KKS 67
Text
桜の花の咲けりけるを見にまうできたりける人によみて送りける
Written and sent to a person who came to see the cherry blossoms that had bloomed
躬恒
わがやどの花みがてらにくる人はちりなん後ぞ恋しかるべき
|
waga yado no |
To my garden |
Notes
- only come to see
- The gatera suffix means that someone has come ostensibly to visit Mitsune, but that is only a pretext for their actual desire to see the flowers.
Other sources:
Analysis
This is another poem at the close of the first volume that looks forward to the falling blossoms. It is a personally addressed poem, uncommon in the KKS.
The translation above follows the interpretation of some scholars (including Katagiri), but there are a range of interpretations. Despite what a few commentators (such as Kagawa Kageki in Seigi) say, it seems unlikely that the poem expresses true anger or annoyance at the visitor. Kubota(1937) may be right that this was composed in response to their farewell poem, and the possible tone of anger and annoyance would be a friendly jest rather than serious. The Shintaikei edition thinks this establishes a connection with the visitor over their shared appreciation for the flowers.
Since the target of the last line is not specified, it is also possible for the feeling to refer to the visitor -- that is, "You will miss the flowers [me] when you no longer visit." This is a minority opinion but found in Takeoka and the Waka bungaku taikei (2023). Takeoka's explanation is more elaborate, drawing on the same ideas he has expressed in surrounding poems about the flower being a metaphor for a woman. In this case, the poem also takes on the meaning of "you should be paying more attention to my beautiful daughter." In Takeoka's reading, the gatera indicates annoyance that the visitor had to use a pretext to see the flowers when he should have just come with that sole purpose. This is an idiosyncratic interpretation that no other scholar seems to mention.
The poem itself has been praised since the Heian period. In addition to its inclusion in the collections mentioned above, the Waka jittei assigned this poem to the yojo (extra feeling) category. Several Heian treatises pointed to this as the embodiment of how poetry should be, and a later source says that the poet Nōin named it as one of three poems used in the rites of veneration towards Hitomaro (the "god of poetry").
