Kokinshu #194

[lnhammer]

(from the same contest)

    The eternal moon --
it is because its cassia
    also puts on
the colors of autumn leaves
that it shines ever brighter?

—9 January 2012

Original by Mibu no Tadamine. The tree is called katsura, which ordinarily refers to the Japanese redbud (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) but is also used for cassia (Cinnamomum aromaticum), the tree that in Chinese mythology grows on the moon (where a giant eternally tries to chop it down). This is confusing to almost everyone -- including apparently Tadamine, as while the temperate redbud is noted for its autumnal foliage, the tropical cassia neither is deciduous nor grows in Japan. I translated his apparent intent despite the mistaken botany, even though this makes it easier to give a negative answer.


hisakata no
tsuki no katsura mo
aki wa nao
momiji sureba ya
teri-masaruramu

---L.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

The Kokinshu is truly shocking on scientific detail. It opens with the embarrassing spectacle of Ariwara no Motokata admitting that he knows nothing of the principles of timekeeping; there are, like, half-a-dozen poems about how the dew makes the leaves turn brown or some such nonsense... --Matt

[lnhammer]

Worse -- only some of the details are poetically effective.

---L.