KKS 62+63

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Text

桜の花の盛りに、久しく訪はざりける人の来たりける時によみける

Read when, amidst the full bloom of the cherry blossoms, someone who had not visited for a long time came

よみ人しらず

Poet unknown

あだなりと名にこそたてれ桜花年にまれなる人も待ちけり

ada nari to na ni koso tatere sakurabana toshi ni mare naru hito mo machi-keri

Inconstant and flighty Is their reputation, but The cherry blossoms They seem to have waited For one who rarely comes.

返し

Response

業平朝臣

Lord Ariwara no Narihira

けふこずはあすは雪とぞ降なましきえずは有とも花とみましや

kyō ko-zu wa asu ha yuki to zo furi-na-mashi kiezu wa ari tomo hana to mi-mashi ya

If I'd not come today Tomorrow they'd have fallen As if they were snow. Though they would not have melted, I wouldn't see them as flowers.

Notes

Other sources:

• 61:
  • Teika hachidaishō
• 62:
  • Kokin waka rokujō
  • Teika hachidaishō

Analysis

This is the first poem exchange in the KKS. Exchanges are comparatively rare in this collection, with only 18 in the entire compilation. This is possibly because the KKS was attempting to focus on "public" poetry for reasons of prestige. It is notable that 7 of the 18 exchanges involve Narihira, with 5 of those being in the love volumes.

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