在原業平朝臣ありわらのなりひらあそん

When the Kokin Wakashū was compiled, these six poets, including Ariwara no Narihira, were very famous poets of the generation before. In the Japanese preface to the Kokin Wakashū, Ki no Tsurayuki picked them out as "people whose names were known in recent times" and judged their poetry. His judgments were quite harsh, but the six later came to be called the Rokkasen, the Six Poetic Sages, and were highly praised as great poets.

See Ki no Tsurayuki's judgments of the six poets.

One of the Six Poetic Sages, Ōtomo no Kuronushi, has no poem in the Hyakunin Isshu, while the other five were all chosen.

Kototoi Dango, named after Narihira's poem "Na ni shi owaba iza koto towamu miyakodori...," was created at the end of the Edo period.

At Mukōjima Kototoi Dango, a long-established shop in Mukōjima on the banks of the Sumida River, these dumplings, served without skewers, have been made in the same place since the shop opened.

The round dumplings come in three colors, white, yellow, and black. Because they are not put together on one skewer, you can enjoy the flavor of each one. Kototoi Monaka, a wafer sweet shaped like a miyakodori, is also recommended: it looks lovely and has the same gentle sweetness as the dumplings.

Both are carefully made from selected Japanese ingredients and have been loved by many people across the ages.

In the shop, you can take your time and enjoy these sweets with fragrant tea.

March 20, 2025

Kototoi Bridge crosses the Sumida River. Its name is said to come from Narihira's poem. As I looked out over the river from the bridge, black-headed gulls were flying gracefully.

The story goes that when Narihira first saw these birds, he did not know their name and asked the ferryman. The ferryman told him they were called miyakodori, "birds of the capital." Hearing the name reminded Narihira of the woman he loved, whom he had left in the capital, and he wrote the poem "Na ni shi owaba iza koto towamu miyakodori waga omou hito wa ari ya nashi ya to."

March 20, 2025

This ukiyo-e shows Ariwara no Narihira writing the poem "Na ni shi owaba iza koto towamu...." Later, a nearby dumpling shop began selling Kototoi Dango, named after the poem. They became popular, and it is said that this is why the nearby bridge came to be called Kototoi Bridge, and the street Kototoi Street.

The birds floating on the river in the upper left of the print are miyakodori. There are several theories, but the most widely accepted one is that the miyakodori is the black-headed gull, which is now known as the official bird of Tokyo.

Nagisa-motomachi, Hirakata City, Osaka. This was the country house of Prince Koretaka, the first son of Emperor Montoku. The Tales of Ise describes Prince Koretaka, Ariwara no Narihira, and others visiting this place and enjoying the cherry blossoms. Narihira's poem "Yo no naka ni taete sakura no nakariseba haru no kokoro wa nodokekaramashi" is said to have been written at Nagisa-no-in. Today a stone monument with this poem stands at the site.

This ukiyo-e is Narihira Ason Carrying the Lady Nijō on His Back as They Flee by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. The Tales of Ise has a scene in which Narihira runs away with the Nijō Empress (Fujiwara no Takaiko), carrying her on his back, and this print shows that scene.

This print is from One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin Isshu Uba ga Etoki) by Katsushika Hokusai, an ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period. The idea of the series is a nurse explaining the Hyakunin Isshu poems with easy-to-understand pictures. You can see people on a bridge enjoying the autumn leaves floating down the Tatsuta River, and people fishing on the riverbank. The words mizu kukuru in the poem are usually taken to mean "tie-dyeing," but they are sometimes read as "flowing under the water." Looking at Hokusai's print, which reading do you think it shows?

This ukiyo-e is by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, an artist of the Edo period.
It shows a scene that matches the poem in the Hyakunin Isshu.

Narihira's Hyakunin Isshu poem was written while looking at a painted folding screen, but this print shows the autumn leaves spreading over the Tatsuta River as if he were really seeing them.

Perhaps Narihira has come across a scene just like the one in his poem, and is fondly remembering the day he wrote it for the screen.