To see the lovely flowers— Courtiers and waiting maids Bright blooming.

entendre—"let's undo our belts and think of our women, even though they aren't here," or even possibly a hint of homosexual feeling for Yakamochi, "let's undo our belts even though we can't express our love directly right now." 210

THE FINAL YEARS 20:4320

Masurao no yobitateshikaba saoshika no muna wake yukamu aki no hagi hara

Startled by the courtiers' cries The buck plunges Through the chest-high growth, Across the autumn fields of clover.1

At all the various gatherings Yakamochi attended, h e recorded old p o e m s his associates were n o w given to nostalgically performing, particularly p o e m s from their faction's better d a y s — s u c h as those b y the great O t o m o general a n d minister Miyuki after the Jinshin war (19:4260); by the former E m p r e s s G e n s h o and her courtiers (20:4293-4294); o n hunting in the days w h e n the capital w a s at Kuni (19:4257); or on sending O t o m o K o m a r o off as second in c o m m a n d of the e m b a s s y to C h i n a (19:4262-4263). Yakamochi also c o m p o s e d s o m e p o e m s of his o w n explicitly o n the glories of the past, such as the following chdka m o d e l e d on the old palacepraising form, but curiously titled " E x p r e s s i n g M y O w n Humble F e e l i n g s " and focusing on the splendors of a former capital: 20:4360

Sumeroki no tôki miyo ni mo oshiteru naniwa no kuni ni ame no shita shirashimeshiki to ima no yo ni taezu iitsutsu kakemaku mo aya ni kashikoshi kamu nagara wa go ôkimi no uchinabiku haru no hajime wa yachi kusa ni hana saki nioi yama mireba mi no tomoshiku kawa mireba mi no sayakeku mono goto ni sakayuru toki to meshitamai akirametamai shikimaseru naniwa no miya wa kikoshi osu yomo nokuniyori tatematsuru mitsuki no fune wa horieyori miobikitsutsu

Down to this generation It has constantly been told Of how the emperors of long ago Ruled all the underheaven From Naniwa shining afar. To speak of it is awesome beyond words. When in lithe spring Bright with eight thousand kinds of flowers, Our godlike sovereign looked upon the mountains, The view was wondrous, When he looked upon the rivers The scene was good. Delighting to see that all was prospering, He built a palace here And here resided.

8. Some commentators think instead that the deer of this last poem is being lured towards the courtiers by the sound of a hunter's flute that mimics the animal's mating cry (Takeda, Man'yoshu zenchushaku; Kubota, Man'yoshu hydshaku). 211

A W A R B L E R ' S SONG IN THE DUSK asa nagin i kaji h iki nobori yüshioni sao sash i kudari aji mura no sawaki kioite hama ni idete unahara mireba shiranami no yae oru ga ue ni ama obune harara ni ukite dmike ni tsukaematsuru to ochikochi ni izari tsurikeri sokidaku mo ogironaki kamo kokibaku mo yutakeki kamo koko mireba ubeshi kamiyo yu hajimekerashi mo

20:4361 Sakurabana ima sakari nari naniwa no umi oshiteru miya ni kikoshimesu nae 20:4362 Unahara no yutakeki mitsutsu ashigachiru naniwa ni toshi wa henubeku omohoyu

Barges bearing tribute From the four directions of the realm Are pulled through the canal; Boats row upstream in the morning calm, Pole downstream on the evening tide, Thronging to be first Like flocking waterfowl. As I look out upon the sea plain from the shore, Small boats are scattered everywhere Over the eightfold whitecapped waves, Fishing for food to offer to our lord. How wide the land, How vast the scene— Truly it is fit to have made a palace here From ages past. The cherry blossoms Are in glorious full bloom, Just like the rule from Naniwa, The palace bright as the sea.

I would spend years here In Naniwa where the reeds scatter, Looking on the vast plain of the sea.

Poems in praise of the prosperous land and the wise selection of a site for a palace were traditionally offered by court poets on pilgrimages to sacred sites or on the establishment of capitals, and usually stressed the wish that prosperous imperial rule continue far into the future. In this case, however, there is no court occasion that calls for a poem; Yakamochi drops even the pretext of preparing the verse for some future court occasion and asserts instead that it expresses his own feelings when visiting Naniwa on business. Moreover, he replaces the usual wishes for the continuation of the current imperial rule with praise for the city's past. This busy 212

THE FINAL YEARS

port town, through which came all tax goods shipped from the provinces to Nara, had a rich history. It had been the capital under the emperors Nintoku (r. 313-399) and Kotoku (r. 645-654), and very fleetingly under Shomu before the return to Nara. Nintoku had constructed the famous canal, where workmen walking along the shore path towed barges upstream. The poem's unusual depiction of the city's bustling shipping activity also suggests to some that Yakamochi is giving his political judgement on the advantages of moving the capital back to the important old port, a concern quite in keeping with the general tendency in Yakamochi's poems from these years to deal with such political matters. 9 Most interesting of Yakamochi's works from this period, however, are those which convey his own complex emotions in this difficult time, his unsettled sense of alienation and his growing awareness of the essential loneliness of the human condition. On hearing a plover cry mournfully in the distance one silent snowy day, he composed the following poem in sympathetic identification with the restless bird: 19:4288 Kawasu ni mo

yuki wa fu reresh i miya no uchi ni chidori nakurashi imu tokoro nami

Snow falls along the river shallows

too.

From here within the palace I hear the plover's c r y — No place to come to rest.

Most famous of all Yakamochi's poems are the following three masterful tanka, composed as he felt himself increasingly out of step even with his own group: Two poems composed by inspiration on 1 April [753]: 19:4290 Haru no no ni kasumi tanabiki

uraganashi kono yukage m uguisu naku mo

19:4291 Wa ga yado no isasa muratake

Mist trails Across the fields of spring

Faintly sad In the dusk A warbler sings.

The breeze rustles faintly Through the bush bamboo

9. Kubota, Man'yoshu hyoshaku. 213

A WARBLER'S S O N G IN THE DUSK

fuku kaze no oto no kasokeki konoyiibekamo

In the garden This evening. 10

A poem composed on 3 April: 19:4292

Uraura ni tereru harubi ni hibari agari kokoro kanashi mo hitori shi amoeba

In the gentle light Of the bright spring sun A lark soars off While I am heavyhearted and aching Alone.

The spring sun is slow to set; the songbirds sing true. It is hard to rid oneself of sorrow by any means but poetry. Therefore I composed this poem to express my gloom.

These subtle expressions of complex feeling are like little else in Man'yoshii poetry. Yakamochi indeed employs much that he had learned from Chinese literature in his attempt to bend the native tradition to new ends. A good deal here echoes the Six Dynasties Chinese poetry of the Yu-t'ai Hsin-yung—the specific imagery of rustling bamboo, mist trailing across the fields, and birds calling in the dusk, and the general feeling of spring sadness (although in the Chinese sources the feeling is usually associated with unhappy love affairs). Yakamochi's new sensibility cultivated through his studies of Chinese poetry, and his new awareness of himself as an individual apart from other men and out of harmony with the natural world, enable him to achieve a moving expression of loneliness and indefinable sorrow, arising from a modern understanding of the essential nature of the human condition. These poems thus foreshadow not only the sensitive subjectivity of the best of later Japanese verse, but also the broader vision of man's situation that characterizes the later masters such as Saigyo and Basho. The very conflict that led to the startlingly modern expression of these three famous poems of spring sadness soon began to overwhelm Yakamochi and make it increasingly hard for him to write at all. The few poems he did produce focused more and more on his pressing political concerns. In his last sustained period of poetic activity, he turned his attention to collecting poems from the 10. There is some disagreement over the meaning of isasa, "slight bamboo," whether a small variety of bamboo (Omodaka, Man'yoshii chushaku; Tsuchiya, Man'yoshii shichu) or a small amount of bamboo (Takeda, Man'ydshu zenchushaku; Kubota, Man'yoshii hydshaku; NKBT Man'ydshu). 214

THE FINAL YEARS

drafted frontier guards, and to writing his own verses modeled on theirs, in what might even have been an attempt to get the draft system reformed. In 754, after three years as minor counselor on the Great Council of State, Yakamochi was appointed junior assistant minister of war, the third-ranking office in the department in charge of the nation's military affairs. The head of the ministry at the time was Tachibana Naramaro; perhaps the great minister's son had asked that his old friend Yakamochi be assigned to his staff. One of the primary tasks of the department was drafting men from the eastern provinces to serve in Dazaifu, and along the Kyushu coast near that outpost, to defend Japan against invasion from the continent. The Eastlanders were chosen for this duty because of their reputation for fierceness and bravery. The Shoku Nihongi, in fact, notes that though an arrow might strike an Eastlander in the forehead, none would ever hit him in the back. One gets the impression that the Nara courtiers considered these Eastland provincials a different breed, and a somewhat uncivilized one at that. Provincial officials in each eastern province were ordered to call up a certain number of men in their area and march them to Naniwa. There, the Ministry of War took charge of the draftees, processed them, and assigned them to galleys to row across the Inland Sea to the fortifications at Dazaifu. There were supposed to be 3,000 frontier guards in all, and each was to serve for three years. One-third were to be replaced every March. However, the quota was not always filled, and replacement was apt to be irregular.11 In the draft of the spring of 755, the first troop rotation since Yakamochi had joined the war department staff, poems were collected from the departing guards. Each supervising provincial official sent verses from his contingent of guards to Yakamochi's office; Yakamochi sorted through them and included several dozen in Book XX of the Man'yoshu. He was also inspired to try a series of poems himself from the viewpoint of a frontier guard. It may have been customary for the Ministry of War to collect poems from the departing frontier guards. The Chinese had sometimes gathered poems from the people—or at least pretended to—out of an interest in local customs or as a kind of poll of local concerns. A few i i . Yoro code, conveniently available in NKBT Man'yoshu, vol. 4, pp. 500-501; Shoku Nihongi, Jingo Keiun 3/10/1; Oyama, Otomo Yakamochi no kenkyu, pp. 310-327; Kume, Man'yoshu no bungakuronteki kenkyu, p. 506.

215

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK

other poems purporting to be by frontier guards do occur in the Man'yoshu, and Book XIV of the anthology preserves folk songs from the Eastland in a distinctive local dialect. However, almost all the Man'yoshu guard poems were collected in the draft of 755, and it is entirely possible that Yakamochi and Naramaro themselves conceived the idea of systematically gathering these verses, possibly as a means of making the draftees' suffering known at court and thereby effecting changes in government policy. Indeed, the guards' poems and Yakamochi's own versions may have had some effect, for shortly afterwards the empress issued an edict noting how the people of the Eastland were suffering under the unfair burden of the draft. She raised the minimum age for the draftees and had other provinces begin to supply their share of guards too. 12 Unlike the many Chinese poems by courtiers pretending to be common soldiers, or the few ambiguous examples elsewhere in the Man'yoshu, the guard poems in Book XX seem actually to be by draftees from the Eastland, though we have no way of knowing what, if any, editing their works received. The verses have many variant eastern dialect pronunciations, and the author of each verse is given: Monobe Akimokichi of the household (the servant?) of the provincial chieftain of Naganoshimo District; the frontier guard Hasetsukabe Mamaro of Yamana District; the scribe Wakayamatobe Mumaro of Aratama District; and the like. After the poems from each province, Yakamochi added a note, such as the following after 20:4330: On 24 March, the official in charge of the frontier guards from Sagami Province, Governor Fujiwara Ason Sukunamaro submitted eight poems. However, five were no good, so were not included.

In all Yakamochi judged slightly over half of the 144 guard poems received worthy of inclusion in his anthology. These guards' poems are mostly straightforward tanka on the sadness of leaving home and family. For example: 20:4322

Wagatsumawa itaku koirashi nomu mizu ni kago sae miete yoniwasurarezu 12.

My wife must be longing for me deeply— Even in the water I drink Her face appears. For the world I can't forget her.

Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo Hoji 1/8/27,1/4/4. 216

THE FINAL Y E A R S 20:4327

Wagatsumamo e ni kaki toramu izuma moga tabiyukuarewa mitsutsu shinawamu

Oh for the time To make a picture of my wife— I would look longingly upon it As I joumey.

20:4337

Mizutori no tachi no isoki ni chichi haha ni monowazu kenite into zo kuyashiki

How I regret now I never Said goodbye to my parents In our flurry of departure Like startled waterfowl.

20:4346

Chichi haha ga kashira kakinade saku are te iishi ketoba ze wasurekanetsuru

I cannot forget my parents' words As they stroked my head And prayed that I be safe.

20:4351

Tabikoromo yae ki kasanete inuredomo nao hada samushi imo ni shi araneba

Though I sleep in eight layers Of travelers' robes, My skin's still cold Without my love.

20:4352

Michi no be no umara no ure ni hao mame no karamaru kimi 0 hakare ka yukamu

How can I leave you?— You entwined with me As the runners of the bean Twine around the briars by the road.

20:4359

Tsukushi he ni he mukaru fune no itsu shi ka mo tsukaematsurite kuni ni he muka mo

When will this ship That sails now towards Tsukushi Finish its service And set its course for home?

20:4381

Kuniguni ni sakimori tsudoi funa norite wakaru 0 mireba ito mo subenashi

To watch the frontier guards Gather from the provinces And board for their departure Brings helpless sorrow.

217

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN T H E D U S K

Though most simply treat of the sorrow of parting, a few of these verses by the frontier guards are surprisingly outspoken in criticizing the government: 20:4382

Futahogami ashike hito nari ata yamai wa ga suru toki ni sakimori ni sasu

20:4389

Shiofune no hekososhiranami ntwashiku mo dse tamao ka omowae naku ni

20:4406

Wa ga iwaro ni yukamo hito moga kusa makura tabiwakurushito tsugeyaramaku mo

204373

Kyoyoriwa kaerimi nakute okimi no shiko no mitate to idetatsu ware wa

Truly he is an evil man, To take me as a soldier When I am so ill.

Suddenly as the waves Break across the bow, I was taken, So unexpectedly.

I wish someone Were going to my home— I'd have him tell them there Of my journey's suffering.

From today on, With never a look back, I go to be the emperor's damn shield.

Shiko, which I have translated in this last poem as "damn," is conventionally glossed as "strong" or "humble" in this work. However, shiko is a relatively common word in the Man'ydshu, often written with the character for "ugly," and invariably meaning something like "stupid," "damn," or "cursed." Yakamochi used it to curse the cuckoo that scattered his orange blossoms and the old man who lost his prize hawk, and the other Mati'yo uses are similarly disparaging. It seems unlikely the word would have a radically different meaning in this one poem, when it makes perfectly good sense with the usual definition. At the very least, the guard who wrote the poem, and Yakamochi who collected it, were surely aware of the possibility of the usual interpretation. 218

THE FINAL YEARS

In contrast to the guards' own poems, Yakamochi's verses inspired by their works are choka, describing the departure at some length. Several are so full of the notions of a masurao's duty of service to the nation, quite foreign to the frontier guards' own poems, that some think they may have served as official inspirational addresses to the embarking troops. More probably Yakamochi's own traditional values and his own current concern with how hard and lonely it was to do what a masurao had to do, simply colored his perception and his depiction of the common soldiers' plight. A poem composed after the grief of the frontier guards at parting: 20:4331

Sumeroki no tô no mikado to shiranui tsukushi no kuni wa ata mamoru osae no ki so to kokoshiosu yomo no kuni ni wa hito sawa ni michite wa aredo tori ga naku azuma onoko wa idemukai kaerimisezute isamitaru takeki ikusa to negitamai make no manimani tarachine no haha ga me karete wakakusa no tsuma 0 mo makazu aratama no tsuki hi yomitsutsu ashi ga chiru naniwa no mitsu ni obune ni makai shiji nuki asa nagi ni kako totonoe yü shio ni kaji hikiori adomoite kogi yuku kim i wa nami no ma o iyuki sagukumi masakiku mo hayaku itarite okimi no mikoto no manima masurao no kokoro 0 mochite arimeguri koto shi owaraba tsutsumawazu kaeri kimase to iwaibe o tokobe n i suete shirotae no sode orikaeshi nubatama no kurokami shikite nagaki ke o machi kamo koimu hashiki tsumara wa

Tsukushi, land of the white sun, Is a distant outpost of the realm, A secure fortress to protect us from our foe. The lands that stretch in four directions Under our lord's rule Abound with people, But the man from the cock-crowing East Goes forth with never a look back To serve as a soldier strong and brave. He leaves his mother's watchful eye, His mother of the drooping breasts; No longer sleeps beside his wife, His wife like the young grass, And counts off the changing months and days. A great ship is set with myriad true oars In the royal bay of Naniwa Where men cut reeds, On the morning calm They row out in cadence, On the evening tide Pull the oars till they bend. "May you who set off rowing To the boatman's chant, Thread your way between the waves And safely reach your port. May you keep your spirit true 219

A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN THE D U S K As ordered by our sovereign lord, And when your time of sailing round From cape to cape is done, May you come safely home," Thus his wife must pray, Setting a sacred jar beside the bed, Folding back her white hemp sleeves, Spreading out her seed-black h a i r — Long days she waits with yearning. 1 3 20:4332 Masurao no yuki torioite idete ikeba wakare 0 oshimi nagekikemu tsuma

How the wife must have sighed, So loath to part, When her warrior took up his quiver And set out.

20:4333 Toriga rtaku azuma otoko no tsuma wakare kanashiku arekemu toshi no 0 nagami

How sad the parting Of a man from the cock-crowing East And his wife, For the years stretch long.

The junior assistant minister of war composed the above on 25 March [755]. 20:4334 Unahara 0 tôku watarite toshi fu tomo koragamusuberu himo toku na yume 20:4335 Ima kawaru nii sakimori ga funade suru unahara no ue ni nanti na saki so ne

Though you sail far across the ocean plain And the years pass by, Be sure not to undo the sash That girl tied for you. May no whitecaps bloom Atop the waves Where the new guards now embark.

13. The de of idemukai, "set out for," is written with the character for to, "field." This character is very rarely used to indicate the de sound in the early Japanese texts, but occurs three times in this choka and its envoys, and several times in the poems of the Eastland guards immediately preceding. Perhaps Yakamochi's use is inspired by their example, and may even be intended to give a rustic Eastland flavor. 220

THE FINAL YEARS 20:4336

Sakimori no horie kogizuru izu tebune kaji torn ma naku koi wa shigekemu

Their yearning must be constant As the movement of their oars— The frontier guards who row the Izu boat Up the canal.

Identifying further with these lonely travelers, Yakamochi added two other choka on the theme, this time actually writing from the point of view of a guard: A poem expressing the feelings of a frontier guard: 20:4398

Okimi no mikoto kashikomi tsuma wakare kanashiku wa aredo masuraono kokoro furiokoshi toriyosoi kadode o sureba tarachine no haha kakinade wakakusa no tsuma wa toritsuki tairakeku ware wa iwawamu masakikute haya kaeri ko to masode moch i namida o nogoi museitsutsu katarai sureba muratori no idetachikate ni todokori kaerimishitsutsu iya to ni kuni o kihanare iya taka ni yama o koe sugi ashigachiru naniwa ni ki ite yü shio ni fune o ukesue asa nagi ni he muke kogamu to samorau to wa ga oru toki ni harukasumi shimami ni tachite tazu ga ne no kanashiku nakeba harobaro ni ie o omoide oisoya no soyo to naru made nagékitsuru kamo

I received the royal command, And though hard it was to leave my wife, I summoned up the courage of a man, Put on my traveling clothes And set out through the gate. My mother of the drooping breasts caressed me, My wife, like the young grass, clung to my side, Sobbing, "I will pray for your well-being, May you soon come safely home." With both her sleeves she wiped away her tears. I could not leave like a bird with its flock, But stopped to look back time after time. Further and further I left my home behind, Higher and higher I crossed into the hills, And came to Naniwa where the reeds scatter. Now I wait watching the sea, Waiting to launch the boat on the evening tide, Row out on the morning calm. Spring mist rises round the islands, And the cranes cry mournfully. I sigh till the arrows rustle on my back, Thinking of my distant home. 221

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK 20:4399

Unahara ni kasumi tanabiki tazu ga ne no kanashikiyoiwa kuni e shi omohoyu

In the evening when the cranes sadly call And mist trails over the sea plain, I think of home.

20:4400

Ieomou to i o nezu oreba tazu ga naku ashibe mo miezu haru no kasumi ni

I lie awake, thinking of home— The reeds where the cranes cry Are hidden in the mists of spring.

A poem expressing the sorrow of a frontier guard's departure: 20:4408

Ókim i no moke no man iman i shimamori ni wa ga tachikureba hahasoba no haha no mikoto wa mimo no suso tsumiage kakinade chichi no mi no chichi no mikoto wa takuzuno no shirahige no ue yu namida tari nageki notabaku kagojimo no tada h itori sh ite asatodeno kanashikiwagako aratama no toshi no 0 nagaku aimizu wa koishiku arubeshi kyò dani mo kotodoi semu to oshimitsutsu kanashibi mase wakakusa no tsuma mo kodomo mo ochikochi ni sawa ni kakumi i haru tori no koe no samayoi shirotae no sode nakinurashi tazusawari wakarekate ni to h ikitodome sh itaish i mono 0 òkimi no mikoto kashikomi tamahoko no michi ni idetachi oka no saki itamuru goto ni yorozu tabi kaerimi shitsutsu harobaro ni wakareshi kureba omou sora yasuku mo arazu

Obedient to the imperial command I set off to be an island guard. My mother stroked me with her skirt; Tears falling from above his white hemp-rope beard, My father said with sighs, "My beloved son, Alone as a fawn you go out the morning door; We will not see you for long renewing years And we will long for you— At least stay and talk a while today." He grieved to see me go. My wife like the young grass And all my children Clustered round me, Crying sadly like the birds of spring, Wiping their tears on white hemp sleeves. They took my hands And said I could not leave, Clung to me and held me back, But I had received my lord's command So I set out upon the jeweled-spear road. At each hill I went around I looked back ten thousand times; Far, far I left my home behind. My longing grows bitter 222

THE F I N A L Y E A R S kouru sora kurushiki mono o utsusemi no yo no hito nareba tamakiwaru inochi mo shirazu unahara no kashikoki michi o shimazutai ikogi watarite arimeguri wa ga kuru made ni tairakeku oya wa imasane tsutsumi naku tsuma wa matase to suminoeno a ga sume kami ni nusa matsuri inori móshite naniwa tsu ni fuñe o ukesue yaso ka nuki kako totonoete asabiraki wa wa kogidenu to ie ni tsuge koso

A n d I k n o w n o peace. Since I am but a m a n O f this cicada-shell w o r l d , I d o not k n o w the length of m y allotted time, S o I offer prayers a n d nusa T o the g o d of S u m i n o e : M a y m y parents k e e p their health, M y dear w i f e wait faithfully for me, Till I row the fearsome sea-plain road A b o u t the islands A n d return. Tell my family w e launched our ship at Naniwa, Set eighty oars, arranged the oarsmen, A n d r o w e d out at d a w n .

20:4409

Iebito no iwae ni ka aramu tairakeku funade wa shinu to oya ni môsane

Tell m y parents W e got safely u n d e r w a y , T h a n k s to their prayers for me.

20:4410

Misora yuku kumo mo tsukai to hito wa iedo iezuto yaramu tazuki shirazu mo

T h e y say the clouds that sail the skies A r e messengers, But I k n o w n o w a y T o send a remembrance home.

20:4411

Iezuto ni kai so hirieru hama nami wa iya shikushiku ni takaku yosuredo

I gathered shells T o send the folks at h o m e , T h o u g h the breakers p o u n d e d in Ever higher.

20:4412

Shima kage ni wa ga fune hatete tsuge yaramu tsukai o nami ya koitsutsu yukamu

T h o u g h w e anchored safely In an island's lee There's no m e s s e n g e r to tell themM u s t I g o o n longing so?

For several years after these poems on the lonely duty of a warrior, Yakamochi recorded in the Man'yoshu only a few old poems 223

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he had heard and sporadic verses from banquets with Tachibana Naramaro and his other colleagues in the war ministry, or with Great Minister Tachibana Moroe. The worsening political situation doubtless contributed to Yakamochi's increasing distraction from poetry, for the long-standing factional conflict was finally escalating to crisis proportions. Late in 755, as the retired Emperor Shomu grew more and more ill, and less and less able to assert his influence, Moroe was accused of speaking disrespectfully of the throne. Shortly thereafter, he resigned in some disgrace. His son Naramaro thereupon again began actively to seek support for a plot to force selection of his faction's candidate as heir to the throne to succeed—or even replace—Empress Koken. One influential Saeki later reported that Naramaro had approached him with a frank appeal to Otomo-Saeki family pride: If the Saeki and O t o m o clans support us, no one will oppose us. . . . If a prince is put on the throne by s o m e other clan, our houses will decline. I want to lead the O t o m o and Saeki and make Prince Kibumi the heir. If some other clan acts first, it will be the foundation of its power for ten thousand generations. 1 4

On 3 June 756, the retired Emperor Shomu died, removing what constraints had remained on Empress Koken and her favorite, Fujiwara Nakamaro. A few days later a prominent Otomo and an associate were accused of lack of respect and imprisoned for a short while. A note some years later in the court history blames Fujiwara Nakamaro for falsely accusing them. 15 The scandal elicited a poem of admonishment to his clansmen from Yakamochi, a plea that they behave like proper masurao and not destroy the family name. Yakamochi's concern was motivated as much by the growing Otomo support for Tachibana Naramaro's plotted rebellion as it was by this particular incident. A poem admonishing his clan: 20:4465 Hisakata no ama no to hiraki takachiho no take ni amorishi

From the reign of the ancestral god W h o opened the far-off heavenly door

14. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo Hoji 1/7/4. 15. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo Shoho »5/10, 8/5/13, Hoki 8/8/19. Yakamochi's own account in the note to his poem is ambiguous, but does not appear to accord with the Shoku Nihongi's version of the incident, in which both Kojihi and Mifune are accused and imprisoned. Yakamochi could hardly be expected, however, to directly accuse the powerful Fujiwara Nakamaro of lying. 224

THE F I N A L Y E A R S sumeroki no kami no miyo yori hajiyumi o tanigiri motashi makago ya o tabasam i soete okume no masuratakeo o saki ni tate yuki toriose yanta kawa o iwane sakumite fumitori kuni magishitsutsu chihayaburu kami o kotomuke matsuroenu hito o mo yawashi hakikiyome tsukaematsurite akizushima yamato no kuni no kashiwara no unebi no miya ni miyabashira futoshiritatete ame no shita shirashimeshikeru sumeroki no ama no hitsugi to tsugite kuru kimi no miyo miyo kakusawan u akaki kokoro o sumerabe n i kiwame tsukush ite tsukaekuru oya no tsukasa to kotodatete sazuketamaeru uminoko no iya tsugitsugi ni miru hito no katari tsugitete kiku hito no kagami ni semú o atarashiki kiyoki sono na so oboroka ni kokoro omoite munakoto mo oya no na tatsu na otomo no uji to na ni oeru masurao no tomo

A n d d e s c e n d e d to M o u n t Takachiho, W e h a v e served the emperor. G r i p p i n g our w a x w o o d b o w s , T a k i n g d e e r arrows u n d e r arm, W e sent the brave K u m e g u a r d s ahead w i t h quivers, C r o s s e d o v e r hills a n d streams, Treading rock roots underfoot, T o seek the land. W e a p p e a s e d the stone-crushing g o d s w i t h prayers, Pacified the peoples w h o w o u l d not obey, S w e p t clear the realm. For reign u p o n reign of sovereigns Successor to the first imperial one W h o raised the great pillars of the Unebi palace O n Kashi plain in dragonfly Yamato, A n d from there ruled the underheaven, O u r ancestors served the emperor With all their souls, W i t h n o t h i n g in their loyal hearts to hide. For generation after generation of descendants T o w h o m is granted T h e ancestral office so described, A l l w h o see will pass it d o w n , A l l w h o hear will m a k e it as a mirror. D o n ' t be careless of this pure, unspotted name, D o n ' t let a lie destroy our ancestral position— M e n w h o bear the n a m e of the O t o m o clan.

20:4466

Shikishima no yamato no kuni ni akirakeki naniou tomonoo kokoro tsutome yo

Y o u w h o bear the bright O t o m o name In Y a m a t o , land of Shikishima, Be true!

225

A WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK 20:4467 Tsurugitachi iyoyo togubeshi inishie yu sayakekuoite kinishi sono na so

Sharpen the great sword ever sharper— This name borne untarnished From of old.

With Omi Mahito Mifune's slander, the Izumo governor Otomo Kojihi Sukune was removed from his position. Thereupon Yakamochi composed this poem. This unique political exhortation in the form of a poem, which could only have been written by Yakamochi, is his last extant choka. The same day, he followed it with three of his final personal tanka, verses that suggest that the political crisis, and his own conflict between loyalty to his group and to his principles, had become more than he felt up to struggling against any longer. Two poems composed on lying ill in bed, lamenting the transience of life, and desiring to seek the Way [18 July 756]: 20:4468 Utsusemi wa This life is evanescent. kazu naki mi nari I see the land's pure beauty yama kawa no And would seek the Way. sayakeki mitsutsu michi 0 tazune na 20:4469 Wataru hi no kage ni kioite tazunete na kiyoki sono michi mata mo awamu tame Poem wishing for a long life: 20:4470 Mitsubo nasu kareru mi so to wa shireredomo nao shi negaitsu chitosenoinochio

Racing the fleeting sunlight I will seek, So that I may come again Upon this sacred Way. 16

I know this body is ephemeral As foam upon the water, But still I long To live a thousand years.

16. Some scholars see the point of the competition with the sun in that body's brightness: "I will seek the pure Way that completes in brightness with the sun" (NKBT Man'yoshu; Omodaka, Man'yoshu chushaku). The wish in the last line is to be reincarnated as a man again in the next life on the basis of religious merit attained in this one, so as to again have the opportunity to seek enlightenment. 226

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From Yakamochi's point of view, the current situation was a disaster. The opposition was advancing its own position in an outrageous manner, goading Yakamochi's friends and family finally to attempt their long discussed revolt against their sovereign. When Tachibana Moroe died early in 757, the last constraint on either side was out of the way. Empress Kôken immediately replaced the crown prince named in Shômu's will with a prince of her own choosing. This new heir to the throne, Prince Oi, happened to be Fujiwara Nakamaro's son-in-law and protégé, and a resident of that minister's household. A new position of supreme military commander (shibinaishi) was created for Nakamaro himself, with rank and salary equal to that of a great minister. Then, fearing the reaction of the nobility—and accusing the heads of the great clans of selfishly thinking only of their own interests—the empress and Nakamaro imposed a series of new restrictions on the number of private horses and private troops, on troops in the capital, and on the size of gatherings in the city. This arrogant exercise of power infuriated the court, and those who had for years been reluctant to support Tachibana Naramaro's plan for drastic action now flocked to his cause. Joining Naramaro as coleader was Ôtomo Komaro, Yakamochi's cousin who had come to Dazaifu on Tabito's illness years before. Also involved were Yakamochi's old friend Dcenushi, his admonished clansman Kojihi, and many—perhaps most—of his other relatives and friends. Yakamochi himself, however, still believed the rebellion against the sovereign was neither right nor likely to be to his family's advantage, and he still refused to participate. 17 His only poems from these months, though from banquets, express his distress at the state of his world: A poem from the banquet at the residence of the senior inspector Prince Mikata on 13 July 757: 20:4483

Utsuriyuku toki miru goto ni kokoro itaku mukashi no hito shi omohoyuru kamo

When I see the seasons change, Bitter is my longing For the men of old.

The senior assistant minister of war Ôtomo Sukune Yakamochi composed the above. 17. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyô Hôji 1/1/6, 1/3/29,1/4/4,1/5/21, 1/6/9,1/6/28, 1/7/4.

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A W A R B L E R ' S S O N G IN THE DUSK 20:4484 Saku hana wa utsurou toki ari ashihiki no yama sugano neshi nagaku wa arikeri

The flowers that bloom Scatter in their appointed season, But long the sedge root In the foot-trailing hills Remains.

Otomo Sukune Yakamochi composed the above in sorrow over the changing times.

This second poem appears to be allegorical, suggesting Yakamochi's relationship to the current volatile political situation: he will remain, inconspicuous and long-lasting as the sedge root, while the showy flowers who strive for glory will soon be gone. At about the time Yakamochi wrote these two poems, much of the rest of his group was meeting secretly to work out the details of the plot. They gathered in the dark in the courtyard of the Great Council of State office, prayed to the four directions, quaffed salt water to pledge their support of the plan, and decided that Otomo Komaro would take his troops to the guarded pass at Fuwa on his way to his assignment in Michinoku. There he would feign illness and wait until 23 July, when he would attack and block the pass. Meanwhile in the capital troops would surround Fujiwara Nakamaro's house, kill the evil minister, force the new crown prince to resign, and capture the imperial seal and bell from the palace of the empress mother Komyo. Then they would remove the empress and put a prince of their own choosing on the throne. 18 Unfortunately, it was next to impossible to keep a secret in the small, ingrown court society, and Fujiwara Nakamaro and the empress soon began to hear rumors of the plot. They increased the guard around the palace and around Nakamaro's mansion, and called everyone to court to hear the empress mother make a plea for loyalty. Presumably the dissident courtiers would be more sympathetic to a request from Shomu's widow than to one from the young empress. Empress Mother Komyo singled out the Otomos for a particular appeal to remember their great family tradition: You are all our dear nieces and nephews. The former emperor Shomu called you, his children, together and commanded you to faithfully serve the empress after he was gone. Moreover, the Otomo and Saeki Sukune have served as royal guards from the reigns of the ancient imperial ancestors. And the Otomo Sukune are of our own family. If all 18. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo Hoji 1/7/2,1/7/4.

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still served the imperial court with this same feeling, we would not hear these disgraceful reports. This has come about because of your failing. All must serve the throne with pure, bright hearts.19 That evening one of the palace guards came to Fujiwara Nakamaro and reported that he had been approached by Ono Azumabito and asked to join the plotters, but had refused. He gave the names of those Azumabito had said were involved. Nakamaro had Azumabito taken into custody. 20 The next day, after extensive questioning, Azumabito confessed the details of the plot and the names of the conspirators. The others were immediately rounded up and also eventually confessed. Thirteen of the leaders—including Azumabito, Tachibana Naramaro, Otomo Komaro, and several imperial princes—were put to death, as were the members of their immediate families, while over 400 other participants were demoted and exiled, including even Fujiwara Nakamaro's own brother, the great minister of the right Fujiwara Toyonari, who was rumored to have heard of the plot and not reported it. 2 1 Yakamochi, however, kept his position in the capital. Just before the rebellion, he had been transferred back to the Great Council of State, this time as middle controller of the left (sachubett), a middleranking post on one of the boards that oversaw the work of the various government ministries. Probably Fujiwara Nakamaro wanted anyone with connections as suspect as Yakamochi's out of any position of military importance. Tachibana Naramaro and other of their associates at the war ministry had also been transferred to more innocuous positions shortly before the rebellion. Though he had not been actively involved in the revolt and was thus not directly punished, Yakamochi must have nonetheless been devastated by these events. Many of his family and his closest friends—Tachibana Naramaro, Otomo Komaro, Kojihi, Ikenushi— were dead or in exile. Yakamochi had sympathized with their cause and merely disagreed over the means. Now his proud old Otomo family and their powerful political faction were decimated, and Yakamochi was left alone to live with his grief for his friends and his clan, and probably with some regret and guilt that he had not 19. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo Hoji 1/6/28, 1/7/2. 20. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo Hoji 1/7/2,1/7/3. 31. Shoku Nihongi, Tempyo Hoji 1/7/4,1/7/12, Hoki 1/7/23; see also NKBT Nihon rydiki, pp. 334-337, 430-433; Nakamura, Miraculous Stories, pp. 231-232, 276-277.

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joined their hopeless struggle. He had little hope for his own future and little energy for writing poetry, especially for stretching the old native tradition to create the new kind of poetry he would have needed to deal with his present emotions effectively. What few perfunctory poems he did prepare for the court banquets he continued to attend, he seldom got to present (e.g., 20:4493, 4514), suggesting he was not in the best of favor. In March 758, he did contribute a number of poems at a banquet hosted by the senior assistant minister of ceremonial, Nakatomi Kiyomaro, a man on the rise, who would eventually become great minister. In some of his poems from this banquet, Yakamochi hoped Kiyomaro's influence would be long-lasting, and pledged his loyalty: 20:4498

Hashikiyoshi kyônoarujiwa isomatsu no tsune ni imasane ima mo mini goto

20:4501

Yachi kusa no hana wa utsurou tokiwa naru matsu no saeda 0 ware wa musubana

My dear friend, my host today, May you be eternal As the pine tree on the shore, Just as we see you now.

The eight thousand kinds of flowers scatter, But I will tie a branch of pine, Eternal as the stones.

Then Yakamochi and the other courtiers present composed a series of verses reminiscing about Takamato, where Emperor Shomu had often taken his court in better days long ago. Poems composed when moved at the though t of the palace at Takamato: 20:4506

Takamato no no no ue no miya arenikeri tatashishi kimi no miyo tôsokeba

20:4509

Hau kuzu no taezu shinowamu ôkimi no meshishi nobe ni wa shimeyûbeshimo

The palace on the Takamato plain Is now in ruins, For our lord who used to go there Ruled long ago.

I would mark off these fields My lord was wont to look upon, My lord for whom my longing Is as endless as the crawling vines. 230

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These poems also recall a pleasant excursion that Yakamochi, the host Kiyomaro, and their old friend Ikenushi—now dead or in exile—had made years before to Takamato. The poems by these three cheerful young men on that occasion, at the opening of Man'yoshu Book XX (20:4295-4297, p. 209-210 above), stand in marked contrast—perhaps by artistic design—to these somber verses recalling Takamato near the end of the book, suggesting the extreme change the five intervening years had brought. In July 758, a year after the abortive coup attempt, Yakamochi was appointed governor of Inaba (modern Tottori prefecture), a thoroughly undesirable, out-of-the-way assignment for a forty-yearold official on the Great Council of State. The province was considerably smaller and less important than Etchu, where Yakamochi had started his career, and was usually governed by someone of lower rank. While not precisely exile, the appointment was clear indication that Fujiwara Nakamaro's government had little use for Yakamochi. One of his old associates from his days in the Ministry of War hosted a banquet to see Yakamochi off for his new post: A poem from the farewell banquet for the Inaba governor, Otomo Sukune Yakamochi, at the residence of the junior assistant minister of civil administration, Ohara ImakiMahito, on 13 August: 20:4515 Aki kaze no Must we part Before we can make garlands sue fukinabiku Of clover blown before the autumn hagi no hana tomo ni kazasazu wind? ai ka wakaremu Ötomo Sukune Yakamochi

Some months later, in his new capacity as governor of Inaba, Yakamochi hosted the traditional New Year banquet for all the local provincial and district officials, and composed the requisite celebratory poem for the occasion. With this verse from New Year 759, he ended his poetic journal, the Man'yoshu, and his own career as a poet: 20:4516 Atarashiki toshi no hajime no hatsu haru no kyö furu yuki no iyashikeyogoto

May good fortune pile as deep as snow That falls today, The first of spring and the new year.

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The Inaba officials no doubt thought the verse simply a pleasing New Year poem by their new governor, genuinely expressing the hope that the good omen of deep snow on New Year's Day would bring a prosperous year. But from Yakamochi's own standpoint, the poem had considerable irony, since his current expectation of normal good fortune must have been extremely slight, and Inaba's characteristic isolating snow only served to emphasize his unhappy situation. The verse may also serve as a fitting closing and a kind of dedication to his "Collection for Ten Thousand Generations," for the final line of the Japanese can also be taken to mean "last on and on, auspicious words." 22 Though he ended his poetry collection with this poem, Yakamochi lived on for another twenty-five years. Certainly he must have continued to compose the required social poems, and perhaps he wrote other verses as well that have simply not been preserved. But his interest in poetry, particularly in the more personal type of composition, had been in decline for some time, as the press of politics and his own conflicts had absorbed more and more of his emotional energy. In the last two and a half years covered by the Man'yoshii, he had added only twenty poems of his own, and most of those were from banquets. There was, moreover, the problem of the limitations of the medium within which he worked. Yakamochi had been breaking new ground for some time, finding ways to make the old native poetry serve his new ends, making it express his distinctly individual concern with the everyday events of his life and with the sharply observed nuances of his own feelings. As his concerns grew increasingly political, and his inner life and his relationship to society became increasingly complex, it became harder and harder to work meaningfully within the old forms. Few of his literary colleagues were interested in revitalizing the conventional Japanese verse; other poets of his day were abandoning the native tradition altogether, turning instead to the flexible medium of Chinese verse for their serious literary expression. The compilation of the Kaifusd, an anthology of verse in 22. Yogoto is written phonetically here and can be taken as either "good things" or "good words." These auspicious words suggest the prayers offered for the emperor's long life and prosperous reign. Origuchi thus glosses the line: "May I offer my praises and prayers forever." See his Zenshu: Noto hen (1971-1974), 3:325. The Shogakkan Nihon koten bungaku zenshu Man'yoshii reads yogoto as "good thing," but still takes the verse as a wish for the anthology's acceptance: "May this good thing be passed on and on." 232

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Chinese by Japanese poets, in 751, marked the beginning of the foreign form's rise to dominance, which eventually culminated in the temporary eclipse of Japanese verse. In Yakamochi's later years, in the late 700s, emperors like Kammu encouraged Chinese poetry with great enthusiasm. By the early 800s, the anthologies of the nation's poetry compiled by imperial command were exclusively of Chinese verse. Entering his forties, a failure in his official career, Yakamochi no longer had the heart to carry on his lonely artistic struggle to revolutionize the old native tradition by himself. Politics occupied Yakamochi's remaining years, absorbing the energy that had once gone into poetry. In 762, after four years service in Inaba, he returned to the capital with the respectable appointment of senior assistant minister of central affairs. Factional power struggles were again absorbing the court, and this time Yakamochi got directly involved, perhaps because he no longer had anything to lose. Empress Kôken had abdicated in favor of her controversial choice as successor, Fujiwara Nakamaro's son-in-law, Prince Oi, who took the throne as Emperor Junnin and remained thoroughly under Nakamaro's control. However, the retired empress had found a new favorite in her spiritual adviser, the monk Dôkyô, and under his influence she reclaimed the throne from Nakamaro's protégé shortly after Yakamochi's return to the capital. Nakamaro struggled to maintain some of his influence by suddenly appointing three of his sons to the group of eight imperial advisers. Angered at this move, and probably sensing that Nakamaro was finally weak enough to be destroyed, Yakamochi joined Fujiwara Yoshitsugu in a plot to topple the old enemy. Yakamochi may have decided that his moral refusal to join Tachibana Naramaro's earlier rebellion had done no good at all; doubtless, too, his hatred for Nakamaro had intensified with the minister's destruction of his family and friends. However, the plotters' plans were again discovered before they could take any action. Yoshitsugu took the blame and was stripped of his rank. Yakamochi was sent off to the hinterlands again, this time to be governor of Satsuma. Yakamochi and Yoshitsugu need hardly have bothered to plot against Nakamaro; his days of influence were clearly over, and he soon destroyed himself without outside help. He raised a rebellion against the empress and Dôkyô, and after eighty days of battle was finally captured and killed. Nakamaro's downfall did not, however, materially improve Yakamochi's position. He continued to serve in minor posts, including those of junior assistant governor233

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general of Dazaifu and junior assistant minister of popular affairs. Only after Empress Koken died in 770, and an imperial prince more sympathetic to Yakamochi's group succeeded to the throne as Emperor Konin, did Yakamochi's fortunes begin to improve appreciably. Yakamochi's old friend and fellow conspirator Fujiwara Yoshitsugu became the great minister of the center in the new administration. Another old friend, Nakatomi Kiyomaro (see poems 20:4295-4297, 4498-4509 above), became great minister of the right. Yakamochi was appointed middle controller of the left, and, concurrently, senior assistant minister of central affairs, positions which he had held years previously. In 771, at the age of 53, he was finally promoted out of the lowly fifth rank to junior fourth, lower grade. Over the next ten years, with his friends running the government, Yakamochi steadily advanced in rank and received respectable appointments, among them those of honorary senior assistant minister of the department of ceremonial, master of the office of the capital, captain of the outer palace guards, and imperial adviser on the Great Council of State. In 781, when Emperor Kammu took the throne, Yakamochi was made master of the household of the crown prince, Kammu's brother and heir, Prince Sawara, and promoted to junior third rank. Despite his success in his career, Yakamochi persisted in getting involved in ill-fated attempts at rebellion. The year after his appointment to the crown prince's household, he was implicated in yet another plot against the throne, and was once again removed from his position and made to leave the capital. Little is known about this attempted rebellion, other than that its leader was Hikami Kawatsugu, son of one of the princes involved in Tachibana Naramaro's attempted coup. As usual, the conspiracy was discovered before anything came of it, and the principals were banished. Within six months, however, Yakamochi had been pardoned, and returned to his post in Crown Prince Sawara's household. Soon he was given the additional rank of general and the responsibility of keeping peace on the frontier in Michinoku, where the Ainu tribes refused to submit to imperial control and taxes, and regularly burned the farms of Japanese settlers. In 783 he was also made middle counselor on the Great Council of State. Shortly afterwards his son Naganushi, apparently just coming of age, was promoted to the ranks of the nobility as junior fifth, lower grade. But Yakamochi was not able to keep out of political entanglements for long, even in his old age. Emperor Kammu now wanted 234

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to replace his brother Crown Prince Sawara and make his own young son the heir. Sawara and the courtiers around him naturally resisted. The situation was also complicated by disagreement over a plan to move the capital to Nagaoka, near Kyoto. The move may have been intended to escape the power of the great Nara Buddhist temples, or perhaps was to obtain a more dependable water supply for the city, but factional politics were involved, and the expensive undertaking was controversial. Opposition centered in Crown Prince Sawara's household. Among the main forces in favor of the new capital, and, not coincidentally, also urging the removal of Sawara, was Kammu's influential adviser Fujiwara Tanetsugu. Yakamochi's loyalty was clearly to Prince Sawara, and he was probably not anxious to see the capital moved from the old city of Nara, but he did not live to see the outcome. As befitted the last great poet of the Nara period, he died while the new city that would mark the beginning of the Heian age was under construction. On 5 October 785, while on business in Michinoku, Otomo Sukune Yakamochi passed away. He was sixty-seven. Twenty days later, Otomo Komaro's son Tsugihito and another Otomo assassinated Fujiwara Tanetsugu in Nagaoka. They were immediately arrested and at least Tsugihito put to death. The leader of the plot was presumed to be the crown prince himself; he was banished and died of starvation on his way to exile, probably the doing of his guards. Yakamochi's family property was confiscated, and his remains were stripped of rank and banished with his son to Oki (modern Shimane prefecture).23 Even after his death, Yakamochi continued to plague the government. A series of illnesses and deaths which struck the imperial family in the ensuing years, especially affecting Sawara's replacement as crown prince, was attributed to the vengeful spirits of Prince Sawara and his men. These troublesome spirits of Yakamochi and his friends were one reason the capital was soon moved from Nagaoka to Kyoto. In an attempt to placate the raging ghosts, Prince Sawara was posthumously made emperor, interred in a splendid new tomb, and treated with great honor. But the spirits still did not seem appeased, for in 806 Emperor Kammu himself fell ill. All the conspirators, dead or alive, were then pardoned and their ranks restored. The ashes of Middle Counselor Otomo Sukune Yakamochi, Junior Third Rank, were finally returned to Nara. 23. Shoku Nihongi, Enryaku 4/8/28.

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Though Yakamochi found neither the energy nor the artistic means to express the concerns of his later years, his involvement in ill-fated attempts at rebellion may have been the best thing he could possibly have done for the native poetic tradition he so loved. When all the rest of the vast body of Nara poetry was lost in the ensuing years of disorder and of disinterest in the old native verse, the government confiscation of Yakamochi's manuscripts may have preserved both his own work and the earlier Japanese literary tradition collected in his anthology, to be passed on for ten thousand ages—or at least twelve hundred years. Not only was Yakamochi in large part responsible for the preservation of the ancient poetic tradition; in his own attempts to extend that tradition to express a modern individual's inner life, he laid the foundation for Japanese poetry for centuries to come. With the renaissance of native verse in the ninth century, new generations of poets took up where Yakamochi had left off. They revived the old Japanese medium as a vehicle for their own expressions of everyday, individual concerns, their acute observations of nuances of feeling, and their evocations of the bittersweet melancholy of life and the essential loneliness of man, much as he had done. Of the many varied kinds of Man'yoshu poetry, it was Yakamochi's work that defined the path that Japanese poets would follow to renew the great tradition of Japanese verse.

236

Appendix: A Note ori the Man'yöshü The Mati'yoshu is unquestionably one of the basic classics of the Japanese cultural tradition, long familiar to every literate person in Japan for the great poetry it contains. Moreover, as the first collection of Japanese verse, and indeed the first major literary work in the language, the anthology is often looked to as the foundation of the national culture, a repository of the essential Japanese spirit. Poets through the centuries have turned to the collection in attempts to revitalize the poetry of their own day in regular "back to theMan'ydshu" movements. Scholars have been producing multivolume studies of the anthology since the 1300s, and numerous academic societies and learned journals are devoted exclusively to it. Major department stores offer housewives classes in Man'ydshu poetry right along with flower arranging and cake decorating, and a recent study of one of the anthology's poets was a controversial bestseller. The anthology was apparently compiled from an assortment of earlier materials by Òtomo Yakamochi about 759. It contains some 4,500 poems from three centuries, divided into twenty books of highly varied content and organization. Included are poems derived from early ceremonial songs, such as prayers for safe journey, blessings of the land, and elegies for the dead; folk songs in rural eastern dialect; narrative accounts of legends; and playful insults in verse. The bulk of the poems, however, are the lyric expressions of Nara courtiers from the years 650 to 750. Most are in the form of tanka, five lines of five or seven syllables each, alternating in the pattern 5 - 7 - 5 - 7 - 7 . Also common is the chóka or "long poem" form, which continues the pattern of alternating five and seven syllable lines to any desired length before concluding with an extra seven-syllable line ( 5 - 7 - 5 - 7 . . . 5 - 7 - 7 ) . The choka will often be followed by one or more envoys (hanka) in the form of 237

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tanka, which may summarize the choka or provide a lyric supplement to its narrative. These poems make ample use of the common techniques of alliteration, assonance, parallelism, and metaphorical language of various kinds. Also very popular are two rather more unusual devices, the makura kotoba or pillow word, and the jo, or preface. The pillow word is a conventional decorative modifier, usually of five syllables. Black is traditionally "nuba-seed black;" sleeves are regularly "white hemp sleeves." The meaning of these modifiers may sometimes be obscure, and their relation to the words they describe is often not directly logical: "hundred-stones-and-trees palace," "unknown days Tsukushi" (the old name for Kyushu). Nonetheless, the traditional poetic language elevates the tone, and at their best the pillow words can be richly suggestive. The preface is a somewhat longer opening description, related metaphorically to the main statement of the poem that follows. These Man'yoshu poems are recorded in one of the world's most unwieldy writing systems, as the early Japanese had yet to entirely solve the problem of writing their own language in the totally unsuitable medium of Chinese characters, the only means of writing they knew. Perhaps, indeed, the wonder is not so much that the early Japanese system is so awkward, but that it was devised at all. A character was sometimes used to indicate the Japanese word equivalent to the symbol's meaning in Chinese; other times a character simply signified a sound—either an approximation of the sound of the Chinese word it represented or the sound of the corresponding Japanese word. Moreover, there was still little standardization of the system. Even within one poem, the same word might be represented at different times by an assortment of different characters, while the same character might be read in a number of different ways—sometimes for its Chinese sound, sometimes for its Japanese meaning. Sometimes the text was written out entirely phonetically, syllable by syllable; at others, only the meanings of the main words were indicated by characters, and the reader was left to fill in the necessary Japanese particles and verb endings. Still other times, poets and transcribers seem to delight in idiosyncratic systems of recording a verse, using rebuses and other playful puzzles. The characters for "horse's cry" might, for example, indicate the sound /; or the characters for "sixteen" might represent the sound shishi, since sixteen equaled four (shi) times four. The Japanese soon developed a more efficient writing system. 238

APPENDIX

People not used to the old system could then no longer easily read the Man'yoshu-,before long, its poetry was known only in scattered fragments. In the tenth century, some two hundred years after the completion of the anthology, the emperor set a committee of scholars to work on producing a readable edition of the text, and the long tradition of Mati'yoshu scholarship began.

239

Selected Bibliography I. MAN'YOSHU TEXTS Because of the problems presented by the Man'yoshu's writing system and language, only gradually puzzled out over the centuries, different editions of the anthology vary radically. The oldest remaining manuscripts (the jiten texts), from the mid-Heian to early Kamakura periods, continue the tradition of readings established by the mid-tenth-century committee of scholars assigned by the emperor to establish an authoritative text. More dependable, however, are those texts based on the mid-thirteenth-century work of the monk Sengaku (the shinteti texts). He studied the dozen or so different manuscripts he could obtain, made revisions, and added readings of his own for poems that had yet to be deciphered, to produce a scholarly edition that soon became the standard text. A printed edition made from the Hosoi manuscript of this line in the year Kanei 20 (1643) was the version used by the Edo and early modern scholars, and was the basis for the variorum edition of 1924 that provided the foundations for much modern study (Sasaki Nobutsuna, Hashimoto Shinkichi, Senda Tadashi, Takeda Yukichi, and Hisamatsu Sen'ichi, eds., Kdhott Man'yoshu [Tokyo: Kohon Man'yoshu Kankokai, 1924]). The recent authoritative Nihon koten bungaku taikei (NKBT) edition is, however, based instead on the oldest extant manuscript of the Sengaku line, the late Kamakura period Nishi Honganji text (Takagi Ichinosuke, Gomi Tomohide, and Ono Susumu, eds., Man'yoshu, NKBT, vols. 4 - 7 [Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1957-1962]). While I have relied mainly on the NKBT text, the other standard modern annotated editions and commentaries listed below were extremely helpful. Aoki Takako, Ide Itaru, ltd Haku, Shimizu Katsuhiko, and Hashimoto Shiro, eds. Man'yoshu. Shincho nihon koten shusei. 241

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Tokyo: Shinchosha, 1976, 1978, 1980. Three of five volumes completed to date. Kojima Noriyuki, Kinoshita Masatoshi, and Satake Akihiro, eds. Man'yoshu. Nihon koteti bungaku zenshii, vols. 2-5. Tokyo: Shogakkan, 1971-1975. Kubota Utsubo. Man'yoshu hyoshaku. 12 vols. Tokyo: Tokyodo, 1951-1952. Omodaka Hisataka. Man'yoshu chushaku. 20 vols. Tokyo: Chuokoronsha, 1957-1968. Takeda Yukichi. Man'yoshu zenchushaku. 14 vols. 1948-1951; rpt. Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1957. Tsuchiya Bummei. Man'yoshu shichu. 20 vols. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 1949-1956. II. OTHER SOURCES Works are published in Tokyo unless another place of publication is given. Aoki Kazuo. Nihon no rekishi III: Nara no miyako. Chuokoronsha, 1965; rpt. Chuko Bunko, 1976. Aoki Takako. "Koten no sekai—Man'yo o chushin to shite: Masurao." Gakuto, November 1976, pp. 52-55; December 1976, pp. 53-55; January 1977, pp. 46-49. . "Kyutei banka no shuen: Otomo Yakamochi to Asaka Miko banka." Bungaku, April 1975, pp. 61-74. . "Otomo Sakanoue Iratsume." In Jddai no kajin, Nihon kajin koza, vol. 1, ed. Hisamatsu Sen'ichi, pp. 339-388. Kobundo, 1961. . "Otomo Yakamochi no Asaka Miko banka." Nihon Joshi Daigaku kiyo: Bungakubu, March 1975, pp. 1-26. Aston, W. G., trans. Nihongi. 1896; rpt. Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle, 1972. Bock, Felicia Gressitt, trans. Engi-shiki: Procedures of the Engi Era. 2 vols. Sophia University Press, 1970-1972. Brower, Robert H., and Miner, Earl. Japanese Court Poetry. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1961. Doe, Paula. "Otomo Yakamochi and the Man'yo Tradition of Elegy." Dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1978. Endo Yoshimoto and Kasuga Kazuo, eds. Nihon rydiki. Nihon koten bungaku taikei, vol. 70. Iwanami Shoten, 1967. 242

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Florenz, Karl. "Ancient Japanese Rituals." Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan 27 (1899): 3-25. Frankel, Hans H. "The Plum Tree in Chinese Poetry." Asiatische Studien, 6 (1952): 88-115. Gomi Tomohide. "Akahito to Yakamochi." In Iwanami köza Nihon bungakushi III: Jödai 3, pp. 18-33. Iwanami Shoten, 1959. . Kodai waka. Nihon bungaku kyöyö köza, vol. 1. Shibundö, 1951. . "Yakamochi no sumomo no hana no uta." Bungaku, Sept. 1950. Rpt. in Nihon bungaku kenkyü shiryö sösho: Man'yöshu I, ed. Nihon Bungaku Kenkyü Shiryö Kankökai, pp. 201-206. Yüseidö, 1969. Hightower, James Robert. The Poetry of T'ao Ch'ien. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970. Hisamatsu Sen'ichi, ed. Man'yöshü köza. 7 vols. Yüseidö, 19721975. , ed. Nihon bungaku shi I: Jödai. Shibundö, 1964. , "Ötomo Yakamochi." In Man'yöshü köza, ed. Sasaki Nobutsuna et al., pp. 444-453. Shunyödö, 1933. , "Ötomo Yakamochi." In Jödai no kajin, Nihon kajin köza, vol. 1, ed. Hisamatsu Sen'ichi, pp. 275-296. Köbundö, 1961. Hon Ichirö. "Mountains and Their Importance for the Idea of the Afterworld in Japanese Folk Religion." History of Religion # 6 (1966): 1-23. Ide Itaru. "Manimani ni tsuite." Kokugo kokubun, Sept. 1958, pp. 27-29. Inaoka Köji. "Yakamochi no 'tachikuku' 'tobikuku' no shühen." Kokugo to kokubungaku, Feb.-Mar. 1963. Rpt. in Nihon bungaku kenkyü shiryö sösho: Man'yöshü I, ed. Nihon Bungaku Kenkyü Shiryö Kankökai, pp. 274-294. Yüseidö, 1969. Itö Haku. "Jürokken moto Man'yöshü." In Man'yögaku Ronsö, pp. 97-98. Omodaka Hakase Kiju Kinen Rombunshü Kankökai, 1961. . Kodai waka shi. 7 vols. Hanawa Shobö, 1974-1976. . "Uta nisshi no kühaku: Utawanu kajin Yakamochi." Man'yö, July 1962. Rpt. in Nihon bungaku kenkyü shiryö sösho: Man'yöshü I, ed. Nihon Bungaku Kenkyü Shiryö Kankökai, pp. 249-262. Yüseidö, 1969. and Hashimoto Tatsuo, eds. Man'yöshü monogatari. Yühikaku Bukkusu, 1977. 243

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Ito Masafumi and Itsukai Tomoyoshi, eds. Kan Ki Rikuchd shishii. Chugoku koten bungaku taikei, vol. 16. Heibonsha, 1972. Kakurai Tadashi. Otomo Yakamochi. Waka Kenkyusha, 1974. Kambori Shinobu. "Yakamochi no kodaisei." Kokubungaku kaishaku to kydzai no kenkyu, June 1975, pp. 24-29. Kamo Mabuchi. "Niimanabi." In Kamo Mabuchi zenshu, 12 vols. ed. Sasaki Nobutsuna, vol. 10, pp. 311-319. Kokugakuin Daigaku So, 1930. Kawada Jun. "Otomo Yakamochi." In Man'yoshu taisei, 22 vols., ed. Omodaka Hisataka, vol. 10, pp. 174-208. Heibonsha, 1953-1956. Kawaguchi Tsunetaka. Otomo Yakamochi. Ofusha, 1976. Kawakami Tomikichi. "Yakamochi masurao ko: Sono goironteki shiken." Child Daigaku kokubun, Sept. 1967, pp. 53-68. Kawasaki Tsuneyuki. Kiki Man'yo no sekai. Ochanomizu Shobo, 1952. Kitayama Shigeo. Man'yo no jidai. Iwanami Shoten, 1954. . Otomo Yakamochi. Heibonsha, 1971. Kojima Noriyuki. Jddai Nihon bungaku to Chugoku bungaku. 3 vols. Hanawa Shobo, 1962-1965. Kume Tsunetami. Man'yoshu no bungakuronteki kenkyu. Ofusha, 1970. . Man'yoshu no shoeika. Hanawa Shobo, 1961. . "Otomo Sakanoue Iratsume." In Man'yo no kajin, Waka bungaku koza, vol. 5, ed. Ichimura Hiroshi, Okubo Tadashi, and Gomi Tomohide. Ofusha, 1969. Kurano Kenji and Takeda Yukichi, eds. Kojiki norito. Nihon koten bungaku taikei, vol. 1. Iwanami Shoten, 1958. Levy, Howard S., trans. The Dwelling of Playful Goddesses. Dai Nippon Insatsu, 1965. Miller, Roy Andrew. "The Footprints of the Buddha:" An Eighthcentury Old Japanese Poetic Sequence. New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society, 1975. Minamoto Shitagau. Wamyd ruijusho. Encho era (923-930); rpt. ed. Kojisho Sokan Kankokai. Omatsudo Shoten, 1975. Miner, Earl. Introduction to Japanese Court Poetry. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1968. Monzen. Kokuyaku kambun taisei: Bungakubu, vol. 4. Kokumin Bunko Kankokai, 1922. Mori Atsushi. "Man'yoshu maki juichi juni: Joshi no hasso to minyosei to ni kanren shite." Kodai bungaku, Mar. 1977, p. 11. 244

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Morris, Ivan. The Nobility of Failure. 1975; rpt. New York: New American Library, 1976. Nakamura, Kyoko Motomochi. Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition: The Nihon Ryöiki of the Monk Kyökai. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1973. Nakanishi Susumu. Man'yöshi no kenkyü. Öfüsha, 1968. . Man'yöshü no hikaku bungakuteki kenkyü. Öfüsha, 1963. Naoki Kojirö. "Suiko to Ötomo Yakamochi." Shoku Nihongi kenkyü, Feb. 1955, pp. 26-29. Nihon Bungaku Kenkyü Shiryö Kankökai, ed. Nihon bungaku kenkyü shiryö sösho: Man'yöshü I. Yüseidö, 1969. Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkökai, ed. and trans. The Man'yöshü: One Thousand Poems. 1940; rpt. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969. Okada Akio, Toyoda Takeshi, and Waka Moritarö. Nihon no rekishi II: Asuka to Nara. Yomiuri Shimbunsha, 1968. Omodaka Hakase Kiju Kinen Rombunshü Kankökai, ed. Man'yögaku ronsö. Omodaka Hakase Kiju Kinen Rombunshü Kankökai, 1966. Ono Hiroshi. "Ötomo Yakamochi," In Man'yöshü köza, 7 vols., ed. Hisamatsu Sen'ichi et al., vol. 6, pp. 224-245. Yüseidö, 1972. . "Yakamochi—Miyabio to masurao." Kokubungaku, May 1974. . "Yakamochi no ikyöka." In Ronshü jödai bungaku, vol. 4, ed. Man'yö Shichiyökai, pp. 101-130. Kasama Shoin, 1973. . "Yakamochi no kötö sambi no hyögen: Ama no hitsugi." In Ronshü jödai bungaku, vol. 2, ed. Man'yö Shichiyökai, pp. 93118. Kasama Shoin, 1971. Origuchi Shinobu. Origuchi Shinobu zenshü. Chüököronsha, 19541957. . Origuchi Shinobu zenshü nöto hen. Chüököronsha, 19711974. Ou-yang Hsün. Yi-wen lei-chü. Peking: Chung-hua Shu-chü, 1959. Owen, Stephen. The Poetry of the Early T'ang. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1977. Oyama Tokujirö. Ötomo Yakamochi no kenkyü. Heibonsha, 1956. Ozaki Nobuo. "Ötomo Yakamochi no sakuhin." In Man'yöshü köza, 7 vols., ed. Hisamatsu Sen'ichi et al., vol. 6, pp. 249-269. Yüseidö, 1972. . Ötomo Yakamochi ronkö. Kasama Shoin, 1975. Philippi, Donald L., trans. Kojiki. University of Tokyo Press, 1968. 245

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Reischauer, Robert. Early Japanese History. 2 vols. 1937; rpt. Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1967. Saeki Arikiyo, ed. Shinsen shöjiroku no kenkyü. 2 vols. Yoshikawa Köbunkan, 1938. Saigö Nobutsuna. Man'yö shiki. Miraisha, 1970. Sakamoto Tarö. Nihon zenshi: Kodai 1. Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai, 1965. , Ienaga Saburö, Inoue Mitsusada, and Öno Susumu, eds. Nihonshoki. Nihon koten bungaku taikei, vol. 67-68. Iwanami Shoten, 1965-1967. Shimizu Katsuhiko. Man'yöron josetsu. Aoki Shoten, 1960. Shomin seikatsu to kizoku seikatsu. Nihon seikatsu bunkashi, vol. 2. Kawade Shobö, 1974. Suzuki Torao, ed. and trans. Cyokudai shin'ei shü. 3 vols. Iwanami Bunko, 1975. Takagi Ichinosuke and Tanabe Yukio. Man'yöshü. Nihon koten kanshö köza, vol. 3. Kadokawa Shoten, 1958. Takeda Yükichi. Jödai kokubungaku no kenkyü. Hakubunkan, 1921. . Zoku Man'yöshü. Kokin Shoin, 1926. and Imaizumi Tadayoshi, eds. Shoku Nihongi. Rikkokushi, vols. 3-5. Öokayama Shoten, 1933. Waley, Arthur. Chinese Poetry. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1946. Watson, Burton. Chinese Lyricism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1971. Yagisawa Hajime. Yüsenkutsu zenkö. Meiji Shoin, 1967. Yamaguchi Yasuharu. Man'yö no sekai to seishin. 2 vols. Nihon Kyöbunsha, 1973. Yamamoto Kenkichi. Ötomo Yakamochi. Chikuma Shobö, 1971. Yokota Ken'ichi. Hakuhö Tempyö no sekai. Sögensha, 1973. Yoshii Iwao. "Etchü no kami Yakamochi no sakuhin o megutte." Man'yö, April 1928. Rpt. in Nihon bungaku kenkyü shiryö sösho: Man'yöshü I, ed. Nihon Bungaku Kenkyü Shiryö Kankökai, pp. 208-215. Yüseidö, 1969. and Yamamoto Setsuko. "Yakamochi to sakimoritachi no deai." Nihon bungaku, Nov. 1971, pp. 31-37. Yoshinaga Minoru. "Sakimori no haishi to Ötomo ie no hitobito." In Man'yögaku ronsö, pp. 266-286. Omodaka Hakase Kiju Kinen Rombunshü Kankökai, 1966.

246

Finding List for Poems

Poems are listed by their Man'yöshü book number, poem number, and first lines. I. 5. Kasumi tatsul nagaki haru hi no, 21 36. Yasumishishii wa go ökimi no kikoshimesui ame no shita ni, 58 44. Wagimoko ol izami no yama o, 108 76. Masurao noi tomo no oto sunari, 20 II. 141. Iwashiro noi hamamatsu ga e o, 111 144. Iwashiro noI nonaka ni tateru, 111 146. Nochi mimu toi kimi ga musuberu. 111 204. Yasumishishii wa go ökimi takahikarul hi no miko, 115 205. Ökimi wal kami ni shi maseba, 116 III. 266. Ömi no umil yü nami chidori, 157 338. Shirushi nakil mono o omawazu wa, 34 339. Sake no na ol hijiri to öseshi, 35 340. Inishie noi nana no sakashiki, 35 341. Sakashimi tol mono iu yori wa, 35 342. Iwamu subel semu sube shirazu, 35 343. Nakanaka nil hito to arazu wa, 35 344. Ana minikul sakashira o su to, 35 345. Atai nakil takara to iu tomo, 35 346. Yoru hikarul tama to iu tomo, 36 347. Yo no naka noi asobi no michi ni, 36 348. Ko no yo ni shi! tanoshiku araba, 36 349. Ikeru monol tsui ni mo shinuru, 36 350. Moda oritel sakashira suru wa, 36 351. Yo no naka ol nani ni tatoemu, 29 364. Masurao noi yuzue furiokose, 20 462. Ima yori wal aki kaze samuku, 87 463. Nagaki yo ol hitori ya nemu to, 87 464. Aki sarabal mitsutsu shinoe to, 87 465. Utsusemi noi yo wa tsune nashi to, 88 247

FINDING LIST FOR POEMS

466. Win ga niwa nil hatta so sakitaru, 88 467. Toki wa shimol itsu mo aramu o, 88 468. Idete yukul michi shiramaseba, 88 469. Imo ga mishil niwa ni hana saki, 47, 89 470. Kaku nomi nil arikeru mono o, 89 471. le sakaril imasu wagimo o, 89 472. Yo no naka wal tsune kaku nomi to, 47, 89 473. Sao yama nil tanabiku kasumi, 89 474. Mukashi kosol yoso ni mo mishika, 89 475. Kakemaku mol aya ni kashikoshi iwamaku mol yuyushiki kamo, 112 476. Wa go ökimil ame shirasamu to, 112 477. Ashihiki noi yama sae hikari, 113 478. Kakemaku mol aya ni kashikoshi wa go ökimil miko no mikoto, 113 479. Hashiki kamol miko no mikoto no, 113 480. Ötomo noi na ni ou yuki oite, 114 IV. 523. Yoku watarul hito wa toshi ni mo, 65 525. Saogawa noi koishi fumiwatari, 65 527. Komu to iu mol konu toki aru o, 64 592. Yami no yo nil naku naru tazu no, 86 600. Ise no umi noi iso mo todoro ni, 86 608. Aiomowanul hito o omou wa, 86 611. Ima sara nil imo ni awame ya to, 86 612. Nakanaka nil moda mo aramashi o, 68, 87 627. Wa ga tamotol makamu to omowanu, 23 714. Kokoro ni wal omoi wataredo, 83 715. Chidori nakul sao no kawato no, 83 716. Yoru hiru toi iu waki shirazu, 83 718. Omowanu nil imo ga emai o, 84 720. Murakimo noi kokoro kudakete, 84 727. Wasuregusal wa ga shitabimo ni, 93 728. Hito mo tiakil kuni mo aranu ka, 94 729. Tanta narabal te ni mo makamu o, 94 730. Awamu yo wal itsu mo aramu o, 94 731. Via ga na wa mol chi na no io na ni, 9 4 732. Imo shiwashil na no oshikeku mo, 94 733. Utsusemi noi yo ya mo futa yuku, 94 734. Wa ga omoiI kakute arazu wa, 94 736. Tsukuyo ni wal kado ni idetachi, 96 741. Ime no ai wal kurushikarikeri, 49 743. Wa ga koi wal chibiki no iwa o, 52 744. Yû sarabal yado ake makete, 49 746. Ikeru yo nil a wa imada mizu, 97 248

FINDING LIST FOR POEMS 751. Aimite wai ikuka mo henu o, 96 755. Yo no hodoroi idetetsutsu kuraku, 97 760. Uchiwatasui takeda no hara ni, 66 762. Kamusabu toi inabu ni wa arane, 84 764. Momotose nil oijita idete, 55, 84 765. Hitoe y ama i henareru mono o, 105 767. Miyakoji oi tòmi ka imo ga, 105 768. Imi shirasui kuni no miyako ni, 105 779. Itafuki noi kurogi no yane wa, 106 780. Kurogi torii kaya mo karitsutsu, 106 781. Nubatama noi kizo wa kaeshitsu, 106 785. Wa ga yado noi kusa no ue shiroku, 83 V. 793. Yo no naka wai munashiki mono to, 48 798. Imo ga mishii auchi no hana wa, 4 7 804. Yo no naka noi sube naki mono wa, 119 805. Tokiwa nasui kaku shi mogamo to, 119 815. Mutsuki tachii haru no kitaraba, 47 818. Haru sarebai mazu saku yado no, 31 821. Aoyanagii ume to no hana o, 31 822. Wa ga sono nii ume no hana chiru, 31 833. Toshinoha nii haru no kitaraba, 31 839. Haru no no nii kiri tachiwatari, 31 840. Haru yanagii kazura ni orishi, 32 843. Ume no hanai orikazashitsutsu, 32 847. Wa ga sakarii itaku kudachinu, 32 848. Kumo ni tobui kusuri hamu yo wa, 32 892. Kaze majiei ame furu yo no, 41 893. Yo no naka oi ushi to yasashi to, 42 956. Yasumishishii wa go ôkimi ni, 195 VI. 923. Yasumishishii wa go ôkimi no takashirasui yoshino no miya wa, 58 925. Nubatama noiyo no fukeyukeba, 157 978. Onoko ya mol munashikarubeki, 25 993. Tsuki tachitei tada mikazuki no, 67 994. Furisaketei mikazuki mireba, 67 1019. Iso no kamii furu no mikoto wa, 79 1029. Kawaguchi noi nobe ni iorite, 102 1032. Ôkimi noi miyuku no manima, 103 1036. Seki naku wai kaeri ni dani mo, 103 1037. Ima tsukurui kuni no miyako wa, 109 1043. Tamakiwarui inochi wa shirazu, 111 VIII. 1441. Uchikirashii yuki wa furitsutsu, 69 1446. Haru no no nii asaru kigishi no, 70 1460. Wake ga tamei wa ga te mo suma ni, 85 249

FINDING LIST FOR POEMS

X.

XI. XII.

XIII.

1461. Hiru wa sakii yoru wa koinuru, 85 1462. Wa ga kimi nil wake wa kourashi, 85 1463. Wagimoko gai katami no nebu wa, 85 1487. Hototogisul omowazu ariki, 107 1494. Natsu yama noi konure no shige ni, 107 1495. Ashihiki nol ko no ma tachikuku, 107 1507. Ika to ika toi aru wa ga yado ni, 99 1508. Mochi kutachil kiyoki tsukuyo ni, 100 1509. Imo ga mitei nochi mo nakanamu, 100 1566. Hisakata noi amama mo okazu, 70 1567. Kumogakurii naku naru kari no, 70 1568. Amagomorii kokoro ibusemi, 68 1569. Arne haretel kiyoki teritaru, 70 1581. Ta orazutei chirinaba oshi to, 80 1582. Mezurashikii hito ni misemu to, 80 1591. Momichiba noi sugimaku oshimi, 80 1596. Imo ga iei no kadota o mimu to, 83 1597. Aki no no nil sakeru aki hagi, 50 1598. Saoshika noi asa tatsu nobe no, 108 1599. Saoshika nol muna wake ni kamo, 108 1602. Yamabiko noi aitoyomu made, 109 1603. Kono koro noi asake ni kikeba, 109 1620. Aratama nol tsuki tatsu made ni, 93 1626. Aki kaze noi samuki kono koro, 95 1629. Nemokoro nil mono o omoeba, 98 1630. Takamato nol nobe no kaobana, 98 1632. Ashihiki nol yamabe ni orite, 105 1633. Te mo suma nil ueshi hagi ni ya, 56 1634. Koromode nii mishtbu tsuku made, 56 1635. Saogawa nol mizu o sekiagete, 56 1649. Kyö furishil yuki ni kioite, 107 1853. Urne no hanal torimochite mireba, 156 1924. Masurao gai fushii nagekite, 23 2180. Nagazuki nol shigure no ame ni, 68 2199. Mono omou toi komorai orite, 68 2386. Iwao sural yukitörubeki, 21 2584. Masurao toi omoeru wäre o, 21 2635. Tsurugi tachii mi ni hakisouru, 21 2875. Ametsuchi nil sukoshi itaranu, 22 2899. Nakanaka nil moda mo aramashi o, 68 2907. Masurao noi satoki kokoro mo, 22 2987. Azusa yumil hikite yuruenu, 22 3088. Koikoromo kil nara no yama ni, 67 3253. Ashihara nol mizu ho no kuni wa, 183 250

FINDING LIST FOR POEMS

XIV. XV. XVI.

XVn.

3264. Toshi watarui made ni mo hito wa, 65 3313. Kawa no se noi ishi fumiwatari, 66 3350. Tsukuwane noi niiguwa mayo no, 95 3351. Tsukubane nil yuki kamo furaru, 108 3584. Wakarenebal uchiganashikemu, 95 3809. Akikaeshil shirasu to no minori, 95 3828. Kori nurerul tö ni na yori so, 81 3853. Iwamaro nil ware mono mösu, 81 3854. Yasuyasu mol ikeraba aramu o, 81 3919. Ao ni yoshil nara no miyako wa, 122 3920. Uzura nakilfurushi to hito wa, 123 3921. Kakitsubatal kinu ni suritsuke, 23 3957. Amazakarul hina osarne ni to, 171 3958. Masakiku tol iite shi mono o, 172 3959. Kakaramu tol kanete shiriseba, 172 3960. Niwa ni furul yuki wa chie shiku, 149 3961. Shiranami noi yosuru isomi o, 149 3962. Ökimi noi make no manimani masurao noi kokoro furiokoshi, 18,176 3963. Yo no naka wal kazu naki mono ka, Y77 3964. Yama kawa noi sokie o tòmi, Y77 3965. Haru no hanal ima wa sakari ni, 137 3966. Uguisu noi naki chirasuramu, 137 3967. Yamagai nil sakeru sakura o, 137 3968. Uguisu noi ki naku yamabuki, 137 3969. Okimi noi make no manimani shinazakarul koshi o osarne ni, 138 3970. Ashihiki noi yama sakurabana, 139 3971. Yamabuki noi shigemi tobikuku, 139 3972. Idetatamul chikara o nami to, 139 3973. Ökimi noi mikoto kashikomi, 140 3974. Yamabuki wal hi ni hi ni sakinu, 141 3975. Wa ga seko nil koi sube nakari, 141 3976. Sakeri tomol shirazu shi araba, 142 3977. Ashikaki noi hoka ni mo kimi ga, 142 3978. Imo mo ware mol kokoro wa oyaji, 164 3979. Aratama rtol toshi kaeru made, 165 3980. Nubatama noi ime ni wa motona, 165 3981. Ashihiki noi yama kihenarite, 165 3982. Haru hana noi utsurou made ni, 165 3986. Shibutani noi saki no ariso ni, 158 3989. Nago no umi noi oki tsu shiranami, 148 3991. Mononofu noi yaso tomo no o no, 170 3992. Fuse no umi noi oki tsu shiranami, 171 251

F I N D I N G LIST FOR P O E M S

4006. Kakikazoul futagami yama ni, 169 4007. Wfl ga seko wal tama ni mogamo na, 170 4011. Ökimi noi tö no mikado so, 196 4012. Yakata o noi taka o te ni sue, 198 4013. Futagami noi ote mo kono mo ni, 198 4014. Matsugaeril shii ni te are ka mo, 198 4015. Kokoro ni wal yuruu koto naku, 198 4017. Ayu no kazel itaku fukurashi, 56,148 4018. Minato kazel samuku fukurashi, 148 4019. Amazakarul hina to mo shiruku, 152 4020. Koshi no umi noi shinano no hama o, 152 4021. Okamigawal kurenai niou, 151 4022. Usakagawal wataru se ömi, 151 4023. Meigaxoa noi hayaki se goto ni, 151 4024. Tachiyama noi yuki shi kurashi mo, 151 4025. Shioji karal tada koe kureba, 152 XVin. 4036. Ika ni arul fuse no ura so mo, 133 4037. Ö no sakil kogi tamatöri, 133 4054. Hototogisul ko yo naki watare, 130 4056. Horie ni wal tama shikamashi o, 134 4058. Tachibana noi tö no tachibana, 134 4063. Tokoyo monol kono tachibana no, 135 4064. Ökimi wal tokiwa ni masamu, 135 4068. Ori akashi mol koyoi wa nomamu, 129 4070. Hito moto noi nadeshiko ueshi, 129 4071. Shinazakarul koshi no kimira to, 129 4085. Yakitachi ol tonami no seki ni, 129 4086. Aburahi noi hikari ni miyuru, 130 4088. Sayuribanal yuri mo awamu to, 130 4094. Ashihara noi mizu ho no kuni o, 17,184 4095. Masurao noi kokoro omohoyu, 185 4096. Ötomo noi tö tsu kamu oya no, 185 4097. Sumeroki noi miyo sakaemu to, 186 4098. Takamikural ama no hitsugi to, 57 4099. Inishie ol omohosurashi mo, 58 4100. Mononofu noi yaso ujtbito mo, 58 4101. Susu no ama noi oki tsu mikami ni, 166 4102. Shiratama ol tsutsumite yaraba, 166 4103. Oki tsu shimal iyuki watarite, 166 4104. Wagimoko gal kokoro nagusa ni, 166 4105. Shiratama noi iotsu tsudoi o, 167 4106. Önamuchil sukunabikona no, 191 4107. Ao ni yoshil nara ni aru imo ga, 192 4108. Satobito noi miru me hazukashi, 192 252

FINDING LIST FOR POEMS 4109. Kurenai wal utsurou mono so, 192 4110. Saburu ko gai itsukishi tono ni, 192 4111. Kakemaku mol aya ni kashikoshi Sumeroki noi kami no ömiyo ni, 162 4112. Tachibana wal hana ni mo mi ni mo, 163 4113. Ökimi noi tö no mikado to, 167 4114. Nadeshiko gal hana miru goto ni, 167 4115. Sayuribanai yuri mo awamu to, 168 4116. Ökimi noi moki no manimani torimochitei tsukauru kuni no, 149 4117. Kozo no akii aimishi manima, 150 4118. Kaku shite mol aimiru mono o, 150 4122. Sumeroki noi shikimasu kuni no, 182 4123. Kono miyurui kumo hobikorite, 182 4124. Wa ga horishii ame wa furikinu, 182 4125. Amaderasul kami no miyo yori, 179 4126. Ama no kawai hashi wataseraba, 179 4127. Yasu no kawai komukaidachite, 179 4128. Kusa makurai tabi no okina to, 142 4129. Haribukuroi toriage mae ni oki, 143 4130. Haribukuroi obi tsutsuke nagara, 143 4134. Yuki no ue nii tereru tsukuyo ni, 130 4135. Wa ga seko gal koto toni nae ni, 130 4136. Ashihiki noi yama no konure no, 75 XIX. 4139. Haru no sonò! kurenai niou, 5 5 , 1 5 3 4140. Wa ga sono noi sumomo no hana ka, 153 4141. Karu maketei monoganashiki ni, 155 4142. Haru no hi nil hareru yanagi o, 156 4143. Mononofu noi yaso otomera ga, 156 4146. Yogutachi nil nesamete oreba, 157 4147. Yogutachi nil naku kawa chidori, 157 4148. Sugi no no nil sa odoru kigishi, 158 4149. Ashihiki noi yatsu o no kigishi, 159 4150. Asadoko nii kikeba harukeshi, 159 4152. Oku yama noi yatsu o no tsubaki, 23,130 4153. Karahito mol fune o ukabete, 131 4154. Ashihiki noi yama saka koete, 193 4155. Yakata o noi mashiro no taka o, 194 4156. Aratama noi toshi yuki kawari, 195 4157. Kurenai noi koromo niowashi, 195 4158. Toshinoha nil ayu shi hashiraba, 195 4160. Ametsuchi noi töki hajime yo, 180 4161. Koto towanul ki sura haru saki, 181 4162. Utsusemi nil tsune naki mireba, 181 *53

F I N D I N G LIST F O R P O E M S

4164. Chichinomi noi chichi no mikoto, 24 4165. Masurao wai na o shi tatsubeshi, 25 4166. Tokigoto nii iya mezurashiku yachi kusa nii kusa ki hana saki, 161 4167. Tokigoto nii iya mezurashiku saku hana oi ori mo orazu mo, 161 4168. Toshinoha nii ki naku mono yue, 162 4169. Hototogisui ki naku satsuki ni, 168 4170. Shiratama noi migahoshi kimi o, 168 4174. Haru no uchi noi tanoshiki oe wa, 46 4176. Wa ga kado yui naki sugiwataru, 52 4177. Wa ga seko toi te tazusawarite, 143 4178. Ware nomi shii kikeba sabushi mo, 144 4179. Hototogisui yo naki o shitsutsu, 144 4185. Utsusemi wai koi o shigemi to, 51 4186. Yamabuki oi yado ni uete wa, 51 4189. Amazakarui hina to shi areba, 144 4190. Shikuragawai se o tazunetsutsu, 145 4191. U kawa tatei torasamu ayu no, 145 4192. Momo no hana! kurenai iro ni, 49 4193. Hototogisui naku haburi ni mo, 50 4199. Fujinami noi kage nasu umi no, 150 4205. Sumeroki noi to miyo miyo wa, 158 4206. Shibutani oi sashite wa ga yuku, 152 4207. Koko ni shitei sogai ni miyuru, 145 4208. Wa ga kokodai matedo ki nakanu, 146 4209. Tani chikakui ie wa oredomo, 146 4210. Fujinami noi shigeri wa suginu, 146 4211. Inishie nii arikeru warn no, 177 4212. Otomera gal nochi no shirushi to, 178 4213. Ayu o itamii nago no urami ni, 152 4214. Ametsuchi noi hajime no toki yu, 174 4215. Toto ni moi kimi ga nageku to, 175 4216. Yo no naka noi tsune naki koto wa, 24,175 4217. U no hana oi kutasu nagame no, 153 4230. Furu yuki oi koshi ni nazumite, 131 4231. Nadeshiko wai aki saku mono o, 131 4232. Yuki no shimai iwa ni uetaru, 131 4233. Uchihabukii tori wa naku tomo, 132 4234. Naku tori wai iyashiki nakedo, 132 4235. Amakumo ol horo ni fumiadashi, 132 4236. Arne tsuchi noi kami wa nakare ya, 132 4237. Utsutsu ni toi omoite shi ka mo, 133 4248. Aratama noi toshi no o nagaku, 202 254

FINDING LIST FOR POEMS

4249. Iwase no nil aki hagi shinogi, 202 4250. Shinazakarui koshi ni itsu tose, 202 4251. Tamahoko noi michi ni idetachi, 203 4253. Tachite itel matedo machikane, 55, 203 4254. Akizushimal yamato no kuni o, 204 4255. Aki no tokil hana kusa ni ari to, 204 4256. Inishie nil kimiga miyo hete, 203 4260. Ökimi wat kami ni shi maseba, 15 4281. Shirayuki noi furishiku yama o, 209 4285. Ömiya noi uchi ni mo to ni mo, 55 4288. Kawasu ni mol yuki wa furereshi, 213 4289. Ao yagi noi hotsue yojitori, 208 4290. Haru no no nil kasumi tanabiki, 54, 213 4291. Wa ga yado noi isasa muratake, 54, 213 4292. Uraura nil tereru harubi ni, 27, 214 XX. 4295. Takamato noi obana fukikosu, 209 4296. Ama kumo nil kari so naku nam, 210 4297. Ominaes'nil aki hagi shinogi, 210 4298. Shimo no ue nil arare tabashiri, 208 4300. Kasumi tatsul haru no hajime o, 208 4315. Miyahito noi sodetsuke goromo, 210 4316. Takamato noi miya no susomi ni, 210 4317. Aki no ni wal ima koso yukame, 210 4320. Masurao noi yobitateshikaba, 211 4322. Wa ga tsuma wal itaku koirashi, 216 4327. Wa ga tsuma mol e ni kaki toramu, 217 4331. Sumeroki noi to no mikado to, 24, 219 4332. Masurao noi yuki torioite, 220 4333. Toriga nakul azuma otoko no, 220 4334. Unahara ol töku watarite, 220 4335. Ima kawarul nii sakimori ga, 220 4336. Sakimori noi horie kogizuru, 221 4337. Mizutori noi tachi no isoki ni, 217 4346. Chichi haha gal kashira kakinade, 217 4351. Tabikoromol yae ki kasanete, 217 4352. Michi no be noi umara no ure ni, 217 4359. Tsukuchi he nil he mukaru fune no, 217 4360. Sumeroki noi töki miyo ni mo, 53, 211 4361. Sakurabanal ima sakari nari, 212 4362. Unahara noi yutakeki mitsutsu, 212 4373. Kyö yori wal kaerimi nakute, 218 4381. Kuniguni nil sakimori tsudoi, 217 4382. Futahogamil ashike hito nari, 218 4389. Shio fune noi he koso shiranami, 218 255

F I N D I N G LIST FOR P O E M S

4398. Ôkimi noi mikoto kashikomi, 221 4399. Unahara nil kasumi tanabiki, 222 4400. le omou toi i o nezu oreba, 222 4406. VVfl ga iwaro nil yukiamo hito moga, 218 4408. Ökimi noi make no manimani shimamori nil wa ga tachikureba, 222 4409. Iebito noi iwae ni ka aramu, 223 4410. Misara yukul kumo mo tsukai to, 223 4411. Iezuto nil kai so hirieru, 223 4412. Shima kage nil wa ga fune hatete, 223 4464. Hototogisul kaketsutsu kimi ga, 51 4465. Hisakata noi ama no to hiraki, 18, 224 4466. Shikishima noi yamato no kuni ni, 225 4467. Tsurugitachil iyoyo togubeshi, 226 4468. Utsusemi wal kazu naki mi nari, 226 4469. Wataru hi noi kage ni kioite, 226 4470. Mitsubo nasul kareru mi so to wa, 226 4483. Utsuriyukul toki miru goto ni, 227 4484. Saku hana wal utsurou toki ari, 228 4493. Hatsu haru noi hatsu ne no kyö no, 75 4494. Mizu tori noi kamo no ha no iro no, 75 4498. Hashikiyoshil kyö no aruji wa, 230 4501. Yachi kusa noi hana wa utsurou, 230 4506. Takamato noi no no ue no miya, 230 4509. Hau kuzu no! taezu shinowamu, 230 4515. Aki kaze noi sue fukinabiku, 231 4516. Atarashikil toshi no hajime no, 231

256

Index

Akahito. See Yamabe Akahito Ambiguity, 153 Ankan, Emperor, 7 Arima, Prince, 111-112 Asaka, Prince, 109-114,122,125,190, 206 Azuma (Eastland), 215,216 Azuma uta (Eastland songs), 108 banka. See Elegy Banquet poems, 30-34, 74-77,80-81, 128-133,202. See also Ceremonies; New Year's ceremonies and banquets Banquet under plum trees, 30-34 Buddha, Great (Todaiji), 1,16,110,122, 186-189,206 Buddha's footprint stone poems (bussokusekika), 22,57,134 Buddhism, 22, 38,41,188-190,194 Buddhist memorial ceremonies, 114 Bureaucracy, 8,15 Buretsu, Emperor, 7 Bussokusekika, 22,57,134 Capital, poems in praise of. See Court praise poems Ceremonial song, 34,58, 76-77, 79, 89-90,114-115,160,183. See also Court praise poems Ceremonies, 74-78,128,206 China, influence of, 1,15,16,25,28,29, 73, 75, 77, 78,131 Chinese, composition in, 39-41,64,136, 141,160,232-233 Chinese literature, influence of, 30, 32-54 passim, 64,201,215; on Tabito, 34-39; on Okura, 39-45; on Yakamochi, 48-54,155,214 choka, 57,97-100,114,159-161,163, 170-171,175,237 Chuai, Emperor, 5 Ch'u-hsueh Chi, 44 Civil service examinations, 10,12 Colloquial language, 55

257

Confucius, 32 Conventional verse, 66, 69,115,160-161. See also Ceremonial song; Court praise poems; Elegy Cormorant fishing, 144,196 Coup attempts. See Rebellions Court life, 15-17, 22-25, 73-80 Court poets, 34,45,114-115,160 Court praise poems, 34,45, 58-59, 69-70,109,116,170, 211 Cuckoo, 144,162 Dazaifu, 28-30,46, 60, 71,101,124,125, 126,215,234 Dialect, 56,148,216 Diet, 72,104 Divorce, 193 Dokyo, monk, 233 Draft, 101,214-216. See also Frontier guards Dyes, 151,196 Eastland, 215, 216 Eastland guards. See Frontier guards Eastland songs, 108 Elegy, 47,89-93,98-99,112-120, 132-133,171-176,195,199 Emperor, praise of, 15,59 Encyclopedias, Chinese literary, 44 Envoys (hanka), 91, 237 Etchu, 121,123,125,128,146-148; banquets, 128-133; landscape poems, 150-153; local color, 157 Frontier guards, 24,28, 214-223; poems by, 216-218; criticism of government, 218 Fujiwara family, 73,100,103,110, 111, 112,173,189,203; Hirotsugu, 100-102; Kinto, 70; Maro, 65, 66; Nakachiko, 173; Nakamaro, 173,206-207,224,227, 229,233; Tanetsugu, 235; Teika, 123; Toyonari, 173, 229; Yoshitsugu, 233,234

INDEX Funerals, 89-90,114 Furu Isonokami, 79 Futagami, Mount, 146 Fuwa pass, 102 Gemmei, Empress, 12,20 Gensho, Empress, 13, 77,134 Gold, discovery of, 184,186-188 Gosechi dance, 76-77 Governor, duties of, 126-128 Great Purification Ritual, 74 Guards, frontier. See Frontier guards Guards, imperial, 16. See also Imperial attendants (toneri)

Kiyomaro. See Nakatomi Kiyomaro Kogyoku, Empress, 7 Kojiki, 4, 5 - 6 , 57 Koken, Empress, 16, 76,110,189,190, 203,207, 216,224,227,233,234 Komyo, Empress Mother, 228 Korea, immigrants from, 29 Koshi. See Etchu Kotoku, Emperor, 7 Kume-be, 5 , 6 Kume Hironori, 131-132,136-137,145, 149, 202, 203 Kuni, capital at, 103-110,116-119, 211 Kura Nawamaro, 131-132, 203

hanka (envoys), 91, 237 Hawking, 193-194,196-199 Heian period poetry, 48, 84,121-122, 236 Heijo. See Nara Hikami Kawatsugu, 234 Hironori. See Kume Hironori Hitomaro. See Kakinomoto Hitomaro Homosexuality, 136, 210 Humor, 81,142-146

Legends. See Narrative poems; Tanabata legend; Unai, maid of Letters. See Otomo Yakamochi, letters to Ikenushi Linked verse (renga), 56 Liu Po Lun, 33 Local color, 106,157 Long poems. Seechoka Lotus Sutra, 38

Ikusa, Prince, 21 Imperial attendants (toneri), 71 Imperial edicts, 57,101-102,187-189, 193,194 Inaba, 231 Jimmu, Emperor, 5 Jinshin Rebellion, 7, 8 jo (preface), 238 Jomei, Emperor, 7 Junnin, Emperor (Prince Oi), 227, 233 Kaifuso, 232 kakekotoba (pivot word), 51, 71 Kakinomoto Hitomaro, 58, 97,114, 126,139-140,157,158,160; Collection, 21,125 Kammu, Emperor, 233, 234,235 Kamo, dancing girl, 131-133 Kamo Mabuchi, 19 Kanamura. See Kasa Kanamura Kasa Kanamura, 20,34,45,114,160; Collection, 125 Kasa, Lady (Iratsume), 86 Kasa Sami. See Manzei Keitai, Emperor, 7 Ki, Lady (Iratsume), 84-86, 93,106 Kibi Makibi, 63, 73,100 Kimmei, Emperor, 7

Makibi, 63, 73,100 Man'yoshu, 1,19,206,237; poetry, 34,43, 45, 50, 54,97,107; compilation of, 46, 47,80,121,122-126,134, 231-232,237; writing system, 52, 238; dates and contents of books, 124-125; title, 135; dedication, 205,232; preservation, 236; Book X, 66-69,125,156; Book XI, 21,66-69,125; Book XII, 21, 66-69, 125; Book XIII, 65, 66,97,125; Book XIV, 125,216; Book XV, 80,125; Book XVI, 81,125; Book XVII, 125,126; Book XVIII, 125,126; Book XIX, 125,126; Book XX, 125,215, 216, 223-224,231 Manzei, 29-30 masurao, 18-27, 59,117,119,128,175, 219,224 Michinoku, 184 Michi no Omi, 5 Mommu, Emperor, 16 mono no aware, 155-156,159 Mushimaro. See Takahashi, Mushimaro Nagaoka, 235 Nagaya, Prince, 79 Nakatomi Kiyomaro, 210,230, 234 Naniwa, 110-112,212-213, 215 Nara, 1,8,12, 78,110,122,156

258

INDEX Narrative poems, 177-179 Nawamaro. See Kura Nawamaro New Year's ceremonies and banquets, 74-77,110,131, 231 Nihonshoki, 4,5-6, 57 Nineteen Old Poems, 37 Ninigi, 4 Ninken, Emperor, 6 Oi, Prince (Emperor Junnin): 227, 233 Oiratsume. See Otomo Sakanoue Oiratsume Okisome Azumahito, 115 Okura. See Yamanoue Okura Ono Azumabito, 229 Oral composition, 108 Orange tree (tachibana), 135 Otomo: family, 4,6,117,188,189,190, 206, 207, 228; founder, 4; Michi no Omi, 5; family home, 62; family poetry collection, 69; political faction, 71, 73,204,205, 207,224, 227 229; poems in Man'yoshu, 124-125 —Fukei, 7, 8 —Fumimochi, 80,87,125 —Ikenushi, 80,136-145,169, 203,208, 209, 227,229, 231 —Inakimi, 45-46 —Kanamura, 6,13,14 —Kojihi, 224, 226,227, 229 —Komaro, 46, 211, 227, 228,235 —Miyuki, 8,12,15, 211 —Momoyo, 46 —Muruya, 6,13 —Nagatoko, 7 —Naganushi, 234 —Oiratsume. See Otomo Sakanoue Oiratsume —Sakanoue, Lady (Iratsume), 29, 60-69,93,124,125,168 —Sakanoue Oiratsume, 93-99,102,105, 109,164,166,168,196 —Tabito, 12-13, 28, 30,31, 32,34-39, 45, 47,48, 60, 62, 92,124,126,195 —Tsugihito, 235 —Umakai. See Otomo Nagatoko —Umakuta, 7 —Yakamochi: importance, 2; modernity, 3,26-27,156,157,180-200,214,236; use of old-fashioned materials, 3, 25, 57-61, 91, 98-99,108,109,114-120,121, 125,170,171-176, 201,211-212; individuality, 3,26-27,93,98-100,117, 121,167,180-200, 201,214; concern with Otomo clan and former glory, 4,

17-18,26-27,59,117; bom, 13; use of masurao, 18, 23-26; youth in Dazaifu, 45; influence of Okura on, 46,47, 118-119,139-140,180; influence of Dazaifu poetry on, 46-47, 60-61; Chinese influence on, 48-54,155,214; technical experimentation, 50-57, 60-61; "spring sadness", 53,214; use of dialect, 56; first renga, 56; editing Man'yoshu, 57,121,123-126; use of court praise poem form, 57-59, 109,170, 211-212; guidance of Lady Sakanoue, 60, 63, 64; education,63-64; composition in Chinese, 64,141; influence of Lady Sakanoue, 67-69; and Man'yoshu Books X to XII, 68-69; and court conventions, 69-70; as imperial attendant, 71; humor, 81,142-146; love affairs and poetry, 82-87; observation of feeling, 83; mistress, 87; use of elegy, 91-93, 98-99,114-120,171-176, 195,199; courting Oiratsume, 93-99; use of chdka, 97-100,159-200; use of local color, 105-106,157; observation of nature, 106-108,121,148-152; and Prince Asaka, 109-114; as governor of Etchu, 128; as Otomo and masurao, 117,128,158,176,190,207, 219,224; letters to Ikenushi, 136-145; gate of mountain persimmon, 139; and Etchu scenery, 146-152,157,169; deliberate ambiguity, 153-155; maiden on path poem, 153-155; mono no aware, 155-156,159; longing for past, 157, 211; daughter, 173,207; promoted, 189, 201; and Great Buddha, 189-190; hawking, 194-195,196-200; return to Nara, 201-204; against Tachibana Naramaro revolt, 207,224-227; head of clan, 208; alienation, 213,214,230; and frontier guards, 214-223; as governor of Inaba, 231; end of poetry, 231-232; as governor of Satsuma, 233; and Fujiwara Yoshitsugu rebellion, 233; and Hikami Kawatsugu rebellion, 234; death, 235; banishment, 235 —Yasumaro, 7, 8,12 Palaces, poems in praise of. See Court praise poems Pillow word (makura kotoba), 71, 238 Pine, tying branch of, 111 Pivot word (kakekotoba), 51, 71

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INDEX Plum blossoms, 33 Poems in praise of capitals, palaces. See Court praise poems Point of view, 221 Popular song (saibara), 104 Post horse system, 193 Preface (jo), 238 Pretended confusion, 33,155 Progression of poems, 92,112-120 Provincial government, 126,128 Provincial life, 121,125-136 Provincial temples, 127-128 Public elegy, 114 Quiver bearers (kume-be), 5, 6 Ranks, system of, 8-12,17 Rebellions: Jinshin, 7, 8; led by Fujiwara Hirotsugu, 100-102; led by Tachibana Naramaro, 122,190,206-207, 224, 228-229; led by Fujiwara Yoshitsugu, 233; led by Hikami Kawatsugu, 234 renga, 56 Rhyme, 53 Ritual. See Ceremonies Saeki family, 188,189,190,206,228 Saibara, 104 Sakanoue, Lady (Iratsume). See Otomo Sakanoue, Lady (Iratsume) Sakimaro. See Tanabe Sakimaro Salaries, 10,12 Sao, 12, 62,122 Sashes, tying of, 111 Satsuma, 233 Sawara, Prince, 234-235 Sedoka, 57 Seed grain loans, 128,151 Seinei, Emperor, 6 Senka, Emperor, 7 Series of poems. See Progression of poems Shigaraki, 110,122 Shiko, 218 Shomu, Emperor, 16,39, 76, 78-79, 100-102,104,110,112,122,127,135, 186-187,189,206,210,213,224,227, 228,230 Shosoin, 1 Six Dynasties Chinese poetry, 33, 44, 48-54,64,155,214 Smallpox epidemic, 71-73,101 Spring sadness, 53 Social verse, 48,92,97 Souls, 84,91, 111, 195,199

Suinin, Emperor, 5 Sukune, 56 Tachibana Moroe, 73, 76,101,103,109, 110,123,125,133-135,163,203, 205-208,224, 227,229 Tachibana Naramaro, 80,186,189,190, 206-207, 208,215, 216,224,227, 229 tachibana (orange tree), 163 Takahashi Mushimaro, 126,178; Collection, 125,178 Takamato, Mount, 78,209, 210, 230, 321 TaleofGenji, The, 29 Tanabata legend, 66,179-180 Tanabe Sakimaro, 109,133-134; Collection, 134 tanka, vii, 57,159-161,237 T'ang poetry, 33, 44 T'ao Ch'ien, 37,43,44, 50 Temmu, Emperor, 7,13,14,15 Temples, building of, 101 Thirty-six poetic geniuses, 70 Todaiji, 1,16,127,186,189 toneri (imperial attendants), 71 Twin Peak Mountain (Futagami yama), 146 UkashiofUda, 5 Unai, maid of, 177-178 Underrobes, 95 University, 63 Wang Hsi-chih, 33 Warrior nobility, 14,15 Warriors. See masurao Wen Hsiian, 37, 38,43, 48, 64 Wine, poems on, 34-38 Word spirit (kotodama), 96 Yakamochi. See Otomo Yakamochi Yaihabe Akahito, 34,45, 58,139-140, 157,160 Yamanoue Okura: 29,30,39, 60,92,126, 139-140,180,181,191; poems by, 25, 31, 41-43,47; influence on Yakamochi, 25,46,118-119,139-140,180-181; essay by, 39-40; Chinese influence on, 39-45 Yamato state, 14 Yamato Takeru, 5 Yi-wen Lei-chii, 44 Yoshino, 58-59 Yu-hsien K'u, 41, 48,49 Yuryaku, Emperor, 6 Yu-t'ai Hsin-yung, 48, 52, 53-54, 214

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