The Masterful Technique in "The Color of the Flowers": Approaching the Poet Ono no Komachi
The season has become wrapped in the warmth of spring.😊
Our shrine grounds are also reaching their peak with flowers blooming one after another.♪
When sunny days continue, that alone makes one's heart feel bright.😊
However, it is also true that there are many rainy days around the time the cherry blossoms bloom.
The rain that falls during the cherry blossom season has beautiful names such as "Sakura-ame" (cherry blossom rain) and "Sakura-nagashi" (cherry blossom washing).
This time, we will talk about a famous poem by the female poet Ono no Komachi, which she composed on the theme of "long spring rains"...😊
◆ The Mysterious Genius Female Poet: Ono no Komachi
Ono no Komachi, who is also depicted composing poetry in our goshuin (shrine seal), was a female poet of the early Heian period, one of the Rokkasen (Six Poetic Geniuses),, and is also said to be the granddaughter of our shrine's enshrined deity, Ono no Takamura.
And it is a famous story that she was said to be a beauty of unparalleled grace.❤
Ono no Komachi is said to have been a genius female poet who was both beautiful and skilled at poetry. Of course, the men around her could not leave her alone.
The people who exchanged poems with Komachi included the handsome playboy Ariwara no Narihira, as well as Fun'ya no Yasuhide and Yoshimine no Munesada, among other illustrious figures.
Truly a Heian-era popular girl...!
Komachi left behind many passionate love poems and had many rumors of romance spread about her, but there are also stories that she never yielded to any man, no matter how much they courted her.
Also, there are many parts of her background and real name that have not been passed down.
But perhaps that mysterious quality is part of the charm of the person known as "Ono no Komachi."✨
◆ A Masterpiece Poem about Cherry Blossoms by Ono no Komachi
"The color of the flowers has faded away, in vain, while I gazed at the long rains in this world."[Meaning] (The cherry) flower's color has faded away in vain while the long spring rain continued to fall. My appearance has faded away in vain while I was lost in thoughts about love and the world.
This poem, included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, has a "complex structure" that is excellent in technique, such as featuring two kakekotoba (pivot words) in a single poem.
It is a poem that makes one feel the terrifying talent of Ono no Komachi, as each word contains different meanings, and the meaning changes depending on whether it connects to what comes before or after...!
Fujiwara no Teika, the compiler of the Hyakunin Isshu and the Shinkokinshu, praised this poem as "Yugen-yo" (the style of profound mystery), hailing it as a masterpiece with deep, unspoken sentiment and lingering emotion.
This poem, which depicts not only beauty but also such transience and a sense of impermanence, was adapted into various works and had a great influence on later Japan...✨
And Takamura-ko, our shrine's enshrined deity who is also considered to be Ono no Komachi's grandfather, also composed a poem starting with "The color of the flowers...".
◆Grandfather!? The "Color of the Flowers" composed by Lord Ono no Takamura
"Even if the color of the flowers is hidden, blended with the snow, let at least their fragrance drift, so that people may know them."[Meaning] Even if the (plum) flowers are hidden by the snow and cannot be seen, I wish at least their scent would drift, enough for people to notice where they bloom.
Lord Takamura's "The color of the flowers..." is a poem that makes one feel his rich sensibility, evoking the plump fragrance of plum blossoms blooming in the snow before the arrival of spring♪
Although both poems begin with "The color of the flowers...", the types of flowers are different: Lord Takamura's is the "plum," while Komachi's is the "cherry blossom."
If we consider that Komachi, who is said to be Lord Takamura's granddaughter, may have been paying homage to the poem composed by her grandfather..., then these waka poems by the two members of the Ono clan, connected by the "color of the flowers," area heart-stirring matter that makes one feel the romance of history...!
When you stroll through the shrine grounds, you can feel the footsteps of people from the distant past.
Did Komachi and Lord Takamura also feel spring in the same way, offering prayers to the gods and giving thanks for their daily lives...✨
Please enjoy a spring stroll at the shrine while feeling the romance of history.
