The 36th and the 37th, the 38st, and 39th poem:
None of these poems were composed for Jito at Yoshino in Yamato

   There are from the 36th to the 39th poems in Man'yoshu. It is said to composed to Kakinomoto Hitomaro for Empress Jito at Miyataki of Yoshino in Yamato (present name Nara prefecture ). Therefore, the general interpretation of these poems have many questions.

1). Poems themselves and notes to the poems are differentiated distinctly in fact. These poems themselves and notes to the poems have a contradict in terms.

   First, none of "Emperor, Tenno" is written in 36th and 38th poems themselves in Man'yoshu with all hand-written copies. In fact, all of old manuscripts of 36th and 38th poems are written in " Ohokimi, ." This term of "Ohokimi " means Great King who managed specially in a certain area in this poem. Great King is not as meaning as Emperor. These poems of Lord and Sovereign express for Great King.

   Second, there is no place name "Riverland,Kochi, " at Miyataki. Although it is a place named to "Riverland where waters surge, tagitsu Kochi," it is a the shallow of a river. But none of it translated.

   Third, there is no cascade at Miyataki. There is only a small water-fall of 3 meters high to flowing for pool which is said to Yume-no-Wada. But it is no said to cascade.

   Fourth, There is no departure of a ship for out to sea from the Riverland where waters surge at the upper courses of a Yoshino river in the mountain.

   Thus the interpretation of these poems mistakes a fact, very little has been written of the point. There is no reason to suppose that Kakinomoto Hitomaro composed for Emperor Jito.

2. It is necessary for us to put new point of view provided that Kakinomoto Hitomaro do not composed those poems at Miyataki of Yoshino in Yamato. Where do you think to make up these poems a verse? If Yoshino can be shifted from Yamato to Hizen, these poems will highly understand for us.

   First, there is the existence of the place name of Yoshino about the Kase-River in Hizen (present name Saga prefecture), for example, at Yoshino-Yama Camp Place in the head of a river and in the famous place name of Yoshino-ga-ri in the lower courses of a river.
(In addition, the old place name of Yoshino is near the Yoshino-ga-ri, and the old place name of Yoshino Valley is in the upper courses of a river. In present, the Kase-River flows through the City of Saga for straight, but it flows near the Yoshino-ga-ri for right turn before Edo Period. And it is confluence to Chikugo river and empties into the sea of Ariake.)

   Second, there is a famous place for a cascade of Obuchi and gulfs of Obuchi and Mebuchi . In addition, there are smooth rocks named to Tokoname in the shallows of Obuchi. In there before Edo period, it is famous difficult place of a drift raft. In addition we have legend for them. And near there, neither river-boat nor ship went up a river before Edo Period.
(In present, there is a monument stone of famous Chinese Poet Guo Mojxuo. Also there is a little water of Kase River because it is in Kitayama Dam Lake with storage reservoir in the upper courses of a river for a dam-type power plant and several conduit-type power plants.)

   Third, there are in the presence of place name "Riverland, Kochi, " around Kase-river at the small Riverland of Furuyu hot springs in the upper courses of a river, and at the large Riverland near Ayuse in the lower courses of a river with inlet of valley.

   Fourth, there is a shoal for cormorant-fish named Ayuse in Kase River. In 38th poem, it is composed that "send out cormorants to fish over the upper shallows, send men with scoop nets to fish the lower shallows ."
(In present, there is no catching for fish at Ayuse, but there is catching for fish at Kawakami in the lower courses of Kase River.)

   Therefore, it is logical to assume that Kase-river called to Yoshino river, and it is second to none.

   If Kakinomoto Hitomaro would be composed those poems at Yoshino in Hizen (present name Saga prefecture), he is accompanied by Great King.
   In the first stage, they would be go down to lie their boats from Furuyu Hot Springs. In the second stage,they were sightseeing at a cascade of Obuchi from the firm pillars of palace. In the third stage, they went up to view the land with gulfs of Obuchi and Mebuchi at Kumanokawa old mountain castle, and went down to see a cormorant-fish. In the final stage, they went down the Kase River to standing out of sea.


MYS36. Poems written by Kakinomoto Hitomaro at Yoshino river (present name Kase-river)

Many are the lands under heaven
and the sway of our Lord,
sovereign of the earth's eight corners,
holding it to be toward Yoshino
for its crystal riverland
among the mountains,
and on the blossom- strewn
fields of Akitsu, line the firm pillars
he drives the firm pillars of his palace

And so the courtiers of the palace line their boats
to cross the morning river
to go down of a river
race their boats
across the evening river
Like this river
never ending
like these mountains
commanding ever greater heights,
the palace by the seething cascade,
though I gaze on it, I do not tire.

37 Envoy
Endless as the smooth rocks lie
slick by the Yoshino river,
on which I do not tire to gaze at,
may I never crease to return
and gaze on it again.

MYS38.Kakinomoto Hitomaro. Composed when the sovereign journeyed to the Yoshino Palace

Our Lord
who rules in peace.
a very god,
manifests he divine will
and raises towering halls with a scaffolding
above the Yoshino riverland
where waters surge,
and climbs to the top
to view the land.

On the mountains
folding upward around him
like a sheer hedge of green,
the Mountain Gods present their offerings.
bring their blossoms in springtime
to decorate for giant stones of Great Natural Gods
and, when autumn comes,
garland their with scarlet leaves.
And the God of Osoegawa river
that runs alongside
make offerings for their feast.
They send cormorants forth
over the upper shoals,
they cast dipper nets
across the lower shoals.
Mountain and river
draw together to serve their-
a god's reign indeed

39 Envoy

A very god
whom mountain and river
draw together to serve,
ship is standing out of sea
from riverland where water surge.

(Translated for example by Yukio Yokota. These origin poems take a note of Ian Hideo Levy with Man'yoshu.)

3. This argument raises a completely new question. This bring us to the Japanese often find puzzling.

   First, the term of "Riverland, Kochi, " itself refers to floodplain where recovers sometimes on the water. (It is Riverland at the bend of a river, and the confluence to a river and a stream.) This concept of "Riverland, Kochi, " can be also absorbed "Riverland where waters surge, tagitsu Kochi, ." In addition, the Japanese word of Tokoname means that a rolling stone gathers no mass. The concept of "Riverland where waters surge, tagitsu Kochi," is symbolized during this epoch over the word. It is show to the change of times.

   Second, it is clear that the phrase of ",yukisou kawa no kami, the God of Osoegawa that runs alongside the Mountain Gods" is showed with the God of Osoegawa in this poem. The tributary of Osoegawa-Stream flows into the Kase-River.
In addition, there are a large number of giant stones around the upper place for cascade of Obuchi. Those giant stones are symbolized nature as Great Natural Gods. Nothing as Great King is that Mountain Gods and River God are serving. Hitomaro serve with Great King for giant stones of Great National Gods, and then serve for Great King.

   Furthermore in this phrase, there is another important consideration. Cultural literacy for the confucian analects constitutes the only sure avenue of opportunity in this poem.
That just raises the question of where the Japanese "sou, , goes on" is a calques in the Chinese character with Tsze Han of Confucian analects . In addition, there is a place name " Kawakami, up stream " not only but " Osoegawa" in saga now. If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well.

   Third, there is a certainly departure of a ship for out of sea from Riverland in the lower courses of Kase river when the tide is flowing the sea of Ariake. Also, at a battle of Hakusonkou AD 662, there are a departure of a large of ships around the sea of Ariake, especially Nigitatsu . Because a famous naval port have the big range of the tide, Riverpool , Incheon as well as the sea of Ariake in the world.
(Also, it was not accident in the presence of Yoshino-syou with a trading port for oversea trade between Japan and China in Heian Period.)

                    Envoy
The mountains and the waters
Serve our Sovereign, one in will;
And she, a goddess, is out on her pleasure-barge
Upon the foaming rapids.

*1) The name of part of the river Yoshino
*2) Strictly speaking, fishing-nets in the form of a winnowing-fan. They were sunk in the water.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Brocade by Night
'Kokin Wakasyu' and the court style in Japan classical poetry

two
Pre-Heian Song and Poetry
...
...
COMPOSITION IN "MAN'YOUSHOU"
...
...

P103
The most important of the last are two commemorating imperial journeys to Yoshino --MYS 36 to MYS 38 , both entitled "Composed When the Sovereign Journeyed to the Yoshino Palace"- which are thought to have been written during the reign of Empress Jito. In both, Hitomaro employs techniques and structural patterns similar to those of his laments and other choka. It is easy to identify traditional praise elements in MYS 38, below: the kunimi ("land viewing") theme; images and language identical with those in kiki songs quoted earlier; and more. Similarly, we can point to Chinese influence as a possible explanation for a new mastery of the old devices of repetition and parallelism, or speculate about borrowing from the tripartite structure of Chinese court-style excursion poems. As with the laments, however, the praise poems are uniquely Hitomaro's own, and we need merely compare MYS 38 with a pre-Omi predecessor, or with the childish parallelism and clumsy allusions of the Yoshino kanshi quoted earlier, to appreciate his achievement.

MYS38.Kakinomoto Hitomaro. Composed when the sovereign journeyed to the Yoshino Palace

     yasumishishi
wago okimi
     kamu nagara
kamusabi sesu to
     yoshinogawa
tagitsu kochi ni
     takadono o
takashirimashite
     noboritachi
kunimi o seseba
     tatanazuku
aokakiyama
     yamatsumi no
matsuru mitsuki to
     harube wa
hanakazashi mochi
     aki tateba
momiji kazaseri
     yukisou
kawa no kami mo
     omike ni
tsukaematsuru to
     kamitsuse ni
ukawa o tachi
     shimotuse ni
sada sashiwatasu
yama kawa mo
     yorite tsukauru
kami no miyo kamo

     Our great sovereign,
ruling the nation in peace,
     a very goddess,
thinking to act as a god,
     has built splendidly
a hall towering on high
     by the seething pools
of the Yoshino river;
     and when she climbs up
and standing surveys the land,
     the green-wall mountains
ranging in their serried ranks,
     wishing to present
tribute from the mountain gods,
     deck their heads with flowers
if the season be springtime,
     and wear colored leaves
with the coming of autumn.
     And eager to give
food for the august table,
     the gods of the stream
flowing beside the mountains
     send out cormorants
to fish the upper shallows,
     send men with scoop nets
to fish the lower shallows.
     Ah, this is the reign
of a god in whose service
mountains and rivers unite!


MYS39. Envoy

     yama kawa mo
yorite tsukauru
     kamu nagara
tagitsu kochi ni
funade sesu ka mo

     A very goddess
whom the mountains and rivers
     unite in serving,
she is rowed forth in her boat,
rowed forth to the seething pools

    Instead of focusing on the imperial ability to hold gods in fealty, Hitomaro's other Yoshino poem implicitly praises the Empress by describing the amenities of her pleasure palace and its environs:

MYS36. Kakinomoto Hitomaro. Composed when the sovereign journeyed to the Yoshino Palace
     yasumishishi
wago okimi no
     kikoshimesu
ame no shita ni
     kuni wa shi mo
sawa ni aredomo
     yamakawa no
kiyoki kochi to
     mikokoro o
yoshino no kuni no
     hana chirau
akizu no nobe ni
     miyahashira
futoshikimaseba
     momoshiki no
omiyahito wa
     fune namete
asakawa watari
     funakioi
yukawa wataru
     kono kawa no
tayuru koto naku
     kono yama no
iya takashirasu
     mizu tagitsu
taki no miyako wa
miredo akanu ka mo

     Many are the lands
in the realm under heaven,
     where our Empress reigns,
where holds sway our great sovereign
     who governs in peace,
yet her august heart inclines
     toward Yoshino,
holding it to be a place
     where the mountain stream
courses into pure, clear pools;
     and there in the fields
where flowers fall at Akizu
     she has erected
firm pillars of a palace.
     Thus the courtiers,
men of the stone-built palace,
     align their vessels
to cross the morning river,
     and race their vessels
to cross the evening river.
     Though I gaze and gaze,
never shall I have enough:
     palace eternal
as the flow of the river,
     palace soaring high
as the towering mountains
beside the seething cascade


MYS39. Envoy

     miredo akanu
yoshino no kawa no
     tokoname no
tayuru koto naku
mata kaeriminu

     I shall come again
to see it -come ceaselessly
     as grows velvet moss
in the Yoshino River,
     of which my eyes never tire.

Like most or all of the laments, MYS36 and MYS38 are unambiguously public poems, composed by Hitomaro in his role as spokesman for society.
..

---------------------------
SELECT FROM CONFUCIAN ANALECTS(not sailed)
IX. Tsze Han
P56
BOOK IX. TSZE HAN.
CHAPTER VI.
The master standing by a stream, said, "It passes on just like this, not creasing day or night!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Chinese Classics
Analects of Confucius
Lunyu (input by John Jenkins)
The Analects of Confucius
Translated by Charles Muller, Gakuen University
Updated: July 14, 2004
Table of Contents
9. Tsze Han

[9.17]
[9:16] The Master, standing by a river, said, "It goes on like this, never ceasing day or night!"

First translated during the summer of 1990. It is revised from time to time.
When citing, please refer to the URL of this page:
http://www.hm.tyg.jp/?acmuller/contao/analects.htm

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