Anthology of Japanese Literature/Three Poets at Minase
Three Poets at Minase
[Minase Sangin]
In the first moon of 1488 three of the greatest masters of linked-verse, Sōgi (1421–1502), Shōhaku (1443–1527), and Sōchō (1448–1532) met at Minase, a village between Kyoto and Osaha. As part of an observance at the shrine, which stood on the site of the Minase Palace of the Emperor Gotoba, they composed one hundred verses, of which fifty are here translated.
The art of linked-verse was an extremely demanding one. Generally three or more poets took part, composing alternate verses of 7, 5, 7 syllables and 7, 7 syllables. Many rules had to be observed exactly: for example, if spring or autumn were mentioned in one verse, the following two to four verses also had to mention it. However, it was not necessary that the actual words “spring” or “autumn” be used; many natural phenomena, such as mist, blossoms, or singing birds, stood for spring, while others, such as fog, the moon, or chirping crickets, stood for autumn.
Beyond the technical difficulties imposed by the rules of linked-verse were the major consideration of keeping the level so high that it would not run the risk of resembling a mere game, and the problem of making each “link” fit smoothly into the chain. Any three links taken from a sequence should produce two complete poems. Thus:
Except for you |
Except for you |
|
Nothing remotely suggests |
Here we have two poems of entirely different meaning linked together: the first concerns a lover’s delight in his mistress, the second the grief of the poet over the destruction of the capital. This kind of multiple stream of consciousness is a uniquely Japanese literary development, and was fostered in part by the ambiguity of the Japanese language, which permits many varieties of word play and is extremely free in the use of pronouns.
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Text | Commentary |
Snow yet remaining
Sōgi
|
Early spring (mist). Allusion: “When I look far out, the mountain slopes are misty. Minase River—why did I think that only in autumn the nights could be lovely?” (by Emperor Gotoba). |
Far away the water flows
Shōhaku
|
Spring (plum blossoms). Description continued. Water. |
In the river breeze
Sōchō
|
Spring. Description continued, far scenery. Water. |
The sound of a boat being poled
Sōgi
|
Water. Dawn. Near scenery. |
The moon! does it still
Shōkaku
|
Autumn (moon). Dawn. |
Meadows carpeted in frost—
Sōchō
|
Autumn. |
Heedless of the wishes
Sōgi
|
Late autumn. The insects wish that the winter would not come. |
When I visited my friend,
Shōhaku
|
Late autumn. The grasses have withered, exposing the path. |
Remote villages—
Sōchō
|
Late autumn. Villages so remote that winter has yet to reach them. |
In unfamiliar dwellings
Sōgi
|
Emotional verse leading from loneliness of remote villages. |
Now is not the time
Shōhaku
|
Buddhist rebuke (or consolation?) for emotion expressed. |
Did you not know beforehand
Sōchō
|
Impermanence. Buddhist sentiment continued. |
The dew grieves for its
Sōgi
|
Impermanence. The dew is shorter-lived even than the flower it clings to. Parable for man and the things of beauty in the world. Spring. |
During the misted darkness
Shōhaku
|
Spring (mist). Evening. |
The day has ended.
Sōchō
|
Spring (birds). Evening. |
I walk deep in dark mountains,
Sōgi
|
Evening. Travel. |
Although it has cleared
Shōhaku
|
Travel. The sleeves are wet not only with rain but with tears caused by his lonely journey. |
The light of the moon reveals
Sōchō
|
Travel. “Pillow of grass” denotes a journey. The traveler with tear-wet sleeves is disclosed by the moon. Night. Autumn (moon). |
Many are the vain
Sōgi
|
Night. Autumn. Love (lying awake at night). |
In dreams I quarreled with her;
Shōhaku
|
Night. Autumn (reeds). In his dream he quarrels with his beloved, and wakens to hear the wind. Love. |
I looked—all were gone,
Sōchō
|
Dream. When he awakens (like Rip van Winkle) his friends are all dead. May also refer to women he loved. Love. Old age. |
Years of old age before me,
Sōgi
|
Old age—friends are gone. |
Faded though they are,
Shōhaku
|
The poems of an old man. |
They too make good companions
Sōgi
|
Loneliness relieved by poetry. |
Today in clouds
Sōchō
|
Spring (blossoms). What he thought were “clouds of cherry blossoms” were only clouds. Link: sky-clouds. Clouds may be companions. |
Listen! did you hear the cries
Shōhaku
|
Spring. Link: geese flying over peak. |
How bright the moon is
Sōgi
|
Spring (hazy moon). Link: Geese flying under moon, familiar subject of painting. Enjoins him not to fall asleep when the moon is so lovely (not the usual hazy spring moon). |
Lying in dew, on my way,
Sōchō
|
Autumn (moon of previous verse taken in different sense). Link: moon-daybreak. |
Over the villages,
Shōhaku
|
Autumn (fog). Description continued. |
There comes with the blowing wind
Sōgi
|
Autumn (cloth-beating). The sound emerges from the fog. |
Even freezing days
Sōchō
|
A lonely, poverty-stricken scene. Link: cloth-garments. |
How forlorn a way to live—
Shōhaku
|
Poverty. A humble wood-cutter. |
“Yet there may be hope,”
Sōgi
|
Poverty. Despair. |
Ah, the misery of it!
Sōchō
|
Poverty. Despair. |
Parting after bliss,
Shōhaku
|
The misery of poverty shifts to the misery of separation after making love. Love. |
Still it lasts—what does it mean?
Sōgi
|
Love. Separation. |
Except for you
Sōchō
|
Love. |
Nothing remotely suggests
Shōhaku
|
Love. |
Even plants and trees
Sōgi
|
Link: the beloved’s appearance shifts to the appearance of Kyoto before the disastrous Ōnin Rebellion which devastated the city (1467–1477). |
The sad house where once I lived
Sōchō
|
Destruction caused by the rebellion. |
Let this keepsake
Shōhaku
|
Death brought about by rebellion. |
In the months and days to come
Sōgi
|
In time to come he will only be able to see his mother in dreams. |
Sailing for China,
Sōchō
|
Even if he goes to China he will see her in his dreams. |
Let us hearken to the Law
Shōhaku
|
“These shores” interpreted as the mortal world, as opposed to the “other shores” of Paradise. The Buddhist Law. |
Till we two could meet
Sōgi
|
Meeting with Buddha in Paradise shifts to meeting a woman. Love. Autumn (tears, literally “dew”). |
Ah, it was the autumn wind,
Sōchō
|
Autumn. There is a pun imbedded meaning “weary of myself.” |
A pine-cricket
Shōhaku
|
Autumn (pine-cricket). It chirps in vain because she does not hear it. The house is deserted. |
On the mountain I staked out
Sōgi
|
Autumn (moon). Links to loneliness of preceding verse. Pun: “shines clear” for “lodges.” |
I awake from sleep
Sōchō
|
His plans for the future are interrupted. |
I have piled upon my brow
Shōhaku
|
With age his hair turns white, as he remembers as he lies awake at night. |