KKS 7
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
|
kokorozashi |
My heart's affection |
ある人のいはく、前太政大臣の歌なり。
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:
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. Katagiri sees a common KKS theme here, of the poet's feeling overriding what is in front of his eyes. There is a clear link to the previous poem; now that the warbler has cried, we can see the snow as flowers (see Chokudenkai).
Kaneko(1927) has harsh words for this poem -- he says that the poet was simply copying a Chinese theme and not putting any new ideas into it like other great poets did. Kubota(1937) seems to agree, noting that the plain and direct style may not have appealed to the compilers. Other modern compilers do not take such a harsh position, but there also seems to be not much praise for this poem among the Japanese scholars. Cranston does praise the poem's lightness and playfulness, and calls the "can't fully melt" phrase "delightfully inflected."
The other question of interpretation around this poem is where the snow is. Starting with Takanao, many scholars interpret this as snow in the mountains. Those who interpreted the third line verb as "break" saw it as snow on the branch instead. As I mentioned in the Notes section, some scholars say that the subject of the poem may be the warbler from poem 6, with this poem explaining why the warbler sees the snow as flowers -- this would also seem to require the snow to be on the branch the warbler is sitting on.
