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Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
菅家
このたびは
幣もとりあへず
手向山
もみぢのにしき
神のまにまに
もみちのに
しきかみの
まにまに
この
- Poem 24
- このたびは
幣もとりあへず
手向山
もみぢのにしき 神のまにまに
Author: Kanke (845–903)
Source: Kokin Wakashū, Travel
- English Verse Translation
- I bring no prayers on coloured silk To deck thy shrine to-day, But take instead these maple leaves,
That grow at Tamuké; Finer than silk are they.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- This time I have no offerings ready, O Tamukeyama. Please, grant me safe passage — I leave it in the hands of the gods.
- Commentary
- This poem was composed during an excursion of Retired Emperor Uda. At the time, it was customary to offer nusa — strips of paper or hemp — when visiting a wayside deity. But Michizane had none with him, and in a moment of quick wit, offered the mountain's beautiful autumn leaves to the deity instead.
- About the Poet
- Kanke — Sugawara no Michizane — showed literary gifts from early childhood, excelling at both waka and Chinese poetry. Though he came from a family of scholars, he achieved an extraordinary rise, eventually becoming Minister of the Right. However, efforts begun in his father's generation to marry daughters into the imperial family and build influence as imperial in-laws seem to have alarmed the Fujiwara clan. As a result, on false accusations by Fujiwara no Tokihira, Michizane was demoted and exiled to Dazaifu, where he struggled even for food and shelter, dying two years later.
- Kanke's Chart of the Heart
-
A chart and a modern-language reflection of the poet's inner feelings.
The Poet's Feelings (A Personal Interpretation)
Struck by the beauty of the autumn leaves
painting the mountain, I stop in my tracks.This very scenery
will be the finest offering to the gods.
- Poem Illustration
-
This image is based on an illustration from William N. Porter's A Hundred Verses from Old Japan, his 1909 English translation of the Hyakunin Isshu published in England, colorized and reworked using Adobe Firefly (generative AI).