KKS 78

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Text

逢知れりける人のまうできて、帰りにける後のちに、よみて花にさしてつかはしける　

Someone he knew visited, and then after they left, he composed this and sent with a flower attached.

つらゆき

Ki no Tsurayuki

ひとめみし君もやくると桜花けふは待ちみてちらばちらなん

hitome mi-shi kimi mo ya kuru to sakurabana kyō wa machi-mi-te chira-ba chira-nan

Only glimpsed briefly, You will perhaps visit, So cherry blossoms, Try waiting for today Then if you will fall, fall.

Notes

someone he knew

The phrasing is used in love poetry to mean someone who the poet had a romantic relationship with. However, here it probably just means a friend -- it would be unusual for the woman to visit the man.

attached to a flower

This was a common practice in the period for all kinds of letters and poems.

Analysis

This is an example of a "private" poem, relatively uncommon in the KKS. Commentators differ on exactly what the message is supposed to communicate to the addressee, however.

There is general agreement that this is inviting the addressee to come back, expressing this wish indirectly through the request that the flowers wait just one more day. Kubota(1937) sees the poem as angry, and thinks the addressee would have felt chastened. This seems to be a minority view though, with most other commenters seeing it as a more elegant invitation. There are differences on small details, like whether the flower sent with the letter is showing signs of fading, or whether the message is sent right after the person leaves or later. But on the whole the expression seems clear.

Katagiri thinks that the wording of the prose preface and the expression of the poem are meant to suggest a romantic affair, with Tsurayuki taking the post of the "flower" (the woman) waiting for a man to return who she has only "seen" (i.e. had sex with) once. Such a pose would not be unusual for Tsurayuki, and other such homosocial poetry exchanges between men can be found throughout the Heian period.

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