MANYOSHU万葉集750 AD

THE LARGEST AND EARLIEST COLLECTION OF JAPANESE POETRY, COMPILED ALMOST SOLELY AT THE HAND OF A CONTEMPORARY POET, OTOMO NO YAKAMOCHI大伴家持 (718-785), CONTAINING OVER 4,500 POEMS OF VARYING LENGTHS. THOUGH THE COLLECTION OPENS WITH POEMS ATTRIBUTED TO LEGENDARY EMPERORS, MOST OF THE TEXTS DATE FROM A 130 YEAR PERIOD BEGINNING IN THE EARLY SEVENTH CENTURY REIGN OF THE EMPEROR JOMEI (630 A.D.) AND END CIRCA 759 A.D. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NARA ERA CENTERING ON THE IMPERIAL CITY CALLED HEIJO-KYO平城京 (MODERN NARA奈良). THERE ARE RITUAL SONGS AND FOLK SONGS WITH REPEATED RHYTHMS SUGGESTING DANCES, BUT MOST OF THE FORMAL POEMS CAN BE TERMED AS ONE OF THREE TYPES:

• BANKA挽歌- ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF AN EMPEROR OR A LOVED ONE.

• SOMON相聞 - MUTUAL EXCHANGES OF LOVE AND LONGING

• ZOKA雑歌 - MISCELLANY OF NATURE, HUNTING, ETC.

THE TWENTY BOOKS OF THE MANYOSHU ARE DIVIDED, NOT BY SUBJECT AS IN THE LATER IMPERIALLY COMMISSIONED ANTHOLOGIES, NOR BY APPROXIMATE DATE OF COMPOSITION, NOR BY AUTHOR, BUT BY THE THREE THEMES GIVEN ABOVE. THOUGH MANY PROMINENT NAMES APPEAR IN THE COLLECTION (SEE MAIN POINTS BELOW), NEARLY HALF OF THE POEMS ARE BY ANONYMOUS ARTISTS. FOR THIS REASON, THE MANYOSHU IS SAID, BY THE JAPANESE THEMSELVES, TO BE THE MOST REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL CLASSES OF SOCIETY, THE MOST DEMOCRATIC, THE PUREST IF YOU LIKE, OF ALL JAPANESE POETIC WORKS. THE MANYOSHU IS ALSO THE MOST LOVED OF ALL THE POETIC ANTHOLOGIES OF JAPAN. THE POETRY IS LARGELY DECLARATIVE RATHER THAN INTROSPECTIVE, IMAGISTIC RATHER THAN ABSTRACT, OUTDOOR RATHER THAN INDOOR, MORE NATURAL AND STRAIGHTFORWARD THAN LATER POETRY. THIS IS THE PREVAILING OPINION. THREE MAIN TYPES OF PROSODY, OR LINE LENGTH, PREDOMINATE IN THE MANYOSHU: THE LONG POEM OR CHOKA長歌CONTAINING AN INDEFINITE NUMBER OF LINES OF REGULARLY ALTERNATING SYLLABLE COUNT, IE. 5-7-5-7-5-7 ETC., CULMINATING IN A FINAL COUPLET OF 7-7. THE LONGEST OF THIS CATEGORY IS STILL QUITE SHORT BY WESTERN STANDARDS, 214 LINES. THE SHORT POEM OR TANKA短歌APPEARS AS AN ENVOY OR ACCOMPANYING POEM TO THE LONGER FORM, BUT TAKES ON A LIFE OF ITS OWN AS WELL, EXISTING AS AN INDEPENDENT COMPOSITION. ITS LINE LENGTH IS 5-7-5-7-7, A TOTAL OF 31 SYLLABLES. THE TANKA, WHICH HAS ITS BEGINNINGS IN THE MANYOSHU, BECOMES THE PREDOMINANT FORM OF JAPANESE POETIC EXPRESSION, FOR THE NEXT 1200 YEARS. THE ONLY OTHER NEW FORM TO ARRIVE BEFORE THE ADVENT OF WESTERN INFLUENCED FREE VERSE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY WAS HAIKAI俳諧OR HAIKU俳句AS SOME PREFER TO CALL IT, IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

MAIN POINTS: PERIODIZATION AND PROMINENT POETS

I. EARLY PERIOD 645-672 AD

EMPEROR YURYAKU雄略天皇 (REIGNED 456-479 AD)

EMPEROR JOMEI (BORN 593, REIGNED 629-641 AD)

NUKATA NO OOKIMI額田王(PRINCESS) (638-705 AD)

OTSU NO MIKO (PRINCE)大津皇子 (C. 662-686 AD)

II.MIDDLE PERIOD 673-701 AD

KAKINOMOTO NO HITOMARO柿本人麻呂 (FL.680-700 AD)

III.LATTER PERIOD 702-729 AD

OTOMO TABITO大伴旅人 (683-731 AD)

OTOMO SAKANOUE NO IRATSUME大伴坂上郎女 (C. 695-750)

YAMABE AKABITO山部赤人 ( ? - 736 AD)

IV.LATE PERIOD 730-759 AD

OTOMO NO YAKAMOCHI大伴家持 (718-785 AD)

THEME:

ABOVE ALL ELSE, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A SENSE OF HAVING SEEN AND LIVED IN A LANDSCAPE OF WONDERMENT, AND TO HAVE NAMED ITS PREDOMINANT FEATURES. A SENSE OF TOPOI OR FUDO風土AS THE JAPANESE CALL IT, IN WHICH HUMAN SENSITIVITY, EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TO THE PERCEIVED LANDSCAPE, BECOMES THE PREDOMINANT WAY OF INDENTIFICATION WITH THE PHYSICAL LANDSCAPE. A METAPHORICAL EXPRESSIONISM. THE PROCESS OF IDENTIFICATION IN THE MANYOSHU SEEMS TO BE FIRST TO NAME THE LANDSCAPE, TO PROCLAIM THAT IT IS PROPERTY, TO RULE IT, THEN TO PRIVATIZE IT WITHIN A REFLECTIVE STATE IN WHICH THE LANDSCAPE FINALLY BECOMES CAPABLE OF REALIZATION IN AN ABSTRACT SENSE. THAT IS TO SAY, LANDSCAPE CAN BECOME FICTIONALIZED AND CAN BE CREATED BY POETIC IMAGINATION, RATHER THAN SIMPLY BE DESCRIBED AS THE REAL THING.

LITERARINESS:

FICTIONALIZED LANDSCAPE BECOMES MORE IMPORTANT THAN ACTUAL LANDSCAPE UNTIL AN ALMOST COMPLETELY METAPHORICAL CONCEPTION OF NATURE BECOMES POSSIBLE. THE EMERGENCE OF THE GENRE OF POETRY AS A FORM OF PRE-MEDITATED ART, PRACTICED BY MEN AND WOMEN AS AN OCCUPATION. ESTABLISHMENT OF POETRY AS THE DOMINANT LITERARY GENRE OF JAPANESE LITERATURE.

SAMPLE SECTIONS:

EARLY PERIOD - EMPEROR YURYAKU MYS I:1 ZOKA呼び掛けの歌

“With her basket, her basket,

and her trowel, her trowel,

On this hill a girl picks grasses...” (Bownas 7) also in

(Keene 33), and in Earl Miner. An Introduction to Japanese Court Poetry. (Stanford, 1968), p.37also in (Cranston 163)

こもよ みこもち ふくしもよ みぶくしもち このおかに なつますこ…

EARLY PERIOD - EMPEROR JOMEI MYS I:2 ZOKA 国見歌

Climbing Mt. Kagu

“In the land of Yamato

The mountains cluster...

Beautiful my country,

My Yamato,

Island of the drgaonfly.” (Bownas 8), (Keene 34),

大和には 村山 あれと…あきつしま 大和の国は

EARLY PERIOD - NUKATA NO OOKIMI MYS I:16 ZOKA

“ When the spring comes

After winter’s confining...

There lies my regret:

Autumn hills for me. (Bownas 9), but also (Miner 38) and (Cranston 175).

冬ごもり 春咲きくれば …そこ し 恨めし 秋山そ あれは

AND

MYS IV: 488 SOMON

“I waited and I

Yearned for you...” (Bownas 10), also (Cranston 177)

君待つと あが 恋ひをれば

EARLY PERIOD - OTSU NO MIKO MYS II: 107 SOMON

“In the dew dripping

On the broad-flanked hill,

Waiting for you...” (Bownas 12), also (Cranston 491)

あしひきの やまの 滴に いも待つと

NOTE: PRINCE OTSU WAS ONE OF TWO MEMBERS OF THE IMPERIAL FAMILY FORCED TO COMMIT SUICIDE SO THAT THEY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO ASSUME THEIR RIGHTFUL ROLE AS EMPEROR. THE OTHER PRINCE WAS ARIMA. OTSU NO MIKO WAS THE SELECTED HEIR OF ALL OF EMPEROR TEMMU’S SONS, BUT HIS WIDOW, THE EMPRESS JITO WHO REIGNED FROM 686-97 WANTED HER OWN SON, PRINCE KUSAKABE TO BECOME EMPEROR, AND SO HAD HER STEP-SON COMMIT SUICIDE. THE POEM ABOVE IS HIS LAST, FROM 686. THERE IS A REPLY FROM HIS LOVER, IT IS SAID, PRINCESS ISHIKAWA, WHO TAKES UP THE SAME THEME. SHE WISHES SHE COULD HAVE BEEN THE DEW THAT DAMPENED OTSU’S SLEEVES. AS THE STORY GOES, ISHIKAWA WAS INVOLVED IN A LOVE TRIANGLE AT THE TIME WITH THE INTENDED SUCCESSOR, PRINCE KUSAKABE. SEE (BOWNAS 13) FOR A VERSION OF HER POEM IN REPLY.

II. MIDDLE PERIOD - KAKINOMOTO NO HITOMARO MYS II: 135-37 BANKA

“The thick sea-pine

Grows on the rocks

In the sea of Iwami...” (Bownas 27), also (Keene 34-35) (Miner 51-52)

(Cranston 206-07)

つの さはふ いわみの 海の こと さへく

and

MYS: II: 220-222 BANKA THE SAMINE POEM

“Splendid with gemweed,

Yes, rich is the land of Sanuki

A land of good stock---“ (Cranston 232-33), also (Miner 48-49).

たまもよし 讃岐の国は 国からか

III. LATTER PERIOD - OTOMO TABITO MYS III: 344 ZOKA

“Rather than be wise

Churning out words...” (Bownas 32), also (Cranston 335).

さかしみと もの言うよりは 酒飲みて…

LATTER PERIOD - OTOMO SAKANOUE NO IRATSUME MYS IV:619 SOMON

“Like the sedge of Naniwa,

Naniwa of the glinting waves,

Was his pledge, warm and firm...” (Bownas 61-62), also (Keene 42).

おしてる 難波の菅の ねんころに 君が きこして…

LATTER PERIOD - YAMABE AKABITO MYS VI: 1001 ZOKA

“The stalwart warriors

Set off on the royal hunt...” (Cranston 312)

なすらをは みかりにたたし おとめらは あかも すそびく きょき

はまびを

and

MYS III: 318 ZOKA

“When from Tago shore

We rowed far out and turned to look...” (Cranston 300), also (Miner 67-68)

たごの浦ゆ うちいでて みれば ましろにぞ 富士の高嶺に 雪は 降り

ける。

LATE PERIOD -OTOMO NO YAKAMOCHI MYS XIX: 4139