KKS 22

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Text

「歌たてまつれ」とおほせられし時、詠みてたてまつる

When [the Emperor] said "Submit a poem," [Tsurayuki] read this and submitted it.

貫之

Ki no Tsurayuki

春日野の若菜摘みにや白妙しろたへの袖ふりはへて人の行くらん

kasugano no wakana tsumi ni ya shirotae no sode furi-hae-te hito no yuku-ran

To pick young shoots Are they off to Kasuga? Of white fabric The sleeves waving they march The people are going.

Notes

"Submit a poem"

This is Emperor Daigo's request; he is not named because the KKS was presented to him. The exact circumstance is not given. This may have been a screen painting poem, which were often done in response to imperial command, or perhaps a poem at a gathering or official occasion.

Of white fabric

shirotae no is a pillow word for "sleeve," or other clothing related words. It may also actually indicate a while color for the clothing.

Sleeves waving they march

This seems to be a play on sode furu (waving sleeves) and also furi-haete (making effort, going through trouble). A few scholars have suggested that the entire phrase "white sleeves" is simply a preface (jo) with no actual image in the poem, but most commentators allow it to be a "preface with meaning" (yūshin no jo), that is, a preface that also indicates the actual imagery in the poem.

Other sources:

• Kokin waka rokujō | Shinsen waka
• Korai fūteishō | Shūka daitai | Teika hachidaishō

Analysis

This is the last of the spring shoot poems. Matsuda(1968) sums up the six spring shoot poems as showing a movement through time, from the burning field to the people going out to pick shoots. There is also a connection in place, with Kasuga used several times.

The main interpretive question of this poem is who is speaking it and where they are. The crux is Kasuga Plain, which is near Nara. Therefore Tsurayuki cannot be honestly thinking that anyone he sees is going to Kasuga Plain. From the earliest commentary through the Edo period, this seems to have been read as simply an evocation of a spring scene, with Mabuchi specifying that it was an imaginary situation.

Kagawa (Seigi) was the first to specify that these are women going out to pick shoots; as Katagiri notes in a previous poem, this shoot-picking was especially associated with women. Kaneko(1927) agrees, saying that the poet is looking on the women with jealousy, wishing that he(?) could go too. Kaneko's praise for the poem is strong -- he notes the use of "people" to accentuate the difference between the poet and the women. He goes on to praise the structure of the poem as a perfect one from Tsurayuki, and one that is especially fitting for a public poem in response to Imperial command. Miura(1943) echoes Kaneko but specifies that the imagined poet is also a girl, who is busy with housework and can't go out. In contrast to Kaneko, Miura thinks this is a poem uncharacteristic of Tsurayuki with its light, bright nature -- Kubota(1937) agrees with the brightness and freshness.

Takeoka's first claim is that this is being written in the voice of someone from the Nara period, because the weight of utamakura (poetic places) was so strong that he felt compelled to use Kasuga in his poetry. But he allows for the possibility that Tsurayuki did actually see people going out to pick shoots and wondered jokingly if they were going to the poetically appropriate Kasuga.

Katagiri's assertion that this is a screen painting is perhaps the most convincing reading. There are other poems in Tsurayuki's collection that involve spring shoots and are on screen paintings. The joy and brightness that other scholars note would fit such a public, ceremonial occasion.

The poem appears in Mibu no Tadamine's Waka jittei as an example of an "old style poem." This may be because of the use of the preface, or Kasuga Plains which is suggestive of the old capital in Nara. It was favored by Shunzei and Teika, as well as Tō no Tsuneyori who called it a grand, eloquent poem. Mabuchi had strong praise for it as well, calling it elegant, and saying that each word is excellently chosen.

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