KKS Kanajo 9

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Translation

かくこの度、集め選らばれて、山下水の絶えず、浜の真砂まさごの数多く積りぬれば、今は飛鳥河あすかがはの瀬になるうらみも聞こえず、さざれ石の巌いはほとなるよろこびのみぞあるべき。

それ、枕言葉は、春の花匂ひ少なくして、むなしき名のみ秋の夜の長きをかこてれば、かつは人の耳に恐り、かつは歌の心に恥思へど、たなびく雲の立居たちゐ、鳴く鹿の起き臥しは、貫之らがこの世に同じく生むまれて、この事の時にあへるをなんよろこびぬる。

人麿ひとまろ亡くなりにたれど、歌の事とどまれるかな。たとひ時移り、事去り、楽しみ・悲び行き交うとも、この歌の文字あるをや。青柳あをやぎの糸絶えず、松の葉の散り失うせずして、まさきの葛かづら永く伝はり、鳥の跡久くとどまれらば、歌の様さまをも知り、事の心を得たらん人は大空おほぞらの月を見るがごとくに、古いにしへを仰あふぎて、今を恋ひざらめかも。

Thus on this occasion [the poems] have been selected, and are like the ceaseless flow of underground water, and as numerous as grains of sand on a beach. No more do we hear the regret of Asuka River becoming shallow; there is only the joy of a pebble growing into a boulder.

These words have little of the beauty of spring flowers, but knowing this humble name will last as long as the autumn nights, on the one hand fearing what people will say, on the other hand feeling shame before the heart of poetry, Tsurayuki and the others have risen and sat like the trailing clouds and slept and woke like the crying deer, born into the same world we are overjoyed to meet this time.

Though Hitomaro has died, has his poetry really ceased? Though ages pass and things pass away, joy and sorrow both depart, the letters of these poems will remain. Like the endless thread of willows, just as the pine leaves do not fall, if this is transmitted as long as the star jasmine, and the bird tracks remain for long ages, then will people who know the style of poetry and the heart of things will look to the past as they look at the moon, and long for this time?

Notes

Asuka River becoming shallow

See KKS 933; the metaphor is for the decline of waka from the golden age of Hitomaro.

Pebble growing into a boulder

[[KKS 343]; metaphor for the return to glory of the waka.

These words

The meaning of sore makurakotoha (as it is written in most texts) has been a matter of dispute for a long time and there is no definitive answer. Even the way the word should be parsed and voiced is questioned. The editor of the base text, by assigning kanji and adding the topic particle wa, interprets it as "these pillow words," whatever he thought that meant. As Takeoka notes, the term "pillow word" to refer to the fixed attributive phrases (like hisakata no) was not in use at the time, and he interprets this more generally as poetic phrases and imagery. Katigiri interprets the "pillow words" as the Kana Preface itself, acting as a "pillow" for the collection. Many other commentaries have related this to the parallel passage in the Mana Preface and suggested a miscopying; what the original miscopied text was varies in details but the result means "We [the compilers]."

risen and sat...

This and the next clause seem to be a metaphor for the compilers' daily life.

meet this time

The Japanese text says meet the time of this thing; Takeoka interprets this generally as the poetic activity of Daigo's court, while Katagiri inteprets it as the KKS itself.

Analysis

The concluding section uses a lot of poetic imagery and humble language to express the basic idea of joy at the completion of the project, and hope that the collection will preserve the age's poetry for future generations. Katagiri sees this section as more personal than the others, and thinks that Tsurayuki is talking especially about his own poetry, placing himself aside Hitomaro. Tsurayuki is indeed the best represented poet in the collection, but I wonder whether he would intend to praise his own poetry to such an extent in this kind of preface.

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