Written on Water Read online

  The plant in the original poem is a perennial of the chrysanthemum family bearing white or light pink flowers, which bloom in autumn for a long time.

  This playful poem is a folk song in substance. This kind of song might well have been sung in chorus by men and women as banter at, say, an older man who sponsored a party or gathering.

  A poem by a man departing on a journey.

  In ancient days there was the belief that if lovers' souls meet in their dreams, their love will be fulfilled.

  The last two lines, literally translated, read: "So unawares I encountered you." But some annotators say that this poem may be interpreted as in the translation given here.

  Until a young man could obtain the permission of his love's mother, he had to visit his love by stealth at night and leave her by dawn. This poem, substantially a folk song, expresses many lovers' desire to sleep long into the day.

  Travelers' thirst and imagination are thought to have produced this beautiful poem, substantially a folk song.

  A poem written by a woman in the East to her lover who has probably been ordered to go to the capital on some official duty. This may well have been a folk song.

  A poem by a man whose attentions to a married woman have been repulsed.

  A maid, lamenting her roughened hands, modestly airs her joy in her love affair. It is presumed that this kind of folk song was widely popular in East Japan.

  A young woman sulks at the last moment, when the couple is to fulfill the final pledge of love. The young man thinks her all the lovelier on account of such behavior.

  In Man'yō days there was a common belief that the cord of one's undergarment coming undone easily foretold that one's love would be fulfilled.

  Poetry of Envoys and Frontier Guards

  Diplomatic Mission to Silla

  In 736 Japan dispatched a diplomatic mission to the Kingdom of Silla in Korea. In those days the sea journey was perilous, and all the more poignant were parting and the travelers' longing for home. The Man'yōshū includes 156 poems composed by members of this mission. Among these poems are those exchanged by the envoys during their journey. All the poems of the mission express love for dear ones, not patriotic sentiment or determination to fulfill the mission. The majority of the poems are anonymous. Of these poems, three have been selected for this book.

  Usually a farewell poem is written first by the one who will remain behind and a farewell poem in reply is written by the one who is departing. No. 461 is a poem written by a wife to her husband, who was leaving for Silla. No. 462 is a reply poem by the husband.

  Wife of Hatano Mushimaro

  461

  You have cared for me

  As a hen enfolds her brood

  Under her warm wings.

  Being far from you,

  I shall pine away until I die.

  (3578)

  Hatano Mushimaro

  462

  Could I take my wife

  On our ship,

  I would take tender care of her,

  As a hen, assembling her brood,

  Holds them under her warm wings.

  (3579)

  The following poem is anonymous.

  463

  Should a mist arise

  About an inn where you will stay

  On your travels overseas,

  Think of it as the white breath

  Of the sighs I heave at home.

  (3580)

  Frontier Guards

  The Dazaifu, the government and defense headquarters of Kyushu (then known as Tsukushi), was established in northern Kyushu in 670 to defend against possible attacks from the continent and also to suppress local uprisings. For these purposes, frontier guards were recruited from military divisions under the supervision of provincial governors and were sent to Kyushu for a garrison posting of three years under the command of the governor general of the Dazaifu.

  A greater part of the guards was recruited from the eastern part of Japan, because the people in East Japan, which was remote from the capital, were brave and trustworthy and obedient to their commander.

  To the people of East Japan, Kyushu was a region distant beyond imagination, and the trip there was fraught with dangers. Those ordered to serve as frontier guards left home hardly expecting to return alive. Since the provisions and equipment provided by the government for frontier guards were insufficient, the guards' families had to make heavy outlays with great sacrifice and suffered many hardships. The number of frontier guards stationed at the Dazaifu was approximately three thousand. They eked out a living by farming.

  Ōtomo-no-Yakamochi, the preeminent poet who was undersecretary of war, was in the position to supervise the affairs of frontier guards. He was sympathetic with the hardships of these men, and he invited each frontier guard to submit one poem of his own composition on the subject of his choice. Thus, in 755 Yakamochi obtained a small collection of frontier guards'poems. Discarding awkward ones, he included ninety-eight of them in the Man'yōshū. Of these, eighty-four give the poets' names.

  In ancient times, lettered people were rare. Nearly all the frontier guards' poems are thought to have been improved or rewritten by poetically minded people before they were presented to Ōtomo-no-Yakamochi, who, presumably, further improved the poems before including them in the Man'yōshū.

  The notable feature of this group of frontier guards' poems is that there is not a single war song, and very few of them express patriotic or martial spirit. The men of East Japan were known as the bravest of soldiers, but in Man'yō days, the exhibition of love, grief, and strong emotion was not inhibited, and the vast majority of their poems are lyrics that lay bare what was uppermost in their minds—their intense love and longing for loved ones. Poems that give vent to love for wives are greatest in number, followed by those that express love for sweethearts, children, and parents. The poems of wives and lovers are outspoken in their grief at parting and expressions of tender love for husbands and lovers who are far away from home. The unique literary merit of the frontier guards' poems lies in the amazingly frank outpouring of genuine, intense love—the finest and strongest of all human emotions—which makes a treasury of literary gems that never fails in its powerful appeal to all ages and peoples.

  Monobe-no-Akimochi

  464

  in obedience to

  The emperor's command,

  From tomorrow;

  I shall sleep on a bed of grass,

  Missing my beloved wife.

  (4321)

  Wakayamatobe-no-Mimaro

  465

  My beloved wife

  Must Long for me.

  Even in the water which I drink,

  Her dear image appears.

  She is always with me.

  (4322)

  466

  All the year round

  Flowers bloom. But never in my life

  Have I seen a flower as fair

  As my mother whom I love.

  (4324)

  Motonobe-no-Komaro

  467

  O that l had time

  To draw a picture of my wife.

  It would ease

  And comfort me

  On travel's weary way.

  (4327)

  Tamatsukuribe-no-Hirome

  468

  Frontier guard as 1 am,

  Hardship I can endure.

  But the weight upon my mind

  is the hardship of my wife

  Caring for our children.

  (4343)

  Aki-no-Osa-no-Obitomaro

  469

  O'er hills and fields

  l have traveled,

  Yet my parents

  Are always in my mind.

  (4344)

  Hasebe-no-Inamaro

  470

  How can I forget

  My parents,

  Stroking me upon the head—

  "Come back safe and sound.

  Good Luck to you!"

  (4346)

  Fath
er of Kusakabe-no-Omiminaka

  471

  How I wish I were

  Your bright sword,

  To be with you

  And to fight in your defense

  Rather than to miss you so at home.

  (4347)

  Tamatsukuribe-no-Kunioshi

  472

  Far away from home,

  On my travels sometimes

  I sleep under seven quilts.

  Yet without my darling wife,

  Cold and cheerless is my bed.

  (4351)

  Hasebe-no-Tori

  473

  Now I must set out,

  Leaving you who tenderly

  Cling and clasp me tight,

  As a vine entwines itself

  Fast around a roadside briar.

  (4352)

  Hasebe-no-Yoromaro

  474

  Hever shall I forget

  The tender glances of love

  From my darling,

  Amid such flurried haste

  As a flock of waterfowl makes

  Taking flight from a pond.

  (4354)

  Mononobe-no-Otora

  475

  On the day I Left

  Bitterly my mother wept.

  Fast she held my hands,

  Burying her face in my sleeves.

  I'll never forget.

  (4356)

  Osakabe-no-Chikuni

  476

  In my mind I see

  My darling wife

  Crying bitterly

  Behind the garden hedge,

  Her sleeves wet with tears.

  (4357)

  Mononobe-no-Tatsu

  477

  When I Left home

  At the Lord's command,

  My darling wife,

  Clinging to me,

  Cried her heart out in bitter tears.

  (4358)

  Ōtomobe-no-Chifumi

  478

  How sweet is my love.

  Lovely as a lily

  Growing on a hill.

  I am rapt in Love for her by day.

  I am Lost in Love for her by night.

  (4369)

  479

  Praying to the god

  Of the Kashima Shrine,

  Where hail falls thick and fast,

  I have come as a frontier guard

  Of the Kyushu Defense Garrison.

  (4370)

  Imamatsuribe-no-Yosofu

  480

  I depart this day,

  With no regard for myself,

  As a humble shield

  Of the sovereign

  Against a hail of arrows and swords.

  (4373)

  Mononobe-no-Mashima

  481

  I never see pine trees

  In a row

  But I recall

  How my family

  Formed a line to see me off.

  (4375)

  Tsumori-Shukkune-Ogurosu

  482

  I wish

  That my mother were a pearl

  Or a jewel bright!

  Then I'd wear it

  In my tightly dressed hair.

  (4377)

  Otabe-no-Tarihito

  483

  My sweet lovely girl

  Budding into womanhood,

  She afforded me ecstasy.

  How could I

  Tear myself from her?

  (4387)

  Oshinobe-no-Ihomaro

  484

  How dear is my wife,

  Whom I see, with my mind's eye,

  Praying for my sake

  To the gods at many shrines,

  Making pious offerings.

  (4391)

  Ōtomobe-no-Mayosa

  485

  To what god of sky and earth

  Should I pray

  To once more see My mother dear,

  Who is a thousand leagues away?

  (4392)

  Osata-no-Toneri Ōshima

  486

  When I left them,

  My motherless children,

  Clung to the hem

  Of my robe,

  Crying their hearts out.

  (4401)

  Asakura-no-Masahito

  487

  "Look at this, and think of me,"

  Said my wife and made a knot

  In my inner sash.

  Even though it wears thin and frays,

  It shall never be untied.

  (4405)

  The following two poems are a pair. A husband's poem is followed by his wife's.

  Mononobe-no-Toshitoko

  488

  As we hold a pearl

  And gaze on its pure beauty,

  So I wish to behold my love

  Intently, closely,

  Her sweet beauty to enjoy.

  (4415)

  Kurahashibe-no-Tojime (Wife of Mononobe-no-Toshitoko)

  489

  Since my husband sleeps

  On a bed of grass

  On his travel to the front,

  I will go to bed at home,

  With my sash tightly tied.

  (4416)

  Mononobe-no-Hirotari

  490

  O you dear camellia fair

  In full glory by the gate!

  You'll have fallen, I'm afraid,

  Without my touching you

  By the time I return home.

  (4418)

  The following two poems were written by a frontier guard and his wife.

  Mononobe-no-Mane

  491

  Though the hearth smokes badly,

  Yet how good and comfortable

  Is my cottage

  Away In Kyushu.

  How dear it is to me!

  (4419)

  Wife of Mononobe-no-Mane

  492

  Far away from home

  Under stars you'll sleep

  On a bed of grass.

  If your clothes become torn,

  With this needle stitch them up.

  (4420)

  Hatoribe-no-Asame

  493

  Now my husband is

  Away in Kyushu,

  All the dearer he is to me.

  I go to bed

  With my sash tightly tied.

  (4422)

  The following two poems composed by a couple are also a pair.

  Fujiwarabe-no-Tomomaro

  494

  Standing at the top

  Of Ashigara Pass,

  If l wave my arms

  Will my wife at home

  See me clearly?

  (4423)

  Wife of Fujiwarabe-no-Tomomaro

  495

  Would I'd deeper dyed

  My husband's garments.

  All the clearer I'd see him

  Till the mountaintop,

  Where he'll wave his Last farewell.

  (4424)

  The following four poems are anonymous.