KKS 3

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Text

題しらず

Topic unknown

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

春霞たてるやいづこ　みよしのの吉野の山に雪はふりつつ

harukasumi tate-ru ya izuko miyoshino no yoshino no yama ni yuki wa furi-tsutsu

The spring haze Where is it rising? Yoshino Mountain, On holy Yoshino, The snow keeps falling down.

Notes

Yoshino Mountain, on holy Yoshino

The repetition of the name seems to be both for praise of the "holy" mountain as well as poetic rhythm. The mountain is often associated with snow in poetry.

Other sources:

• Shinsen waka | Wakan rōeishū
• Korai fūteishō | Teika hachidaishō

Analysis

This poem picks up on the winter imagery of the ice in the previous poem and brings in the snow on Yoshino Mountain. The poem also uses a technique that will recur in a number of the following poems -- the mention of a particular spring symbol (haze, in this case) even though it is not actually present to the poet. McCullough says that this is introducing a new topic, "lingering traces of winter in the new year," and that it shows the tendency for the compilers to place anonymous poems before those by named poets in a particular grouping.

Mabuchi noted the simplicity and directness of this poem in contrast to the intricate composition of poem 2. This was echoed by Kaneko(1927) who contrasted the lack of poetic technique with the strong composition, carrying echoes of Nara-period poetry. McCullough also picks up on the contrast between the "artful" poem 2 and the "simple, songlike" poem 3. Cranston praises the "pleasant" sound of the poem's repetition and multiple "y" sounds.

The major question of interpretation in this poem is whether the mist is real or not. That is, the poem can be read in two ways:

1. Where can this mist I see be rising from, since there's still snow on Yoshino?
2. It's spring, so despite snow still falling on Yoshino there must be mist rising somewhere even though I don't see it.

Sōgi says that the snow obscuring the peaks suggests haze to the poet since it's spring. Norinaga also says the poet does not see haze, and Takanao agrees. Kagawa (Seigi) is a chief proponent of the other view, that the poet is looking at a hazy sky and bemoaning its rarity, since it is spring. Modern commentators generally take the view that the haze is not actually there, partially based on the position of the poem in the anthology. Takeoka provides another possible explanation: the original unknown poet intended the haze to be actually there, but the compilers read it as not there based on their placement. Finally, Katagiri looks with suspicion on all of this debate -- so many of the poems in the KKS are screen poems or poetry competitions, so what meaning does "actual" have? His reading is that a person in snowy Yoshino village is looking at the snow and thinking about how haze must be rising in the capital.

Keichū was the first to note a similarity between this poem and MYS 823:

梅の花散らくはいづくしかすがにこの城きの山に雪は降りつつ

Where are the plums scattering? Here on Mount Ki snow keeps falling.

Takeoka contrasts the "artful construction" of the MYS poem with the more direct and relaxed feeling of the KKS poem.

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