English
SOME TANKA No Edward FitzGerald has yet come to give us an English metrical version of the best Tanka of the Wanyo- shiu and Kokinshiu. A prose rendering must serve in the meantime. The translations correspond mostly line for line to the original. The following are ten of a set of thirteen Tanka com- posed in praise of saké by Otomo-no-Yakamochi (died 785), after Hitomaro and Akahito, the most distinguished poet of his day. This is not a very common theme of MANYOSHIU 43 the Japanese poet, and its choice 1s probably due to _ Chinese influence. “Ah! how true was that saying Of the great sage Of the times of old, Who gave to saké The name of ‘ Sage.” “Tt was saké That was the thing most loved, Even by the seven wise men Of the days of old” “ Better than talk That would be wise, Were it even to drink saké Until you weep tears Of drunkenness.” “ More than 1 can say, More than I can do to show zt, An exceeding noble thing Ls sake.” “Uf tt turned out That I were aught else but man, 1 would be A sakézjar, For then I should get soaked.” “ Hateful in my eyes Ts the sententious prig Who will not drink saké. When I look on such a one L find him to resemble an ape.” “ Talk of priceless treasures! Can they be more precious Than a single cup Of thick saké?” 1 The official edition of the A/anyoshiu has bestowed eight pages of com- mentary on this last stanza, a4 JAPANESE LITERATURE “ Talk of jewels Which shine by night! Can they give so much pleasure As drinking saké > To drive away ones care?” “ Many are the ways Of this world’s pleasures ; But none to my mind Is like that of getting mellow, Even to tears.” “ So long as in this world I have my pleasure, In the future existence What care I though I become An insect or a bird?” Spring is a more favourite subject. The following are by various authors :— “ On the plum blossoms Thick fell the snow ; I wished to gather some To show to thee, But it melted in my hands.” “ The plum blossoms fad already been scattered, But notwithstanding The white snow Has fallen deep in the garden.” “ Among the hills The snow still lies— But the willows Where the torrents rush togetker Arein full bud.” “O thou willow That I see every morn, FHlasten to become a thick grove Whereto the nightingale} May resort and sing.” : % ‘. rs fe Pag ge ee yp ae The bird which it is necessary in an English translation to call the nightip- gale is not our songster, but an alled species, the Uguisu or Cettia cantam, MANYOSHIU | 45 “ Before the wind of spring ffas tangled the fine threads Of the green willow— Now, I would show it To my love.” “ The time of the cherry blossoms Is not yet past— Yet now they ought to fall Whilst the love of those who look on them Is at tts height.” “ Fall gently O thou rain of spring ! And scatter not The cherry flowers Until I have seen them.” “ When I went out Over the moor, Where the haze was rising, The nightingale sang ; Spring, tt seems, has come.” “ My days pass in longing, And my heart melts Like the hoar-frost On the water-plants When spring has come.” “In yearning love I have endured till night. But to-morrow’s long spring day With tts rising mists, How shall I ever pass it?” 't is not without some resemblance to the English bird, being of the same size, nd of a plain greyish colour. Its habits are not specially nocturnal, but vhen singing it seeks the deepest shade of a bush or thicket, a condition yhich the Japanese simulate by covering its cage with paper so as to produce n artificial gloom, The repertory of the Uguisu is by no means so varied as hat of the nightingale, but for liquid melody of note it is unsurpassed by any ongster whatever. Its brief melodious utterances are no inapt emblem of the ational poetry. 46 JAPANESE LITERATURE “ My love is thick ’ As the herbage in spring, It is manifold as the waves That heap themselves on the shore Of the great ocean.” “ No more will I plant for thee Tall trees, O cuckoo /* Thou comest, and with thy resounding cry Dost increase my yearnings.” “ This morn at dawn The cuckoo’s cry I heard. Didst thou hear it, my lord, Or wast thou still asleep?” “JT will plant for thee A whole grove of orange-trees, O thou cuckoo ! Where thou mayst always dwell, Even until the winter.” “Tt is dawn; I cannot sleep for thoughts of her I love. What ts to be done With this cuckoo That goes on singing ?” “ Were only thy hand | Lying in mine, What matter though men’s words Were copious as the herbage Of the summer meads.” “ Since we are such things That if we are born We must some day die, So long as this life lasts Let us enjoy ourselves.” The Japanese have quite different associations with the cuckoo from our- selves, They hear in its cry the longings of unsatisfied love. It is true that it is not the same bird as ours, but an allied species with a different note. Its name (in Japanese, Hototogisu) is onomatopoetic, } MANYOSHIU ee ae “ To what shall I compare This life of ours 2 Lt ts like a boat Which at daybreak rows away And leaves no trace behind it.”* “T would go to some land Where no cuckoos are, Lam so melancholy When I hear Their note.” The rippling® wistaria That I planted by my house As a memento Of thee whom I love, Ts at length in blossom.” “ When the cuckoo sang, Straightway I drove him off, Bidding him go to you. L wonder did he reach you ?” “ Go, thou cuckoo, And tell my lord, Who ts too busy To come to see me, How much I love him.” “ Granted that I Am hateful to you, But the flowering orange, That grows by my dwelling, Will you really not come to see it?” “T wear no clothing Drenched with dew From wending my way through the summer herbage ; But yet the sleeve of my garment Ts never for a moment dry (from tears),” 1 The sentiment of this poem is Buddhist. The transitoriness of life is a constant refrain all through Japanese literature. 2 The flowers are supposed to resemble waves, 48 JAPANESE LITERATURE “77s the sixth month, The sun is shining, So that the very ground ts cracked ; Buteven so, how shall my sleeve become dry If I never meet thee?” “ On the spring moor To gather violets I went forth; Its charm so held me That I stayed till morn.” —AKAHITO. “Oh! the misery of loving, Hidden from the world Like a maiden-lily Growing amid the thick herbage Of the summer plain /” “ The sky ts a sea Where the clouad-billows rise; And the moon ts a bark ; To the groves of the stars It ts oaring tts way.” “Oh/ that the white waves far out On the sea of Ise Were but flowers, That 1 night gather them And bring them as a gift to my love !” —PRINCE AKI, A.D. 740. Although the Vzkongz,? being in the Chinese language, does not fall within the proper scope of this work, it occupies so conspicuous a position among books written in Japan, that it deserves a passing notice. In it we have a collection of the national myths, legends, poetry, and history from the earliest times down to A.D. 697, prepared 1 No doubt to be understood metaphorically of a visit to his love. ? Translated by W. G. Aston in the Transactions of the Japan Society, 1896. NIHONGI 49 under official auspices and completed A.D. 720. It is the first of a long series of official histories in Chinese. They are for the most part dreary compilations in which none but students of history, anthropology, and kindred subjects are likely to take much interest. The writers were content to record events in their chronological sequence from month to month and from day to day, without any attempt to trace the connection between them or to speculate upon their causes. The attention to Chinese composition and studies, which the use of this language necessitated, had, however, some important effects. It served to engross the attention of the men, the cultivation of the native literature being left in a great measure to the women, and it helped to familiarise the Japanese with better models of style than they could find in their own country. BOOK THE THIRD HEIAN (CLASSICAL) PERIOD (800-1186) BOOK THE THIRD HEIAN (CLASSICAL) PERIOD (800-1186) CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY IN 794 the capital was removed to the site of the present city of Kioto. It received the name of Heian-jé, or the “City of Peace.” The Mikados continued to make it their residence until the revolution of 1868, but the term “Heian period” is restricted to the time when Kidto was the real seat of government, namely, about four centuries. When Yoritomo, at the end of this period, established the Shogunate, or rule of the military caste, at Kamakura, in the east of Japan, all practical authority was trans- ferred thither. With the founding of Heian-j6 (Kioto) the wave of progress which received its impulse from the combined influences of Chinese learning and the Buddhist religion . reached its height, and a period of great material pros- _petity ensued. But the usual results were not long in * tnanifesting themselves. The ruling classes became indo- “lent and luxurious, and neglected the arts of government 53 J $4 JAPANESE LITERATURE for the pursuit of pleasure. There was great laxity of morals, as the literature of the period abundantly shows; but learning flourished, and a high state of refinement prevailed in that narrow circle which surrounded the Mikado and his court. The Heian period is the classical age of Japanese literature. Its poetry may not quite reach the stan- dard of the Manyéshiu, but it contains much that is of admirable quality, while in the abundance and excel- lence of its prose writings it leaves the Nara period far behind. The language had now attained to its full development.