KKS 26
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 ]
青柳のいとよりかくる春しもぞ乱れて花のほころびにける
|
aoyagi no |
The blue willow |
Notes
A few manuscripts put this poem after KKS 27 which would attribute the poem to Bishop Henjō. The Kokin waka rokujō also credits Henjō for the poem.
- Thread / chaotic / bud
- There are a series of engo (related words) for clothing: "thread", haru ("spring" and "stretch (cloth"), and hokorobu ("tear (cloth") and "bud forth"). Some commentators apply the "chaotic" to profusely blooming blossoms as well, but Takeoka and Katagiri both reject this because it is too early in the season for that kind of poem.
Other sources:
Analysis
This poem follows from the previous one in its use of the clothing imagery -- Kaneko(1927) found it too similar to poem 23, although the specific imagery is different. Everyone seems to agree with Tsuneyori that the clothing is just used for wordplay or metaphor. The wordplay evokes the scene as well as playfully suggesting that the willows cause the flowers to come forth.
Although the poem does not appear in any pre-modern selections of good poetry, it receives the usual extravagant praise by modern scholars that most Tsurayuki poems do. Miura(1943) thought there was an interesting conflict between the elegance of the poem and the chaos of the imagery, and with the use of engo and the personification of the willow, this shows Tsurayuki's skill. Kubota(1937) found the poem complex, beautiful, and fresh. Takeoka pointed to the delicacy of the imagery along with the chaos, and Matsuda(1968) thought it showed Tsurayuki's personal skill.
Kubota and Matsuda also saw Chinese influence here, particularly to Six Dynasties poetry. The metaphor of thread for willow fronds, as well as the "chaotic" growing willows, are both found in such sources.
