Garden Match held by Princess Yoshiko, Junior Consort and Ise Virgin

ひとしれであきのくれぬるをみなへし虫のねよりもたづねつるかな

hito shirede aki no kurenuru ominaeshi mushi no ne yori mo tazunetsuru kana

With folk all unaware Autumn twilight has fallen on The maidenflowers— Even more than the insects’ cries Do I search for them!

1[i]

秋くれてまねくた本をはなすすきいまはつゆさへむすぶべきかな

aki kurete maneku tamoto o hanasusuki ima wa tsuyu sae musububeki kana

In autumn twilight The beckoning sleeves of Blossoming silver grass, Now, of dewdrops Must be a source!

2[ii]

をぎのはにかぜのすずしき秋きてはくれにあやしきものをこそおもへ

ogi no ha ni kaze no suzushiki aki kite wa kure ni ayashiki mono o koso omoe

To the stalks of silver grass The cool breeze of Autumn has come, and With the twilight, strangely, I am filled with gloomy thoughts.

3[iii]

むさしののくさのゆかりにふぢばかまわかむらさきにそめてにほへる

musashino no kusa no yukari ni fujibakama wakamurasaki ni somete nioeru

Upon Musashi Plain The grasses have a bond with Asters, With pale violet Dyed, they glow.

4[iv]

露むすぶ風は吹くともとこなつのはなのさかりに見ゆるあきかな

tsuyu musubu kaze wa fukutomo tokonatsu no hana no sakari ni miyuru aki kana

Bringing dewdrops The wind does blow, yet In the pinks Lush blooms Can I see the autumn!

5[v]

ところよりううるもしるくきくの花うつろふいろを今朝はまたなん

tokoro yori uuru mo shiruki kiku no hana utsurou iro o kesa wa matanan

From this spot Have grown, so clear, Chrysanthemum blooms: The fading of their hues I will await this morning.

6[vi]

たつたやまふかきもみぢもきみみずはよるのにしきとなほぞくちまし

tatsutayama fukaki momiji mo kimi mizu wa yoru no nishiki to nao zo kuchimashi

Tatsuta Mountain’s Deep scarlet leaves Should my lady not see, then Pointless as brocade at night, I would have them rot away!

7[vii]

しがの山もみぢのかげになくしかのこゑはふかくも成りにけるかな

shiga no yama momiji no kage ni naku shika no koe wa fukaku mo narinikeru kana

In the Shiga Mountains Among the shade of scarlet leaves The belling stag’s Cry more plaintive Has become!

8[viii]

あまのがはきのふのそらのなごりにもみぎはいかなるものとかはしる

ama no gawa kinō no sora no nagori ni mo migiwa wa ikanaru mono to ka wa shiru

At the River of Heaven, Of the sky of yesterday For a keepsake By the waters’ edge, what Might there be?

9[ix]

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[i] Motozane-shū (67) with the headnote, ‘For the princess’ garden match, on the 23^rd day of the Eighth Month of the same [year]’.

[ii] Motozane-shū 68 ‘Flowering silver grass’ (hanasusuki 花薄)

[iii] Motozane-shū 69 ‘Silver grass’ (ogi 荻)

[iv] Motozane-shū 70 ‘Rani’ (蘭)

[v] Motozane-shū 71 ‘Pinks’ (nadeshiko 撫子)

[vi] Motozane-shū 72 ‘Chrysanthemum blooms’ (kiku no hana 菊花)

[vii] Motozane-shū 73 ‘Scarlet leaves’ (momiji 紅葉)

[viii] Fubokushō XII: 4604, with the headnote ‘Stags belling in the shade of the scarlet leaves on the path across the Shiga Mountains—a poem from a court lady’s garden match held in the Eighth Month, Tentoku 3’. For more detail on ‘the path across the Shiga Mountains’ (shiga no yamagoe 志賀山越) as a poetic topic, see McAuley (2020, 166–167).

[ix] Saigū nyōgo-shū 127, attributed to Yoshiko, with the headnote ‘In the same month, Her Highness divided people into teams and held a garden match. The participants were most anxious about it, thinking that it was raining heavily and unceasingly, so…’

Introduction

There remain considerable unresolved uncertainties about this match.[i] Hagitani (1957, 334) discusses this in detail, but in brief: the majority of the poems are recorded in the personal collection of Fujiwara no Motozane 藤原元真 (dates unknown), Motozane-shū 元真集, as part of a sequence, the first poem of which has the headnote, ‘For the princess’ garden match, on the 23^rd day of the Eighth Month of the same [year]’. The preceding sequence of poems (60-66) is headed by one with the headnote ‘Composed when the empress had her ladies hold a poetry match overnight on the 18^th day of the Ninth Month, Tentoku 3, for which I was reciter’. This date corresponds to 22^nd October 959, making the date of the earlier match 28^th September of the same year.

The attribution of the match to Princess Yoshiko is also somewhat speculative. There are variant texts of Motozane’s collection where the term used for the event’s sponsor differs: one uses ‘princess’ (onna-miya 女宮) and one uses ‘junior consort’ (nyōgo 女御). At the time, Murakami had three junior consorts: the Ise Virgin Junior Consort (Saigū nyōgo 斎宮女御) – Princess Yoshiko (Kishi) 徽子女王 (929-985); the Reikeiden Junior Consort (Reikeiden nyōgo 麗景殿女御) – Princess Sōshi 荘子女王 (930-1008); and the Sen’yōden Junior Consort (Sen’yōden nyōgo 宣耀殿女御) – Fujiwara no Yoshiko (Hōshi) 藤原芳子 (?-967). Conceivably, therefore, the sponsor of the match could have been any of these women, but further evidence is supplied by a poem (127)  contained in Yoshiko’s personal collection, Saigū nyōgo-shū 斎宮女御集, which has the headnote, ‘In the same month, Her Highness divided people into teams and held a garden match. The participants were most anxious about it, thinking that it was raining heavily and unceasingly, so…’ The prior poem in the collection (126) has the headnote ‘The 7^th day of the Seventh Month’, suggesting that Yoshiko had intended to hold a garden match that month. The headnote to poem 127 does not state what the consequence of the participants’ disquiet over the rain were, but it would not be unreasonable to assume that the match was postponed until the following month as a result, making this match and the one Motozane refers to the same.

The topics of Motozane’s poems are also suited to a garden match, although it seems unlikely that he was the only poet, so the likelihood is that there were others which were not recorded and have not survived.

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[i] Saigū nyōgo kishi joō senzai awase zassai 斎宮女御徽子女王前栽合雑載