Last week, I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend the 30^th annual reenactment of the Kyokusui no en (also known as the Kyokusui no utage) 曲水宴 (‘Twisting Waters Banquet’) at the Kamigamo 上賀茂 shrine in the north of Kyoto.

The Kyokusui no en was a court event, originally of Chinese origin, the first record of which in Japan is as a celebration of the accession of Emperor Kenzō 顕宗. Kenzō’s reign is traditionally considered to have lasted from 485-87, although there is no independent historical evidence for this, so the exact dates of the first Kyokusui no en remain uncertain. Around the beginning of the Nara period in the eighth century, however, it became a regular part of the court’s cycle of activities, usually taking place on the 3^rd day of the Third Month, or late March/early April according to the current calendar.

The event centred around poetry, as so many court events did. Chosen poets would seat themselves beside a stream, and sake cups would be floated down it to them. When the cup reached them, each poet would take the cup from the water, drink the sake, and recite a poem composed for the occasion, on a topic which had been provided. It appears that sometimes the composition took place on the spot, and thus under pressure of time as the cup floated down the stream, becoming a display of the poets’ versatility and skill, although at other times the poets were aware of the topic and had time to prepare.

Kamigamo Shrine has a traditional Japanese garden, the Shōkeien 渉渓園, featuring an artificial stream and moss-lawn, which was constructed in 1960 by the well-known landscape architect, Nakane Kinsaku 中根金作[1]. You can find a good set of pictures of the garden and its stream in its usual state here, and a brief description of it is included here in the shrine’s English information about its grounds.

The space remained largely private after it was built, although it is now open to the public, and it was not until 1993 that the first modern Kyokusui no en was held there, with the support of the Kyoto Murasakino Rotary Club.

The modern reenactment in this location is appropriate, as it is known that the then head priest, Kamo no Shigeyasu 賀茂重保 (1119-1191), held a Kyokusui no en there in 1182.

When I arrived at the site on Sunday, it was some time before the event was due to start, and thus I was able to get a good look, after being admitted, at it as it was prepared for the Kyokusui no en to begin. Five places, with mats for seating and scarlet umbrellas to provide shade to the poets, were already laid out, while members of the shrine staff hurried about sorting out the sound system. One of the features of the event that day was the presence of recreated Heian period incense (takimono 薫物), and the scent of that already drifted around the area.

Once the audience had assembled, prior to the main event, we were treated to a brief discussion of the difference between premodern waka 和歌 and modern tanka 短歌 by Reizei Kimiko 冷泉貴実子, a descendant of the premodern poetic geniuses, Fujiwara no Shunzei 藤原俊成 (1114-1204), and his son, Fujiwara no Teika 藤原定家 (1162-1241), who maintains the family legacy, as part of the Reizeike Shiguretei Bunko 冷泉家時雨亭文庫 Foundation.

This was followed by the formal recitation of two premodern waka, by reciters trained in the traditions of the Reizei family. The two waka were:

君がよはいくちとせにかあふひ草かはらぬ色にかみもまもらん

kimi ga yo wa iku chitose ni ka aoigusa kawaranu iro ni kami mo mamoran

My Lord’s reign will Endure for how many thousand years? The hollyhocks’ Unchanging hues Are surely protected by the god.

Shakua (Shunzei)
Poetry Contest in 1500 Rounds 2149

Felicitation

さ月きてかものやしろのあやめぐさけふはこまさへひきくらぶなり

satsuki kite kamo no yashiro no ayamegusa kyō wa koma sae hikikurabu nari

The Fifth Month comes, and At the Kamo Shrine Sweet-flags Today, even the mounts Compete to pull!

Tame’ie
Tame’ie gosha hyakushu 171

Both of these poems refer to the Kamo Shrine, Tame’ie’s directly and Shunzei’s indirectly as the hollyhock (aoi 葵) is its symbol and thus the deity he is referring to can be understood to be Kamo Wakeikazuchi no Ōkami 賀茂別雷大神, the god of Kamo, and thus both poems are appropriate choices for an event performed there.

This performance was followed by the formal procession of the dignitaries attending the event, the poets, musicians and other participants (children dōji 童子, whose job it would be to guide the sake cups along the stream, and shrine staff who would pour the sake and take care of other arrangements). Once everyone was seated, the event began, with formal announcement of the dai 題 (poetic topic) for this year, which was sawarabi 早蕨 (bracken).

Five poets took part in this year’s event: Nagata Kazuhiro 永田和宏, Saigusa Takayuki 三枝昂之, Reizei Tamihiro 冷泉為弘, Nagata Kō 永田紅 and Hirata Wakako 平田わか子. Of these, the first four are well known modern tanka poets, while Hirata is an amateur whose entry to this year’s contest for poems for the event was judged the best.

Following this, the musicians began playing gagaku 雅楽 (traditional court music) and the first sake cup was floated along the stream, while the poets began grinding their ink and writing their poems onto special strips of stiff paper (tanzaku 短冊) which are used for waka at these types of occasions. One by one, each had a sake cup floated to him or her, and took a drink.

Finally, the poets’ poems were collected, presented to the dignitaries for inspection, and then formally recited by the reciters.

Unfortunately, I don’t have permission to translate the poems, but the Japanese versions are as follows:

この先に早蕨萌ゆる原があるきみといくたび通ひたる径

kono saki ni sawarabi moyuru hara ga aru kimi to ikutabi kayoitaru michi

Nagata Kazuhiro

さわらびのまた萌え出づるときめぐり京の水辺に人は寄りゆく

sawarabi no mata moe’izuru toki meguri miyako no mizube ni hito wa yoriyuku

Saigusa Takayuki

神山のかくれ清水の小滝もとはるの色まし萌ゆるさ和羅美

kōyama no kakure shimizu no otakimoto haru no iromashi moyuru sawarabi

Reizei Tamehiro

早蕨は春の光をにぎりしめ開きゆくとき野は明るみね

sawarabi wa haru no hikari o nigirishime akiyuku toki no wa akaru mine

Nagata Kō

さわらびがこんなところに振り向けばああそうなのだあなたがいない

sawarabi ga konna tokoro ni furimukeba aa sō na no da anata ga inai

You can find more images of the event in the gallery here.

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[1] For brief details on his life and career, see Ten Grotenhuis, Elizabeth (1995) ‘Professor Kinsaku Nakane – a reminiscence’, Journal of Garden History 15:4 pp.231-232.