by Honda Giken

Translated and adapted from NHK Books no. 66, Nihonjin no Mujo-kan (Tokyo： Japan Broadcast Publishing Co., Ltd., 1968) pp. 74 - 90, by permission. The romanization of ancient names, poems, and other Japanese words throughout reflects modem pronunciation.

The Life of a Flower

Flowers bloom and scatter. It is their blooming and their scattering that is their essence.

In ancient Japan, flowers were associated with the spirit of grains, and especially of rice — the very essence of life. An abundance of spring flowers provided magical assurance of a rich autumn harvest. The custom of hanami, flower-viewing, rose out of this old tradition of auguring fall harvests by observing spring flowers, and eventually became a popular form of recreation. As Donald Keene points out in his Japanese Literature, the single word hanami not only conveys the literal sense of going out to see flowers, but also suggests a throng of revelers dressed in gala finery. English writers must use five or six words to convey the literal meaning, the poetic effect, Keene concludes, is largely lost. One senses in the word hanami the long history of Japanese people's everyday emotional involvement with flowers. But alas, flowers bloom only to scatter. References to scattering flowers exist from as early as the myths in the Koji Ki [Record of Ancient Matters, 712] and Nihon Shoki [Chronicles of Japan, 720]. Both of these relate the story of Ninigi-no-mikoto [1] and his marriage to the lovely Konohana-no-sakuya-bime, or “Princess Tree-in-blossom,” who was the younger daughter of the mountain deity, Oyamatsumi-no-kami. When Ninigi passed over the elder daughter, Iwanaga-hime, or “Princess Eternal Rock”, and proposed marriage to the younger, their father insisted that he take both — but Ninigi declined, and spent the night with the younger one only. Then the father explained that he had offered Princess Eternal Rock in hopes that the lives of Ninigi's offspring might be steadfast and eternal, and Princess Tree-in-blossom in hopes that they might flourish like the blossoms on the trees. However, because the prince took only Princess Tree-in-blossom,

[1] Grandson of the god of creation and the sun goddess, Ninigi-no-mikoto had been sent to pacify and rule over the islands of Japan. According to the myths, his great grandson subsequently became the first emperor, Jimmu.

the lives of his children would be brief and full of sudden change, like blossoms that easily scatter and fall. The two accounts conclude that this is why emperors, and indeed all humans, are mortal and short-lived. Early poets, too, often likened mortal man to flowers, as in these lines from a Manyo Shu poem： hito wa hanamono so utsusemiyohito “Frail as flowers are the lives of men, passing phantoms of this world” (MYS XIII： 3332)

[2] Tr. Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai, The Manyoshu (New York： Columbia University Press, 1969), p. 312.

In the following poem, prefaced “Lamenting the Shortness of Life in This World,” Yamanoue no Okura (660 - 733) expresses regret at the human conditions of aging and death.

MYS V： 804

The imagery of fast-fading flowers came to be used ever more frequently as a metaphor for the transience of life, as in this line by Otomo no Yakamochi (716 - 785)： saku hana wa utsurou toki ari, “The flowers that bloom have their time to fade” (MYS XX： 4484). This lonely expression of sorrow at inevitable change refers implicitly to the fall of noble lines in the political turmoil of the world of ancient Nara. In this way, flowers came to symbolize the emotional burden of sorrow at the impermanence of human society and institutions, as well as the frailty of nature and human life.

MYS VIII：1435 Otomo no Yakamochi

Hanezu, the flowering tree mentioned here, is said to have been a variety of either garden plum or garden cherry. It produced a faintly red flower in early summer, but the hue of this blossom faded quickly. Through the image of flowers and rain, the poem suggests the poignance of the passage of time.

Spring Evening. By Hayami Gyoshu (1894-1935). Property of the Yamatane Museum of Art, Tokyo.

Melancholy Thoughts： Ono no Komachi

While I have watched the rain,
Lost in melancholy thoughts. [3] |

KKS II: 113

This is the famous poem by Ono no Komachi included in the Hyakunin Isshu [Single Poems by One Hundred Poets] collection. After the earlier Man'yo Shu poems quoted above, one cannot help but sense in this poem a life that is somehow broader and more complex.

Hana, “flowers”, here refers to both actual flowers, and to the poet herself. A mysterious Heian period woman, Ono no Komachi was said to be as beautiful as the ancient heroine Sotoori-hime (“Robe-penetrating princess”), the fragrance of whose voluptuous charm penetrated her robes. Iro, meaning color or beauty, is both the color of the flowers and of the poet's life: alike phenomena of this earthly world, they are alike doomed to perish. The division of mind and body suggested in wagami yo ni furu, literally “my body grows old in the world”, is derived from the utsusemi (men of this world) image in the Man'yo Shu poem quoted earlier (XIII: 3332). The verb furu is a pivot-word with three different meanings: to fall (as rain), to pass (as time), and to grow old. Nagame, from the verb “to watch” can also mean “long rain”, customarily a time of sexual abstinence in ancient times because it coincided with the sacred rice-planting season. The melancholy brooding of that time has been transposed to an aristocratic, interiorized world. The verb furu simultaneously suggests the world of nature and of human affairs — including affairs of the heart — which now, in looking back, the poet sees to her sorrow have ‘‘come to nothing.” These multiple meanings, playing against the dual senses of nagame, convey the depth of the poet's sadness. She does not direct her sadness outward, but remains focused inward, gazing steadily at herself. This depiction of the human heart, and the human situation, is rendered through an interiorizing of nature. The kana preface to the Kokin Shu sums up Komachi's poetry by saying that “It reminds one of a beautiful woman suffering from an illness”. The following poems by her serve as poignant examples of this.

[3] Tr. Helen Craig McCullough, Kokin Wakasbu (Stanford： Stanford University Press 1985), p. 35.

KKSXU: 552

I have come to feel
That it is dreams, not real life,
On which I can pin my hopes. [5] | KKSXU, 553

The blossom that fades away,
Its color unseen,
Is the flower in the heart \\Of one who lives in this world. [6] |

I would gladly cut my roots
And float away like duckweed. [7] |