KKS 7

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Text

題しらず

Topic unknown

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

心ざし深くそめてしおりければ消えあへぬ雪の花と見ゆらん

My heart's affection Deeply stained, I sit here And that is why The snow that can't fully melt Seems to appear as flowers.

ある人のいはく、前太政大臣さきのおほきおほいまうちきみの歌なり。

A certain person says this is a poem by the former Chancellor.

Notes

I sit

The big puzzle of this poem is whether oru should read as "break [off a branch] (折る)", "sit (居る)", or perhaps a play on both words. The kana spelling is no help since they are both written the same, and early manuscripts are inconsistent in their kana writing. Generally speaking, the pre-Edo commentaries support "break off" or a play on both words, while newer commentaries support "sit". Teika supported the "break" reading, which resulted in medieval commenters following his lead. Takeoka and Katagiri both give extensive coverage of previous theories before advancing their own.

Takeoka thinks both readings are possible -- if it is "break", it might be a branch that was used as a topic for the poem, and this is the most sensible reading in isolation. In the context of the KKS, however, "sit" makes more sense, and Takeoka thinks the subject is the warbler from poem 6. Katagiri rejects the "break" view and thinks the criticism of "sit" is based on a long-standing doubt about whether that word is appropriate in poetry. However, we should not expect pre-KKS anonymous poems to conform to later Heian poetic taste. Katigiri's reading is that the poet is standing and obsessing over the branches, waiting for the flowers to bloom. However, he does support Takeoka's idea about the warbler as a valid reading.

Another problem with this line is the use of the keri suffix, which is unusual if the action is being done by the poet. Takeoka suggests a detached narrative stance. Otherwise it may be a realization.

A certain person...

A number of poems in the KKS have these "left comments" (sachū 左注, named because they are written to the left of the poems) giving alternate authorship or contexts. Similar sachū appeared in the Man'yōshū. These caused a problem for some commentators because the KKS and other imperial collections were considered to be historically accurate records. Mabuchi thought they were all wrong and added by later copyists; he doesn't think that the four compilers, acting under Imperial commission, would have put doubtful attributions like this into the text. Some later commentators such as Matsuda(1968) agree with this. Others take an agnostic stance, allowing the possibility that the compilers included a traditional but doubtful attribution with the text.

The "former Chancellor" is Fujiwara no Yoshifusa (804-872), the first to hold the title of Chancellor. "Former" is used because Fujiwara no Mototsune later held the position.

Other sources:

• Korai fūteishō

Analysis

The previous poem suggested that the crying warbler was mistaking the snow for flowers. Now, the poet has this same confusion, and realizes that their heart, deeply infused by a wish for the flowers to bloom, has caused this confusion. The same mitate technique is used as in the previous poem.

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