ama | Waka Poetry

Composed when he was far from courtier’s hall.

あまつ風ふけひの浦にゐるたづのなどか雲井にかへらざるべき

ama tsu kaze
fukei no ura ni
iru tazu no
nado ka kumoi ni
kaerazarubeki

Heaven’s breezes
Blow upon the shore at Fukei, where
Rests a crane:
Why, beyond the clouds,
May he not return?

Fujiwara no Kiyotada
藤原清正[1]

[1] Fujiwara no Kiyotada 藤原清正 (?-953): one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals and a minor courtier. As well as being included in Shinkokinshū, this poem is also listed in Wakan rōeishū (II: 453), Kiyotada’s personal collection, Kiyotada-shū (89) and also the personal collection of Fujiwara no Tadami 藤原忠見, Tadami-shū (143). While Wakan rōeishū simply gives the topic of the poem as ‘Cranes’, the personal collections provide more information. Tadami states that the poem was ‘Sent to the Shōni Palace Lady to present in his place when he was of about the age to be admitted to the Courtier’s Hall and had become Governor of Kii’ making the waka a plea for further advancement at court. Kiyotada himself simply says ‘When I had become Governor of Kii and had not yet been permitted to enter the Courtier’s Hall.’ Tanaka and Akase (1992, 502) note that Kiyotada was appointed Governor of Kii while still a Chamberlain at Sixth Rank, when this was usually a post held by someone of Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade, the lowest rank at which a man would be permitted to enter the Courtier’s Hall (tenjō no ma 殿上間) and have direct contact with the emperor. The poem is, thus, simultaneously, an expression of gratitude for imperial favour (the ‘heavenly wind’) to him (‘the crane’) which has made him Governor of Ki – the province where Fukei is located, and a plea that he be allowed above ‘the clouds’ (into the Courtier’s Hall), which is subtly laced with resentment (‘Why haven’t I had the promotion in rank which this post would normally bring?’)!

I stayed by the beach at Fukiage. The moon was fair in the extreme, and the beach was a place where it was said that heavenly beings would often descend to and make merry. Truly, it was a fair place, indeed! That night, the sky was heart-rendingly moving, and as the night wore on, the breeze, brushing fallen frost from the ducks’ wing-feathers, brought loneliness to the skies, while the distant cries of cranes, calling for their comrades, was so moving, my words fail to express it. Birds other than these flocked, calling from the sandbars and even my insensitive and unfeeling self was moved beyond measure.

をとめごが天の羽衣ひきつれてむべもふけ井の浦におるらん

otomego ga
ama no hagoromo
hikitsurete
mube mo fukehi no
ura ni oruran

Heaven’s maidens’
Feathered robes,
Drawn up by
The gusts at Fukehi
Beach when they rest there.