KKS 23

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Text

題しらず

Topic unknown

在原行平朝臣

Lord Ariwara no Yukihira

春のきる霞の衣ぬきをうすみ山風にこそみだるべらなれ

haru no kiru kasumi no koromo nuki wo usu-mi yamakaze ni koso midaru bera-nare

The spring wears A robe made out of haze Whose weave is thin So it is the mountain wind That will soon cause its disarray.

Notes

Other sources:

• Kokin waka rokujō | Shinsen waka
• Teika hachidaishō

Analysis

This poem personifies spring as wearing the haze like clothing, an image that may derive from Chinese precedent. It extends the metaphor through several engo (associated words) with clothing.

The basic meaning of the poem is clear -- the wind blowing away the haze is like a thin, ragged cloth tearing apart. Kaneko(1927) perhaps takes things too seriously when he notes that haze doesn't really look like clothing. He resorts to the idea that this is spring cast as a heavenly maiden wearing the haze as clothes, which may be taken from a medieval commentary theory that this has to do with Saohime, the goddess of spring. Takeoka and Katagiri both reject this idea. Miura(1943) contrasts this strong mountain wind with the normal delicate spring wind, which might preserve the "clothing" of the haze.

While Kaneko found the use of engo a flaw, Miura praised their use. Kubota(1937) thought that despite Yukihira being a generation prior to the compilers, he wrote a poem in a newer style that was favored in the KKS era.

Matsuda(1968) notes the link between the "clothing" of this poem and the "sleeves" in the previous poems. Katagiri also says that Yukihira often wrote poetry like this one, which involves no feeling from the poet, just an evocation of the scene -- but the personification of spring still gives it skill.

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