KKS Kanajo 8

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Translation

かかるに、今、すべらきの天の下しろしめす事、四つの時、九返ここのかへりになんなりぬる。あまねき御おほんうつくしみの波、八島やしまの外ほかまで流がれ、広き御おほん恵みのかげ筑波つくは山の麓よりも繁くおはしまして、万の政まつりごとをきこしめす暇いとま、諸々もろもろの事を捨すたまはぬ余りに、古の事をも忘れじ、ふりにしことをも起こしたまふとて、今も見そなはし、後の世にも伝はれとて、延喜五年四月十八日に大内記だいないき）紀友則、＜御書、ごしょの所の預あづかり紀貫之、先の甲斐の少目官さうくわん凡河内躬恒おふしかうちのみつね、右衛門うゑもんの府生ふしゃう壬生忠岑みぶのただみねらに仰せられて、万葉集まんえふしふに入らぬ古き歌、自らのをもたてまつらしめたまひてなん。

それが中にも、梅をかざすより始めて、郭公ほととぎすを聞き、紅葉を折り、雪を見るに至るまで、また鶴・亀に付けて君を思ひ、人をも祝ひ、秋萩・夏草を見て妻を恋ひ、逢坂あふさか山に至りて手向たむけを祈りり、あるは春・夏・秋・冬にも入らぬ草々の歌をなん選ばせたまひける。すべて千歌、二十巻はたまき、名づけて古今和歌集と言ふ。

Then, the current Emperor has now ruled the land for nine turnings of the four seasons. The waves of his all-encompassing beneficence have gone beyond the eight islands, and the shadow of his broad blessing is deeper than that at the foot of Mount Tsukuha. In moments of leisure from his many governmental tasks, he has not neglected any of the various rites, and therefore, so that the things of old will not be forgotten, and that which has lapsed will be restored, he has seen to this himself, and wishes to transmit to later generations. So on the 18th day of the 4th month of the 5th year of Engi, he commanded Imperial Scribe Ki no Tomonori, Book Master Ki no Tsurayuki, Former Minor Official of Kai Province Oshikochi no Mitsune, and Right Guards Official Mifu no Tadamine, to present old poems that were not included in the Man'yōshū as well as their own poems.

Among these, they chose poems beginning with poems about adoring one's cap with plum blossoms, hearing cuckoos, breaking off colored leaves, and extending to those about seeing snow; also, praising one's lord by comparison to cranes and turtles, longing for one's wife on seeing autumn hagi and summer grasses, and praying for safe passage at Ōsaka Mountain, and then various poems that do not fit as spring, summer, autumn, or winter. They were collected into 20 volumes of 1000 poems, and named the "Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern."

Notes

current Emperor

Daigo. The 9th year of his reign was the 5th year of the Engi period (905).

eight islands

"Eight" is the usual term for "all," so this represents Japan. The reference here is simply to praise Daigo's rule rather than point to any specific way that his influence has spread beyond Japan.

Tsukuha mountain

This may be a reference to KKS 1095.

Among these...

This section in turn refers to major divisions of the collection: seasonal poems, congratulatory poems, love poems, and miscellaneous poems. The symbols mentioned are probably not intended to refer to any specific poems in the collection.

Analysis

This section explains the commission of the anthology as well as a precis of its contents. The content description omits some of the sections, and the anthology contains more than "old poems" and "poems of the compilers." The description here also contains other problematic passages that have never been fully explained.

The specific date given has been interpreted in several ways, all of which are grammatically possible: (1) the date that Daigo commissioned the anthology, (2) the date that the initial selection of poems was made, and (3) the date of the presentation of the collection to the Emperor. This uncertainty is not really about interpretation of the Japanese text -- the third interpretation makes the most sense in the context of the preface to the collection, but it creates chronological problems. There are poems in the KKS that are explicitly later than 905, and also later than 906 (the last year Tsurayuki held the position assigned to him in the preface). A preface in the Tsurayuki Collection mentions an earlier date. The Manajo preface also refers to a two-step process in the compilation, with an earlier version called the Zoku man'yoshu. In any case, the questions about the exact dates of the KKS cannot be solved by this passage.

The other issue is the claim that the collection contains 1000 poems, when all complete manuscripts of the collection have closer to 1100 poems. It could be that this is just a round number, but rounding down from 1100-ish to 1000 seems rather extreme. Two other possibilities have been offered. One is that this 1000 number refers only to the first 18 volumes of "proper" waka, excluding the last two volumes. Another is that this refers to the version of the KKS that existed when the preface was written, which had around 1000 poems, and it was later expanded with roughly 100 poems (including those mentioned above that were written after 905).

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