Reading 5 e (Taira) Tadanori’s Flight from the Capital

The Tales of Heike – Book VII

Tr. Kenneth L. Richard, July, 2004

The governor of Satsuma, Taira no Tadanori, returned to the capital, from an undisclosed location, with five outriders and a young boy, seven on horseback in all. They proceeded to the house of his Excellency Fujiwara Shunzei in the Fifth Avenue district, but found the gate closed and locked. Tadanori announced himself and suddenly there was a murmur of commotion from within that the escaped one had returned. Tadanori dismounted his horse and spoke directly: “I have no mission in coming today, but I want to speak to his Excellency, if I may. If it is imperative to keep the gate locked, then at least draw nearer.” Shunzei himself indicated that his caller posed no problem, and so he was let in, and their conference began. The air was infused with sadness, though the meeting was joyful. “I have, for some years, been in debt to you for your instruction to me in the poetic arts, but, as you know, these last several years have seen the capital fall into ruin, and the provinces fight among themselves, to say nothing of the misfortunes that have struck my family. I have not been as faithful to my studies as I would have thought, nor have I been able to visit you here. The Emperor has already fled the capital. I fear that the fate of my family hangs in the balance. Now, I have heard that an imperial order has been issued for a new poetic anthology. I had so intended to ask you as its editor that even if it be but a single verse, that you include my poem. And now it is perhaps too late; the world is in turmoil, and I have not been able to contact you. That is my only regret. When the fighting is over, and the world returns to a sense of calm and the order is issued again for the anthology, I beg you to look through this scroll of mine, and if you find any one worthy, to ask for your indulgence to include it. If there be any solace that shall come from my resting place under the grasses of the plain, I shall be happy to remain forever your distant protector.” With this, Tadanori drew a scroll from the plates of his armor, one that contained one hundred of his best and recent poems, and with a final gesture of farewell, presented them to Shunzei.

Shunzei unfurled the scroll. “To leave me with these tokens of your work is by no means indication of negligence to our art. Have no doubts. The depth of your regard in coming, in such conditions, to see me, overwhelms me. I have no words to thank you. I am overwhelmed by tears.” Tadanori was overjoyed: “Now I take my leave. Let me sink to the depths of the western seas, I shall not mind; let my skull weather on the mountain meadow, I care not, for I have nothing else to desire in this sad and floating world. Goodbye.” He mounted his horse, adjusted the chinstrap on his helmet, and rode off into the West. Shunzei stood for a long while watching Tadanori fade into the distance, certain that he heard his voice, loudly and clearly, reciting the lines of a couplet in Chinese: “The road ahead is far, my thoughts gallop through the evening clouds on the peak of Goose Mountain. May we meet again.” Shunzei, unable to bear this last farewell, went into the house, unable to control his tears.

And, later, yes, the world did settle, and the Senzai Collection was ordered compiled, and Shunzei, remembering Tadanori’s poem scroll, was moved to look through it again. Many poems were appropriate, but since the Taira were officially enemies of the Court, he could not include a name. He included the following single poem with the title “The Flowers of Home” as an anonymous work:

Sazanami ya

Shiga no miyako wa

Are ni shi wo

Mukashinagara no

Yamazakura kana

Plashing waves

and the old capital in Shiga

Are no more, yet

Blooming as they always have,

The mountain cherries!

Shunzei could mention nothing in detail of Tadanori’s fate, he being unworthy of the State; there was much pain on all sides.