Sunday, April 14, 2013

Kiritsubo 1.5

It's great to finally get back to the text!  I haven't done a new sentence since January.

This sentence has a few new symbols that I will explain.  Incidentally, the "1.5" in the title is section 1 sentence 5; Hiromichi uses squares to mark off what he considers significant divisions in the text, and L-shaped figures for even larger divisions.  His text of Kiritsubo contains three large divisions (although the last is just the final sentence), and 12 shorter divisions.

Looking at the picture here, there are three things of interest:
- The open rectangle to the right of なん indicates a 係り結び; the open rectangle pointing the other way on けれ is the 結び part.
- The lines to the right of two phrases show that these phrases connect to each other and what is in between them is a parenthetical remark.  In other words, Hiromichi feels that you should read this as いにしへの人のよしあるにて、何事の儀式をももてなし給ひけれど with the おやうちぐし part as a parenthetical.  The 乙 and 甲 symbols are also supposed to help with this although the 乙 seems misplaced here.  The woodblock print has them in the same place though, and Hiromichi wrote the 版下 for the woodblock print himself so I may just not fully understand how they're used.
- Finally, the black circle to the left of the し in 後見しなければ indicates that it's a 助辞 (which Hiromichi glosses as yasume no kotoba) -- in other words, a particle that adds emphasis without contributing any other meaning.  He says in the intro that he only uses these circles where it might be confusing; I guess here there's the risk of trying to read し as a verb (the conjugation would be wrong in classical but I believe that even in mid-19th century Japanese, しない was the colloquial negative of する.)

My translation:

Her father, a Grand Counselor, had passed away, and her mother, his principal wife, with the refinement of an ancient family, so that [her daughter] would not lag greatly behind even those who had both parents and a brilliant reputation now, prepared [her daughter] for every kind of ceremony, but since [her daughter] had no especially firm backing, in the end she had no one to rely on at important times and appeared lonely.

Now the headnotes:
父の大なごんはなくなりて
 更衣の父按察(あぜち)の大納言の事を、何となき物語りの中に挿(さしはさ)みて、説出だされたり。かくてその委(くは)しきことは更衣の失せ給へる後に著(あらは)されたり。この文法、巻々に多し。心得おくべし。ここよりは、更衣の心づかひの苦(くる)しき有様を委はしく説きはじむるなり。

Hyou: The fact that the Intimate's father is the Azechi Grand Counselor is brought out in middle of the story in an unrelated section. Thus this specific information is not given until after the Intimate's death. This sort of technique appears frequently throughout the story. You should pay attention to it. Starting here, a detailed explanation is given of the Intimate's suffering.

---

I think Hiromichi is reaching a bit here, although he may have just been eager to introduce this general principle.  The information here appears in the Suma chapter, when the Akashi monk is talking about Genji: 故母御息所は、おのが叔父にものしたまひし按察使大納言の娘なり。("His deceased mother, the Haven, was the daughter of my uncle the Azechi Grand Counselor.")  However, the fact that her father is specifically the Grand Counsler of Azechi has no relevance to anything in the story so it's hard to see this as an explicit principle of composition.  Hiromichi seems to be writing under the assumption that Murasaki Shikibu composed the entire story in order from chapter 1 to 54 and had the entire story and characters planned out in advance, which is no longer a widely accepted theory of the Genji's composition.

はゝ北の方なん云々よしあるにて
 「なん」はもてなし給ひけれど、とある「けれ」にて結びて、「ど」と受けたる格なり。「いにしへの人のよしあるにて」は「いにしへのよしある人にて」といふ意なり。小櫛に「にて」は下の「もてなし給ひけれど」といふへつづく詞なり、とあり。標(しるし)の点にて心得べし。

The nan used here connects to the kere below [as kakari-musubi], which is conjugated [in the izenkei form] because of the do.  "inishie no hito no yoshi aru ni te" means "inishie no yoshi aru hito ni te."  The Tama no ogushi says that the ni te here connects to the "motenashi tamahi keredo" below.  I have shown this with my symbols in the text.

---

I'm not entirely certain of Hiromichi's analysis of the inishie phrase here, but the modern editions are rather vague on what it means also.  A number of manuscripts read いにしへ人 instead, which may reflect some confusion over this sentence going back some ways.

Now the vocab notes:

よしある
 「よし」は「ゆゑよし」などいふ「よし」にて、「由緒ある」といふに同じく、種姓(スジャウ)のいやしからぬをいふ。

yoshi is the same as in the word yueyoshi. This is similar to the meaning "venerable [family]", and indicates a family lineage that is high-class.

はなやか
 花のごとくめてたきよしを譬えていふ詞にて、「やか」はそのたとへたる形容の辞なり。

This is a word that metaphorically relates something to the excellence of a flower. The yaka is a suffix that indicates this comparison.

はかばかしき
 「はか」は或る説に「極処(ハテカ)」の意なり、といへるやよろしからん。極処のなきは、ただ弱はしく確かならぬもの故に、確かならぬことを「はかなき」といふ。「はかばかし」はその反(うら)にて、確かなることをいへり。「しき」は例の「しげき」意の形容辞なり。

 シツカリトシタ

A certain theory says that haka is like 極処(hateka) [endpoint], this is perhaps a good theory. So because something without (naki) an endpoint (haka) is weak and uncertain, something that is uncertain is called hakanakiHakabakashi is the opposite of this and means something certain.  shiki is the usual suffix meaning "profusely" derived from shigeki.

Translation: shikkari shita

うしろみ
 後(うしろ)の方は見えぬものなる故に、いとおぼつかなきを傍より見て助くる意なり。今俗字音(もじごゑ)に「こうけん」といふことなり。雅言には「うしろむ」と働かしてもいへり。

Because behind you is something you can't see, it helps you out if someone is beside you watching that indistinct area.  In current vernacular this is also read with on-yomi as kouken. The Yugen shuran says that this also sometimes occurs in verb form asushiromu.

こととある時は
 帚木に「こととあかくなれば」。野分の巻に「こととなれなれしきにこそはあめれ」。家持集に「秋風はこととふききぬ白たへのわがときごろもぬふ人もなし」。椎本に「ことといへばかぎりなき御心のふかきになん」。著問集に「ことといへばあるじながらもえてしがなねはしらねどもひきこころみん」。すべて「ことと」といふ詞はとりたててそのことをするにいふ詞なり。

Genchu yoteki (1830): In the "Hahakigi" chapter it says "It became particularly light." In the "Nowaki" chapter it says "They became particularly friendly." A poem in the Yakamochi-shu [233] says "The autumn wind is blowing particularly strong. There is no one here to mend my tattered clothes." The "Shiigamoto" chapter says "[Kaoru]: 'Based on what you said, there is no limit to the depth of your heart." The Kokoncho monju says "???". In all of these examples, koto to means "especially."

---

The text most often used in modern editions reads ことある instead, although many manuscripts have ことと.  Typically when modern editions deal with this issue they come down on the side of ことある being the correct reading -- that is, this should mean "When there was an event" rather than ことと somehow modifying ある adverbially.

I apologize for leaving out the Kokoncho-monju quote but I was never able to find the passage in the work (since I don't think there's a good search tool for it) and I don't feel confident enough to try to translate that long string of hiragana.

The inclusion of the "Shiigamoto" quote appears to be an error since こと there means 言 rather than "especially."


And finally a short supplemental note:

北の方 
 男は南、女は北に住むべきいふなり。陰陽につかさどる故なり。よりて貴賎ともに妻室を「北の方」と号するなり。后妃を椒房と号するも北向に住み給ふ故なり、云々

Kakaisho (1360's): It is said that men should live in the south and women in the north. This has to do with a balance between the Yin and Yang. Because of this everyone, high and low ranking, calls the dwelling of the wife the kita no kata. This is the same reason why an Empress is called 椒房, because they live facing the north.

---

According to the Koujien, the term 椒房 comes from the Empress' section of the palace being painted with fruit from the 山椒 tree in the Han dynasty.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Chogonka-den (extracts)

As I said before, Hiromichi follows his quotation of the entire 長恨歌 with extracts from a prose story called the 長恨歌伝, which is placed before the 長恨歌 in many manuscripts of Bai Juyi's poems.  It is by 陳鴻, but I don't know much about him.  I suppose this prose story was already appearing in manuscripts in the Heian period so that it would have been read there.

As with the Chogonka, I will use Hiromichi's 訓点 to make a kundoku (although I filled in some of the okurigana I think he just left out as understood).  Each paragraph represents one extract, so between each paragraph there is some omitted material.  Hiromichi's extracts make up about 25-30% of the whole thing -- he seems to cut parts that are in the Chogonka (like the entire episode of the priest visiting Yang Guifei's spirit).  I am not aware of any English translation.

開元中、 泰階平にして、四海(よのうみ)無事(しずかなり)。玄宗、位に在ること歲久しくして、旰(ひたけて)食ひ、宵(よは)に衣るに倦めり。政、大小と無く、始て右丞相に委ぬ。深居游宴して、声色を以て、自ら娛む。

During the Kaiyuan era, the whole populace was content and the land was at peace.  Xuanzong had reigned for a long time, and he had grown tired of governing.  He began to entrust all the matters of state, large and small, to his senior ministers.  He shut himself in his inner chambers and held banquets, pleasuring himself with women.

- The Kaiyuan era was from 731-741.
- 旰食宵衣 literally means to eat late and wear clothes into the night; this is used as an image of a hard-working ruler.

高力士に詔し、潜に外宮を捜て、弘農の楊玄琰が女を寿邸に得たり。既に笄せり。

He issued an order to Gao Lishi, and searched the other palaces (for women), finding a daughter of Yang Xuanyan of Hongnong who was then in the Shoudi (residence).  She had already come of age.

上、甚だ悦ぶ。

The Emperor was exceedingly pleased.

明年、貴妃と冊(なづけて)為。后の服用を半ばにす。是に由て、其の容を冶め、其詞を敏くして、婉孌萬態以て上の意に中つ。上益々嬖す。

The next year she was named Guifei.  She was treated half as an Empress.  Starting from then, she improved her looks and sharpened her diction, and with her lithe seductiveness she won the heart of the Emperor.  He loved her more and more.

- "Guifei" was evidently a name for one of four high-ranking consorts under the Empress.

三夫人、九嬪、二十七世婦、八十一御妻、暨び後宮の才人、楽府の妓女有と雖でも、天子をして顧盼の意無らしむ。 是自、六宮復た幸を進る者なし。徒に殊艷尤態、是を致すのみに、蓋し才智明慧、善巧便佞、意に先ち、旨に希ひ、形容すべからざる者有り。叔父、昆弟、皆列て清貴に在り。爵、通侯為。姊妹、国夫人に封ぜらる。当王室に埒(ひとし)。

Although the palace included three fujin, nine hin, twenty-seven seifu and eighty-one gyosai, not to mention the palace dancers and singers, none of them could make the Emperor so much as glance at them.  But it was not only her exceptional beauty that won the Emperor's heart -- who is able to describe the extent of her skill and diction?  Her male relatives were all given high positions and corresponding rank, and her sisters were made fujin, fit to be with the Emperor in his bedroom.

- I discussed these women in the first sentence, although there it was 女御 rather than 御妻.

入ずるに禁門を出問はず、京師の長、吏為に之目を側(そば)む。

When they went in and out of the palace gates, no one even asked their names, and the officials could only avert their eyes.

天宝の末、兄の国忠丞相の位を盗み、國柄に愚弄す。安祿山兵を引て闕に向ふに及て、楊氏を討するを以て、辞と為。潼關守らず、翠華南に幸す。咸陽の道に出て馬嵬の亭(たびや)に次(やど)る。六軍徘徊して、戟を持て進まず。従官郎吏、上の馬の前に伏して、錯を誅して以て天下に謝せんと請ふ。国忠氂纓盤水を奉して、道の周(ほとり)に死す。左右之意、未だ快らず。上之を問ふ。当時敢て言ふ者、貴妃を以て天下の怨を塞んと請ふ。上免を知ざること、其の死を見るに忍びず,袂を反して、面を掩ひ、之を牽て去らしむ。倉皇展転、竟に就を尺組の下に絶す。 既にして玄宗、成都に狩す。肅宗、禅を霊武に受。明年、大兇元を帰し、大駕都に還る。玄宗を尊て太上皇と為す。南宮に就養す。西内に遷る。

At the end of the Tianbao period (742-756), Guifei's brother Guozhong took the Chancellor's office by force, and misused his political power.  An Lushan took troops from the palace, intent on defeating Guozhong.  They overcame the Tong barrier pass, and the Imperial flag moved south.  The Emperor set out on the Xianyang road and stopped at Mawei station.  The Imperial forces fell prostrate before the Emperor's horse, begging him to defeat Yang Guozhong.  Guozhong, arrayed in humble clothing, was killed on the road.  However, the officials were still not pleased.  The Emperor asked them why, and someone told him that he would have to appease the anger of Heaven by having Yang Guifei killed.  The Emperor saw that he could not avoid this, but he couldn't stand to watch her death.  He covered his face with his sleeves as she was hauled away.  She struggled but was strangled to death with a cord.  Xuanzong then moved to Chengdu, and his son Suzong was made Emperor at Lingwu.  The next year, An Lushan was defeated and they returned to the capital.  Xuanzong was named Retired Emperor, and the south palace was prepared for him, but he went to the Western palace instead.

- This section is a little hard to follow because the account of the rebellion is very compressed and selective.

適々道士有り、蜀より来る。上の皇心、楊妃を念ふことを是の如くなるを知て、自から言ふ、李少君が術有りと。玄宗大に喜び、命して其の神を致さしむ。方士乃ち其の術を竭くし、以て之索むるに、至らず。又能く神を遊し気に馭、天界に出て、地府に没(い)り、以て之を求むるに見えず。

Around that there was a Daoist priest who came from Shu.  When he found out about the Emperor's grief for Yang Guifei, he told the Emperor himself that he knew the arts of Li Shaojun.  Xuanzong was very happy, and charged the priest to go find her spirit.  The priest immediately used his art to search for her, but he couldn't find her.  He used heavenly powers to go to the heavens and the realm of the dead, but though he searched for her, he could not find her.

- Li Shaojun was a Daoist priest during the Han era; the SKT notes say that this is probably meant to evoke Emperor Han's grief for Li Fujin but the reference is wrong.

使者還て奏す、太上皇、皇心震悼。日々豫(たのし)まず。其年の夏四月、南宮に晏駕す。

The priest returned, and Xuanzong was crushed.  He was unhappy, and in the fourth month of that year he went to the Southern palace.

- The den does have the story of the priest finding Guifei's spirit and receiving the mementos, but Hiromichi cuts it entirely.  The extracts here give the impression that the priest just immediately goes back to the Emperor having failed.

So that's the Chogonka-den, and I'm finally done with these stupid things.  Next I can return to the actual Genji.  I'm hoping to do updates about twice a week, probably more like every 4-5 days.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Chogonka part 6

101 情を含み、涕をして、君王に謝す。
She was full of emotion, and she fixed her gaze (on the priest), relaying a message to the King.

102 一別音容両(ながら)、渺茫。
"Since we have parted, your voice and features are far-away and indistinct.

- SKT makes the next lines a quotation of Yang Guifei, while wikisource uses a third-person description.

103 昭陽殿の裏、恩愛絕。
Within the hall of the bright sun, our love has ceased.

- The "Hall of the Bright Sun" is a specific place built during Wu of Han's reign, although later it was part of the palace.

104 蓬萊宮の中日月長し。
The days and months are long in Penglai Palace.

- Mount Penglai is one of the dwelling places of Daoist immortals.

105 頭を回して、下人寰の処を望めば
If I turn my gaze to look at the world of humans,

106 長安を見ずして、塵霧を見る。
I cannot see Chang'an, but only dust and mist.

107 唯旧物を將(も)て、深情を表す。
I can only express my deep affection using old mementos.

108 鈿合金釵、寄(よ)せ將(も)て去(ゆか)しむ。
I will send you away with a gold hairpin and jewel-inlaid box.

109 釵は一股を留め、合は一扇,
I will keep one part of the hairpin, and the clasp of the box.

110 釵は黄金を擘さき、合は鈿を分つ。
 The gold of the hairpin is broken, and the box is divided.

111 但、金鈿の堅きに似たら、心を令む
If we keep our hearts as firm as the gold of the hairpin,

- 但 here means "If..."

112 天上、人間会相見。
We will meet again either in the heavens or on Earth."

113 別に臨て、殷勤に重て詞を寄す。
The priest began to leave, but she urgently asked him to convey a message.

114 詞の中に誓ひ有り、両(ふた)りの心にのみ知れり。
The message contained a pledge that only the two of them knew in the depths of their heart.

115 七月七日長生殿,
On the seventh day of the seventh month, in the Changsheng hall,

- The "Changsheng hall" is a hall in the Huaqing Palace, where Guifei bathed.

116 夜半人無して、私語(ささめごと)時。
In the middle of the night when no one was around, they whispered the pledge to each other.

117 天に在らば、願くは比翼の鳥と作らん,
"If we are in the heavens we will be like birds flying with wingtips together

- Although the SKT translation has the above, their notes seem to indicate that this 比翼鳥 is a specific legendary bird that shared a wing.  In this case the 比 does not mean "like..."

118 地に在らば、願くは連理の枝と為んと。
If we are on earth we will be intertwined branches of a tree.

- Or perhaps "of two trees"; trees that have different trunks but their branches intertwine.

119 天長地久時有て尽るとも,
The eternal heavens will come to an end some day,

120 此の恨綿々として絶る期無らん。
But this sorrow will go on forever.

So that's the Chogonka, finally.  I'll do the Chogonka-den passages tomorrow, hopefully as one long post.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Chogonka, part 5

I'm back in the US so I should be able to do more regular updates now.  Two more Chogonka posts and then 1 or 2 for the Chogonka-den and we'll be back to the actual Genji; hopefully my readership will go above 1 view per post after that. :-)  I will try to get the last Chogonka posts up relatively quickly.

81 上は碧落を窮はめ、下は黄泉。
(The Daoist priest) searched up in the blue sky, and down in the yellow springs.

82 両つの処、茫々として皆見えず。
But in the vastness of both places, he did not see her anywhere.

83 忽ち聞く海上に仙山有りと,
Just then he heard about a mountain of sages above the sea,

- 仙 here is probably more specifically the Daoist "immortals" or supernatural beings.

84 山は虚無縹緲の間に在。
The mountain was in the far off distance, barely visible.

85 楼閣の玲瓏として五雲起き、
 A tower rose brilliantly through the five-hued clouds,

86 其の中に綽約たる仙子多し。
In there, there were many beautiful immortals.

87 中に一人有り、字は太真。
Among those, one had the style name of Taizhen.

- The "style name" is given to someone upon attaining adulthood; Taizhen was Yang Guifei's style name (Wikipedia says it was associated with her status as a Daoist nun before she became Xuanzong's consort).  SKT emends the text here (from other manuscripts) to 名玉妃 ("her name was Yufei"); Yufei seems to be a combination of her other names.

88 雪の膚、花の貌、参差として是なり。
She had white skin, and a beautiful face -- this almost had to be her.

89 金闕の西の廂に玉扃を叩けは,
The priest tapped on the jeweled door of the western wing of the gold watchtower,

- The images here are taken from traditional Daoist ideas of what the lands of the immortals looked like.

90 転(うた)、小玉をして双成を報ぜしむ。
Now then, he had Xiaoyu relay a message to Shuangcheng.

- These are traditional female immortals.

91 聞道(きくならく)、漢家天子の使なり。
They heard that this was a messenger from the Son of Heaven of the House of Han.

- Another example of Bai Juyi concealing Xuanzong's name by evoking Emperor Wu of Han.

92 九華帳の裏、夢魂驚く。
From inside the nine-flowered curtain, she was startled awake from her dream.

- I'm not sure what 魂 does here; it's in Hagiwara and wikisource.  SKT has 夢中 instead (without comment), which makes more sense.

93 衣を攬(かひと)り枕を推て、起て徘徊す。
She reached for her clothes and pushed aside her pillow, rising in a daze.

94 珠の箔(すだれ)、銀の屏、邐迤として開く。
The pearl curtains and the silver door opened as she went through.

95 雲の鬢(びんつら)、半ば偏(みだれ)て、新睡して覚たり。
Her cloud (dark) hair was half-disturbed; she had just awakened from sleep.

- The function of 新 here is to express the idea of having just done some action.

96 花の冠、整へずして、堂を下り来る。
She went down into the main hall, her headpiece not adjusted.

97 風仙袂を吹て、飄々として舉かる。
The wind blew her celestial sleeves, making them flutter.

98 猶、霓裳羽衣の舞に似たり。
Indeed it resembled the dance of rainbow skirts and feather robes.

- This is a reference back to line 32.

99 玉の容寂寞として涙闌干たり。
Her jeweled face was sad, and splotched with tears.

100 梨花一枝春雨を帯たり。
(Just like) A single branch of pear blossom, wreathed in spring rain.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Chogonka, part 4

Evidently the way to sink double-digit reader to single-digit reader is to spend months on a Chinese poem. :-)  I promise this will be the only such long digression in the chapter.  The second half of the poem is drawn on more heavily than the first for the "Kiritsubo" chapter.

61 春風、桃李花の開く夜
The windy spring nights when the peach and plum trees bloomed,

- SKT and wikisource read 日 instead of 夜.

62 秋雨、梧桐葉の落る時。
The autumn rains, when the leaves of the Wutong trees fell.

- SKT interprets these lines as meaning "In all the times described, the King could not forget Yang Guifei," whereas wikisource says that the spring days have been replaced by the autumn rains.  Neither interpretation is literally in the original but something more is going on than the literal translation.

63 西宮、南、秋草多し。
The western palace and the southern gardens had many autumn plants.

- SKT and wikisource have 南内 here (southern palace).


64 宮葉、階に満ちて紅掃はず。
The scarlet leaves of the palace covering the stairs were not swept away.

- SKT and wikisource have 落葉 (fallen leaves)

65 梨園の弟子、白髮新なり。
The children of the Pear Garden had newly white hair.

-  梨園弟子 is a term for the singers and performers of the Pear Garden musical group in the palace.  SKT says this was led by Xuanzong himself.

66 椒房の阿監、青蛾老たり。
The women in the Jiaofang's eyebrows had grown old.

- The Jiaofang was where the Empresses of the Han Dynasty lived; 青蛾 is a symbol of youth. 

67 夕殿に螢飛びて、思ひ悄然
In the evening palace the fireflies flew, and the King was alone and sad.

68 孤燈挑(かか)げ尽くして、未だ眠ることを成さず。
The lamps were lit and burned out, but still he could not sleep.

- SKT has 秋 instead of 孤.

69 遅遅たる鐘鼓、初て長き夜,
The slow bells and drums, the long night had just begun.

- SKT has 鐘漏, saying this is a water-based clock.

70 耿耿たる星河, 曙なんと欲する天。
The brightly shining stars; he wished the morning would come.

71 鴛鴦瓦冷にして、霜の華重く,
The duck tiles were cold, and the crystallized frost was heavy.

- SKT indicates that the "duck tiles" means tiles that are closely spaced, like the mandarin ducks were said to be close in poetry.

72 翡翠衾寒して、誰とにか共にせん。
The jade quilt was cold, who would share it with him?

- SKT emends the first part to 旧枕故衾.

73 悠悠たる生死別て年を経,
Years passed since they had suffered the long separation of life and death,

74 魂魄曾て来て夢にだに入らざる。
Her soul had not even appeared once in his dreams.

75 臨邛の士、鴻都の客,
A Daoist priest from Linqiong came as a guest to Hongdu.

- "Hongdu" is a gate of the palace that was near a school and a library; it didn't exist in Emperor Wu's time so the SKT suggests this just means the Daoist priest was coming to study.

76 能く精誠を以って魂魄を致す。
He had the spiritual power that let him call spirits.

77 君王、展転の思を感ぜしめんが為に
Because he noticed that the King was afflicted with longing for his beloved,

78 遂に方士をして殷勤に覓して教む。
The King had the priest earnestly seek out her spirit.

79 空を排し、気に馭して、奔ること電の如く,
The priest was like lightning as he parted the skies and sent his spirit out riding in the air.

80 天に昇り、地に入て之を求ること遍し。
He ascended to the heavens and back down to the earth, searching for her everywhere.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Chogonka, part 3

41 君王、面を掩て救て得ず。
The King covered his face, unable to save her

42 首を回せば、血と涙と相ひ和して流る。
When he turned his head, he saw blood and tears combining and flowing away.

43 黄埃(こうあい)、散漫として風蕭索(せうさく)たり。
The yellow dust scattered sadly in the breeze.

44 雲の棧、縈り紆りて劍閣に登る。
The walkways in the clouds wind around and climb up through Jiange.

- Or "the passes of Mount Jian," a border gate in modern Sichuan. The next few lines continue to describe the King's journey home.

45 峨嵋山の下人の行くこと少まれ也
There were few people going through the foot of Mount Emei.

- Both SKT and the wikisource point out that Emei isn't on Xuanzong's route but it was a common place in poetry and it was a famous part of Shu.

46 旌旗光無して日色薄く。
The banners had no light and the sun was pale.

- In other words the sky was cloudy so the sun couldn't illuminate the King's banners.

47 蜀江、水碧にして蜀山青し。
The water of the Shu rivers was blue, and the Shu mountains were green.

- 青 here refers to the lush plant growth, so it's not "blue".

48 聖主朝朝(あさなあさな)暮暮(ゆうべゆうべ)の情、
The King's feelings morning and night

- This is another line where I don't fully understand the grammar of the original.  SKT indicates this line means "(But in contrast to the lushness of the mountains and river,) the King's felt downcast because he thought about her morning and night."  Wikisource has "Our liege lord thought about her night and day."  It seems more to me like this should lead into the next lines, describing the King's 情.

49 行宮に月を見ては心を傷むる色,
Watching the moon in his temporary dwelling reflected the pain of his heart.

50 夜の雨に鈴を聞ては腸を断つ声。
Hearing bells on a rainy night was a sound of deep sorrow.

- SKT emends 鈴 to 猿, suggesting this is based on a 故事 about a mother monkey crying for her children.

51 天旋り、日転りて龍馭を廻へす,
The heavens turned and the sun moved, and the Emperor's chariot returned.

- This is a poetic way of saying the rebellion ended.  I believe that Xuanzong had abdicated by this point and was a retired Emperor.

52 此に到て躊躇して去ること能はず。
When he reached this place he hesitated and was unable to depart.

- "This place" is Mawei, where Yang Guifei was killed.

53 馬嵬の坡の下泥土の中,
In the mud and dirt at the base of Mawei's slopes,

54 玉顏を見ずして空しく死せし処。
He did not see her jeweled face, but only the place where she uselessly died.

- wikisource suggests that 玉 here is a reference to Guifei's birth name 玉環, although 玉 is a fairly conventional symbol of beauty.

55 君臣、相顧みて盡(ことごと)く衣を霑(うるほ)す,
The King and his ministers looked at each other, and they all soaked their clothes [with tears].

56 東の(方)都門を望み、馬に信(まか)せて帰る。
They turned towards the Eastern gate of the capital, and let their horses make their way home.

57 帰り来て池苑、皆な旧きに依る,
When they returned, the ponds and gardens were just like before.

58 太液の芙蓉、未央の柳。
The lotuses of Taiye and the willows of Weiyang.

- Weiyang palace was a Han Dynasty location, but in the Tang dynasty a pond had been built in the palace called Weiyang.  Wikisource says that the Taiye ponds were constructed by Emperor Wu, making this yet another reference to him.  Incidentally, this line is quoted verbatim in "Kiritsubo"; the only direct quote of the poem.

59 芙蓉は面の如く、柳は眉の如く,
 The lotuses were like her face, and the willows were like her eyebrows.

60 此に対して如何ぞ涙を垂(給は)ざらん。
Faced with this, how could the King not cry?

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Kiritsubo, a new translation

I mentioned before that I'm moving back to the US and doing other things, so I've been too busy to get out posts. Just to keep something going here I'll post the first part of an attempt at a new translation I've been doing while working on my dissertation. My idea was to write a translation (or retelling?) with no annotation, but that incorporated the usual commentary into the translation through the vehicle of the narrator (who is always more present in the original than in any translation). Here's the first part.

----

This was in some past reign, although I'm not entirely sure which one. There were many women serving the Emperor, from the high-ranking Consorts to the lower-ranking Intimates. Among all these women, there was one who was somewhat lower ranking. The Emperor loved her so much that he treated her beyond what her station should have warranted. Now the highest-ranking Consorts had assumed that they would be the ones to receive the Emperor's favor, and they looked down on this upstart with scorn. She was an Intimate, and the Emperor's action made all the other Intimates even more uneasy. Her constant service in the palace shocked everyone.

She had to put up with a great deal of spite from these other women, and it may be because of this that she began to get sick. More and more she seemed to spend more time at her mother's residence than in the palace, and she always had a distracted, lonely look on her face. But this only made the Emperor love her more, and look on her with increased pity. Even as the Emperor he was not immune to criticism from others, but he couldn't pay any attention to it – the way things were going, it was obvious that his behavior was going to end up as a cautionary tale for a later generation.

The men, too, were aghast. The high-ranking nobles and privy gentlemen were helpless to deal with the situation and turned away their eyes in shame. “The Emperor's love for this Intimate is embarrassing,” they said. They knew of the many examples from Chinese history of rulers who threw the entire country into chaos due to love, and this seed of worry began to spread into the wider world. Before too long, it was inevitable that people would begin talking of Yang Guifei – the famous Chinese poem about her made a perfect parallel with what was going on in the court. Amidst all this the poor Intimate was subjected to all kinds of disgraceful treatment, but she continued to go to the palace and serve, having nothing to rely on but the grace of the Emperor's protection.

Why was this her only protection? Her father had been a high-ranking Grand Counselor, but he had passed away some time before. Her mother, the main wife of this Grand Counselor, had the grace of an ancient lineage, and she was determined not to let her daughter lag behind these other women who had both parents still living, and who had such high reputations at court. She tried her best to prepare her daughter for any kind of ceremony, but political backing from a male relative was simply too important. Whenever there was particularly important function or official event, she didn't have anyone to rely on, and she could only sit by with a lonely face.

The Emperor and this Intimate must have had a strong karmic bond in their previous life as well. She bore a child, and it was a male – a baby boy more splendid than anyone in the world, looking like a pearl. The birth took place at the Intimate's home, of course, so the Emperor waited expectantly at the palace, impatient to see his newborn son. He had the child brought to him as soon as he could, and was delighted to see the boy's childlike appearance. The Emperor's first son had been born to a high-ranking Consort, the daughter of the Minister of the Right. She lived in the Kokiden wing of the palace. The first son had excellent political backing, and everyone knew that he would someday be the Crown Prince. Even so, he could not compare with the beauty of this newborn son. The Emperor supported his first-born publicly, but in private he lavished all his attention on the new child.

The Intimate, the child's mother, was never of a rank that would have allowed her to do common palace service. Rather than going to the Emperor, the way a serving maid would, she should have stayed in her own room in the palace and waited for the Emperor to arrive. When she first arrived in the palace she had high respect from others, and she always appeared well-bred and elegant. But the Emperor would constantly have her with him during musical events, and any time there was a significant function he would call on her first. Even worse, when he spent the night with her, he would sometimes sleep late and have her continue to serve him in his rooms, not letting her return to her own – because of this, it's natural that others began to look down on her and that she grew to seem common and low-class.

This was the situation when the child was born. After the birth, the Emperor treated her with even more special care, so much so that the Kokiden Consort, the mother of the First Prince, began to grow suspicious. “If this keeps up,” she thought, “it's possible that he would even make this child the Crown Prince, and her the Empress!” This Consort had been the first to arrive in the Emperor's palace service, and naturally assumed she would eventually be Empress. Indeed the Emperor did think of her greatly, and she had given him a number of splendid children. So it's perfectly understandable why the Emperor would take her admonitions seriously, and worry about his own conduct.

As I said, the Intimate relied on the Emperor's august protection, but many other women in the palace looked down on her and sought to do her harm. She was weak and frequently ill, and the Emperor's favor was causing her more worry than benefit.

She lived in the Kiritsubo pavilion of the palace, the furthest place from the Emperor's quarters. Whenever the Emperor wanted to visit her, he had to pass by quite a few people – and he visited her so many times. Is it any wonder that those women he constantly passed by were at their wits' end with anger? She sometimes visited the Emperor instead, and on many such occasions, these other women strewed filthy things all over the walkways around the buildings and the crossbridges between them. The gentlewomen that accompanied her couldn't avoid the mess, and the bottoms of their skirts became horribly fouled.

As if this weren't enough, sometimes the women got together and locked her in a passageway, shutting the doors from both sides. They did everything they could to cause her distress, and she suffered greatly. This sort of miserable conduct only increased, and the Emperor took even greater pity on her than before. The Koroden was very close to his quarters, and he had the Intimate who originally served in there moved somewhere else, and gave those rooms to his beloved as a temporary place to stay when he wished to call on her. Of course, the Intimate who was bounced out bore a particularly implacable grudge.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Chogonka, part 2

21 金屋(に)粧ひ成て嬌(こび)て夜に侍す。
She finished her makeup in the golden building, and charmingly accompanied the Emperor in the evenings.

- 金屋 is another reference to Emperor Wu; once again the tireless Wikisource guy has put the original quote from the Book of Han up.  He also points out that the 嬌 here is probably a pun on Empress Chin Jiao, who Wu wanted to build the golden house for.

22 玉楼宴罷て酔て春に和す。
In the jeweled pavilions at the end of the banquets they were drunk, and relaxed in the spring.

- I'm assuming that 罷て is intended to be read as おわりて.

23 姉妹兄弟、皆列士
Her brothers and sisters were all made governors of land.

24 憐れむべし、光彩の門戸を生すること
Oh, how splendid, the thriving of the shining family! 

25-26 遂に天下父母の心をして、男を生むことを重んせずして、女を生むことを重んせしむ。
This soon affected the hearts of the mothers and fathers of the land -- it caused them to not value giving birth to boys, but rather giving birth to girls.

27 驪宮高き處、青雲に入る。
The high places of Lu Palace entered the blue clouds.

- This is the Huaqing Palace, the location of the Huaqing Pools mentioned earlier in the poem.

28 仙樂、風飄て處處に聞ゆ。
The music of the sages fluttered on the wind and could be heard here and there.

29 緩く歌ひ謾に舞て絲竹を凝らす。
The slow singing and the gentle dancing merged with the strings (of the instruments).

-  謾 seems to be a 仮字 for 縵.

30 尽日(ひねもす)君王看れども足らざるに、
The King watched all day but it wasn't enough.

31 漁陽の鼙鼓、地を動し来たる。
The war drums of Yuyang began to shake the earth.

- The next set of lines alludes to the events of the An Lushan rebellion; the wikipedia article on Yang Guifei has the full story of her death; without some knowledge of the basic story this part of the poem makes little sense.

32 驚破(そよや)、霓裳羽衣の曲。
Oh!  The song of rainbow skirts and feather robes.

- According to the den, this is the song that Guifei enchanted Xuanzong with.  I'm a little uncertain on what 驚破 means here -- both Hiromichi's furigana and the notes to the SKT indicate that it's an expression of surprise, but the meaning of the line isn't very clear.  The SKT's modern Japanese translation and Wikisource say it means the drums disrupted the dance.

33 九重の城闕、煙塵生す。
The ninefold palace became covered in smoke and dust.

34 千乗万騎西南に行く。
The large army went southwest.

- This refers to the King's troops fleeing the palace.

35 翠華、搖搖として行て復た止まる。
The jewels on the imperial flag rocked back and forth, stopping and starting.

36 西の方、都門を出ること、百余里。
They left the capital gate to the west and went over 100 li.

37 六軍発せず、奈何(いかん)ともすること無し。
The Imperial army was not sent out, and couldn't do anything.

38 宛転たる蛾眉、馬の前に死ぬ。
The curved eyebrows like a moth, died before the horse.

- A very allusive reference to Yang Guifei's execution; that's an odd simile -- I don't know if it was a poetic standard.  Wikisource suggests it could be an allusion to Mount Emei, where Xuanzong was going.  Guifei was strangled in a Buddhist temple, but since she was killed at Mawei (馬嵬), this may be a play on words.

39 花の鈿(かんざし)地に委(すて)て、人の收むる無し。
Her flower hairpin fell to the ground, and no one picked it up.

40 翠翹金雀玉の搔頭(さしくし)。
(Then,) her hair ornament made from the feather of a kingfisher, her gold sparrow (pin), and her jeweled hair clasp.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Chogonka, part 1

My goal is to post roughly 20 lines of the poem each post.  I'm only going to do the 訓読 based on Hagiwara's citation of the poem; this uses some different kanji and a few different kundoku from the 新釈漢文大系 (SKT) text that I'm using for annotations.  If you want to see the original Chinese text and pinyin, go to the Wikisource page.  That page has a good natural translation so I'll try to be a bit more literal and explain some more of the terms and such.

長恨歌 (Song of Everlasting Regret/Neverending Sorrow)

1 漢王、色を重んじて、傾国を思ふ。
The King of Han valued sex, and wanted a beautiful woman.

- The "King of Han" is a poetic conceit to avoid naming Emperor Xuanzong, since the Tang Dynasty was still ruling.  There is no doubt who the poem is about, though.  The suggestion is that this is about Emperor Wu of Han and his relationship with Consort Li.  Li has been suggested as one model for the Kiritsubo Intimate.  The term 傾国 also comes from the Book of Han's biography of Consort Li; see the translated passage at wiktionary.

- "sex" is kind of a bold translation of 色 but I couldn't come up with a better one.  "Love" or "romance" don't really work.  Maybe the wikisource's choice of "dalliances", although somewhat Victorian, is more appropriate.

2 御宇(あめのしたしろしめして)多年求むれど、得ず。
He searched during the many years of his reign, but couldn't find any such beauty.

3 楊家に女(むすめ)あり、初めて長(ひと)と成れり。
In the House of Yang there was a daughter who had just come of age.

4 養はれて深閨に在りて、人未だ識らず。
She was raised and kept in the inner house, and people did not yet know her.

5 天の生(な)せる麗質、自ら棄て難し。
Her natural beauty was difficult to ignore.

- I'm not entirely sure how to interpret 自難棄; apparently it's just "impossible to ignore" but I don't fully understand the construction of that meaning.

6 一朝選ばれて、君王の側に在り。
One day, she was chosen, and went by the King's side.

7 頭を回らし、一たび笑しては百の媚生(な)る。
By turning her head and laughing once, it was one hundred times as sexy.

- None of the editions I've looked at really translate the meaning of the words, they just go with something like "Her entrancing smile could melt anyone's heart".  I'm really not sure if my more literal interpretation is accurate at all.

8 六宮の粉黛、顏色無し。
The powdered beauties of the palace had no beauty.

- Presumably in comparison to Yang Guifei.  A less literal translation would be "The other women in the palace could not compare to her."

9 春寒くして、浴を賜ふ、華清の池。
In the cold spring, the King gave her the gift of bathing in the Huaqing Pool.

10 温泉の水、滑らかにして凝れる脂を洗ふ。
The waters of the hot spring were smooth, and cleansed her white skin.

- 凝脂 is kind of an odd phrase; it seems to mean "(skin) white like solid fat" and is derived from the Shi jing.

11 侍兒(おもとひと)、扶け起して、嬌て力無し。
Her serving women helped her exit; she was slender and had no strength.

12 始を是れ新たに恩沢を承くる時。
This is just when she began to receive the King's favor.

-SKT reads 始 as まさしく and says it means "Just now".

13 雲の鬢(つら)、花の顏ばせ金の步搖(さしくしやり)
She had hair like a cloud, a face like a flower, and gold jewelry in her hair.

- 雲 may just mean "dark" but it might also refer to other aspects of clouds as well.

14 芙蓉帳暖かにして春宵を度る。
They spent the spring nights behind a warm screen of hibiscus.

15 春宵短きを苦しんで、日高(たけ)て起く。
They lamented the shortness of the spring nights, and rose when the sun was high.

16 此れ従、 君王、早朝(あさまつりごと)せず。
From this point, the King no longer did his morning government duties.

-従 is evidently read より here.

17 歓を承け宴に侍するに間暇無し。
She pleased the Emperor and accompanied him to banquets; she had no free time.

- SKT emends 宴 to 寝 from other manuscripts and says this means "she spent time in his sleeping chamber".   承歓 is evidently some kind of idiom.

18 春は春の遊びに従ひ、夜は夜を専にす。
In the spring she accompanied him on his spring outings, and at night she was with him every night.

19 後宮の佳麗、三千人。
There were three thousand beautiful women in the palace,

- SKT emends 後 to 漢 from other manuscripts, changing the meaning to "In the Han Palace..."

20 三千の寵愛、一身に在り。
(but) the love for the three thousand was with one woman alone.

Sounds like a great love story!  What could go wrong?

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Kiritsubo 1.4c

I checked a 古典 dictionary for あぢきなし; their etymology said it's from あづきなし, which is あ (sound variation of the わ in 分ける or 分かれる) + 付き + 無し, meaning unable to tell the difference or not distinguishing, which led to the other meanings by association.

This post has the 余釈 for the sentence.  I put in links to Wikipedia articles for the Chinese history figures mentioned.

もろこしにもかかる事の起りに
 殷の紂が妲己を愛し、周の幽王褒姒を寵せしより世の乱れたる事などを引きていふなり。

Sairyusho (1510): This is drawing from examples of the government falling into chaos from the love of King Zhou of Shang for Daji, or King You of Zhou for Bao Si.

楊貴妃のためし
湖師 玄宗の寵愛ゆゑに安禄山が乱出来たるためしなるべし。

Kogetsusho shisho (1673): This is the example of Xuanzong's love allowing for the An Lushan rebellion to occur.

 桐壺の帝の更衣をおくれ給へることを、唐の玄宗の楊貴妃に離れ給ひて嘆き給へるにたとへて、長恨歌の言葉を借りて一巻の始終を書き侍れば、そのことをいはんとて「楊貴妃のためしも引き出でつべく」とまづ言出だせり。作者の意趣すぐれて聞こえ侍り。

Kacho yosei (1472): The Kiritsubo Emperor survives the Kiritsubo Intimate; this is similar to Xuanzong being separated from Yang Guifei. This whole chapter is written based on the Song of Neverending Sorrow, and so first the text says that the "example of Yang Guifei should be brought out." The author's craft is excellent.

 云々 前の「もろこしにもかかる事」といへるとは別段と見るべし。花鳥には一つの心に注せらるるか云々

Mingo nisso (1598): (first part omitted) The "In China too, these things" sentence is talking about other examples, although the Kacho yosei seems to say they are the same.

---

The (somewhat trivial) issue is whether the "In China too" included Yang Guifei or not, something that divided the early commentaries.

 「かかる事の起こり」とある中に楊貴妃の例もこもるべし。さて、この巻は長恨歌によりて書かれたることは論なきを、かの歌の全文を知らざればこの文のいみじきことどもの知られがたき故に、わづらはしけれど白氏文集のままをここに挙げつ。引き合はせて見るべし。

You should view the "In China too" line as including the Yang Guifei example. Now then, it doesn't even need to be said that this chapter is based on the Song of Neverending Sorrow. Therefore if you don't know the entire text of that poem, it's hard to understand the excellence of this chapter. So even though it's troublesome, I will give the entire text from Bai Juyi's works here.

この次に陳鴻が選べる長恨歌の伝といふ物一篇あり。玄宗と楊貴妃との始終を記したれど、長ければここには省きて、ただその要とある所のみをいささか抜き出でて、注しつけぬ。詳しくは本書を見るべし。

Next, there is a Legend of the Song of Neverending Sorrow by Chin Ko. This records the story of Xuanzhong and Yang Guifei from start to finish. It is long, so I will include only an excerpt showing the main point here, and without annotations. You should see the main text for details.

---

Hagiwara does indeed include the entire Song as well as excerpts making up about a fourth of the Legend (a prose version included in the complete works of Bai Juyi).  Initially I thought I would skip over this but I have to read these for my dissertation anyway, and it better represents Hagiwara's intentions to include it.  There's already a good annotated translation on Wikisource, although the Legend doesn't seem to be translated anywhere.  So it might be useless duplication to do it here too, but I suppose that's OK.

Also, I'm leaving Japan at the end of March and I'm presenting at a conference in a month so my free time will be a bit more limited until April.  I'll still try to get a post out every 7-10 days or so but things could be a bit slower during that period.  Thanks for reading!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Kiritsubo 1.4b

A very full word section today, with 6 entries.  First I feel like I have to defend Hagiwara; on the last word post there were some very harsh comments about the philological efforts of the Edo-period scholars (one commenter called them "junk etymologies" and another compared them to jokes).  The etymologies aren't that bad, though -- a decent number of them are accurate or at least one possibility for an unknown word.  Of course there are some missteps, though.

Also, I want to say hi to a Chinese person living in France who is providing the second-most hits to the blog (next to Matt).  Here's an interesting post where he(?) compares three Chinese translations of the first few sentences of "Kiritsubo". 我的中文不太好。欢迎、欢迎

あいなく
 この詞、数もなく多く有るぞをことごとく見渡し合はせて考ふるに、何といふ弁へもなしに、うちつけに物することなり。ここもその意にて、おのが身にかからぬ人までも何といふことなしに目を側むる也。注に「愛無シ也」「あぢきなく也」などいへる皆かなはず。

Tama no ogushi (1796): This word occurs many times in the Tale. When you examine them all, it means to do unreasonable things with no thought put into it. The meaning here is the same; it means that even people not directly related to the circumstances are averting their eyes without any reason. The notes that say it means 無愛 or ajikinashi are wrong.

 ナニトナウ ムサト ナンノハリ合モナク

nani to nau (何となう), musa to, nan no hariai mo naku

 新釈に「愛敬なきを略して愛なきといふ也」とある。「略して」といはれたるはいかがなれど、なほ愛なきの意にはあるべし。何といふことなしに打ちつけにものするも、やがて愛のなき意なればいたく違(たが)へるにはあらず。

In the Shinshaku it says "This is shortened from aigyou nasi and means 愛なき."  The "shortened" part is doubtful, but this should be seen as 愛なき.  "Doing something unreasonable with no thought put into it" is, in the end, not that different from "with no care/love".

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This word is still of unknown etymology (愛なし is listed as a possible etymology in modern dictionaries), and the exact meaning of the word in this sentence is still not certain.

そばめ
 「そば」は側の字の意、「め」はめ、む、むるとはたらく辞なり。側(そば)へ向きて、まさしく向かはぬ意にて、物妬(ものねたみ)するさまなり。

soba is the character 側. me is the word conjugated as me, mu, muru.  The word means to turn aside and not face directly at something, indicating a grudge.

まばゆき
 拾遺に「日の輝く時まばゆくて見がたきやうの意なるべきにや」といへるごとくにて、なべて人に目をそばめらるる、これまばゆきなり。

Tama no ogushi (1796): The Genchu shui says This perhaps should mean that it is like the difficulty of looking at the bright sun." This is correct; generally people averting their eyes is referred to as mabayuki.

あぢきなう
 人の情を五味に譬(たと)へて、うまし、からし、にがしなどいふ中の、にがにがしきといはんがごときことを、味気(あぢき)なしといふなり。

Shinshaku (1758): People's feelings are often compared to the five senses, for instance, umashi, karashi, nigashi, etc. In this case it is like niganigashiki; something that has no taste.

 フアンバイナ ムヤクナコトヂヤ ラチモナイ

fuanbai na (不安倍な), muyaku na koto ja (無役なことじゃ)、rachi mo nai (埒もない)

雅集 やくにもたたず、せんのないといふ心なり。真字伊勢物語「味気無(アヂキナク)」。契沖云、せんかたなし。史記伍子胥伝、無益を「アヂキナシ」とよめり。宣長云、俗言にいらざること、むやくのことといへる意なり。

Gagen shuran (1849):  This means "useless" or "nothing can be done." In the Ise monogatari manabon the characters 味気無 are read as ajikinau. Keichū says that in the Shi ji, in the biography of Wu Xizu, 無益 is read as ajikinashi. Norinaga says that in the vernacular it means irazaru koto or mueki na koto.

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The Ise monogatari manabon is a version of the Ise monogatari written entirely in Chinese characters, perhaps in the Kamakura era (the cite here is in poem 90).  The practice of using Chinese works to gloss the Genji words is a curious one that dates back to the oldest commentaries; it survived into the 19th century for unclear reasons.  I believe this etymology for the word is completely wrong and that 味気 is ateji, but I'm not 100% certain.

はしたなき
 枕草子に「はしたなき物」といふ下の一つに、「人をよぶに我かとてさし出たる、まして物くるるをり」など書けり。これにて心得べし。竹取物語に「宮は立つもはした居るもはしたにてゐ給へり」といふに同じ云々

Genchu shui (1698): In the Makura no sōshi there is a section called "hashitanaki things." One of the items is "When someone else is called, and you appear thinking you're the one being called. It's even worse when they give you something." There are other items; this should be consulted. Also in the Taketori Monogatari it says "The prince was uneasy(hashita) standing or sitting." This is the same meaning.

 俗にどちらつかずといふ意なり。又めったに、又ひよんな事などいふ意なり。

Genchu yoteki (1830): In the vernacular this means things like dochira tsukazu, or metta ni, or hiyonna.

 フツガフナ ツキモナイ 思ヒガケナイ ツキホガナイ フサウオウナ フツツカナ

futsugafu na (不都合な), tsuki mo nai, omohigakenai, tsukiho ga nai, fusauouna (不相応な), futsutsuka na (不束な).

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I believe Keichu is correct about hashita and hashitanaki meaning the same thing -- the nashi is a suffix (not 無い) that is in other words like いときなし.

御心ばへ 
 心延(こころばへ)の意にて、心のひき延(はへ)て出でるおもふきをいふ語なり。心のさしゆくを志(こころざし)といひ、心を馳(はせ)出でるを意(こころばせ)といふ、皆同じおもふきなり。

This word is 心延, so it is extending (延) your spirit (心). This is similar to kokorozashi, which is pointing (指し) your spirit (心), or kokorobase, which is running (馳せ) your spirit (心). 

 ココロムケ オモヒナシ

kokoromuke (心向け)、omohinashi (思ひなし).

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Kiritsubo, 1.4a

This is another sentence that will have to be split up into multiple posts; there are only a few of these but unfortunately a lot of them are right at the beginning.


Also those such as the senior nobles and privy gentlemen turned their eyes away helplessly, saying “His love towards this person is embarrassing. In China, too, it was just for this reason that the world was thrown into chaos and became bad.” Gradually in the world at large, as well, this became a bitter seed of worry for people. It was becoming such that the example of Yang Guifei would have to be mentioned, and there were many disgraceful occurrences, but she served, relying on the peerlessness of [the Emperor's] gracious care.

めをそばめつつ
 あしくきらはしき物を見る時の様なり。長恨歌の伝に「京師ノ長吏、是ガ為ニ目ヲ側ム」といふにもよりしならん。

Shinshaku (1758): This describes looking at something bad that you don't like. This also seems to be a reference to the Chōgonka-den: The officials of the palace averted their eyes because of this.

 桐壺の帝の更衣を寵し給ふことを、そのかみ専ら行はれたる長恨歌に依りて巧みに書きなさん、との結構(したくみ)なる故に、ここに初めてかの伝の文を匂はし出でられたるなり。されども、彼には少しも拘(かかは)らずして、いと新しくめづらかにとりなされたる事、次に評ずるがごとし。

Hyou: The love between the Emperor and the Kiritsubo Intimate is mostly drawn from the Song of Neverending Sorrow, so for that reason, here the first small taste of that den appears. However, the story in the Tale contains new, very good, things that are not found at all in the original poem. I will say more about this later.

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Hagiwara has more to say about the Song and the den (a prose version of the legend) in the supplemental notes so I'll put that off until part C.

もろこしにも
 これ即ち楊貴妃のことを初めて綻(ほころ)ばし出だされたるにて、はるかの下に「人の帝のためしまで引き出でつつ、ささめき歎きけり」とある首尾なり。心得おきて読むべし。

Hyou: Here already we see the first hints of the Yang Guifei story, and much later it says "they brought up the example of other Emperors, and lamented quietly." This should be kept in mind.

天のしたにもあぢきなう
 天の下の人もあぢきなき御しわざとするよしなり。或抄云わく、「はじめに女中の妬みを言ひ、次に上達目、上人といひ、ここに天の下にもといへり。

Tama no ogushi (1796): This means that the people of the world are also taking this to be an unfortunate thing. A certain commentary says, First the jealousy of the women is mentioned, then the noblemen, and now the wider world.

 この或抄の説げにいと詳しく心得たりと云べし。作者の心ありしこと、末にて知られたり。そこにいふべし。

Hyou:  It is definitely true that this "certain commentary" has understood things well.  The things that the author has done become apparent later[??].  I will mention it there.

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This "certain commentary" is from a work called the 首書源氏物語, an early woodblock edition that was never as popular as the Kogetsusho.  The author of this work did not identify the "certain commentary" and it may be the author's own theories.  I'm not entirely sure of the meaning of Hagiwara's comment.

はしたなき事おほかれど
 ここは更衣の身に受かる方よりいへり。

Tama no ogushi (1796): These are things being suffered by the Kiritsubo Intimate.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

陽明文庫源氏物語 (Yomei bunko Genji), intro and part 1

This is the first post in another series that I hope to do on this blog, about the Genji text (what fascinating topics!) 

The earliest textual fragments of the Genji come from several sources in the 12th century -- the Genji monogatari emaki (picture scroll), the Genji shaku (the first commentary), and the kokeizu (old family tree).  The fragments from all three of these sources represent probably 2-3% of the total text, but there are existing manuscripts that are closer to these textual sources than the other manuscripts that became standard later.

The usual explanation for this is that the text had become corrupt by this time and that Fujiwara no Teika and Minamoto no Mitsuyuki (and his son Chikayuki) independently set out to restore it; Teika's work represents the better scholarship and is closer to Murasaki Shikibu's original.  Since only half a chapter survives in Teika's hand, we have to find the manuscripts that are closest to Teika's original.

A number of articles and books since the 1980's have shown that there's virtually no proof for any of the preceding paragraph, and that it's no longer acceptable to name a particular manuscript or manuscript family as being the "closest" to a hypothetical "original".  However, the tradition is still strong and all new editions are still based on the supposed Teika line.

For the "Kiritsubo" chapter, the Genji shaku is the only source of textual fragments.  I've looked at them all and the closest manuscript to the fragments is known as the 陽明文庫源氏物語 because of where it's housed today.  The manuscript is a hybrid, with some of the chapters being Teika texts.  A list of authors associated with the manuscript says that the scribe of the "Kiritsubo" chapter is Emperor Go-Fukukusa.  I find this a little hard to accept; there's no definitive proof either way but the scribe list also includes people like Emperor Gotoba, Abutsuni, Fujiwara no Tameie, Kujo Yoshitsune, and other prominent waka poets of the era.

Anyway, I thought that as I go through the Hyoshaku, every so often I'll look at the text of the Yomei bunko Genji for comparison.  Here's the text of the three sentences I've covered so far; first from Eiichi Shibuya's web site (which is the standard modern text), and then from the Yomei bunko.  I did the usual orthographic cleanup and underlined the parts that are different.

First, the standard text:
  いづれの御時にか、女御、更衣あまたさぶらひたまひけるなかに、いとやむごとなき際にはあらぬが、すぐれて時めきたまふありけり。
 はじめより我はと思ひ上がりたまへる御方がた、めざましきものにおとしめ嫉みたまふ。同じほど、それより下臈の更衣たちは、ましてやすからず。朝夕の宮 仕へにつけても、人の心をのみ動かし、恨みを負ふ積もりにやありけむ、いと篤しくなりゆき、もの心細げに里がちなるを、いよいよあかずあはれなるものに思 ほして、人のそしりをも憚らせたまはず、世のためしにもなりぬべき御もてなしなり。

And then the Yomei bunko text:
  いづれの御時には、女御、更衣あまたさぶらひたまひけるなかに、いとやむごとなき際にはあらぬが、すぐれて時めきたまふおはしけり。
 はじめより我はと思ひ上がり給へる御方がた、めざましきものに思ひおとしめ嫉みたまひける。それより下臈の更衣たちなどは、朝夕の宮仕へにつけつつも、安からぬ事多く、思ひつむるままに、人の心を動かし、嘆きを負ふ積もりにや、いと篤しくなりゆき、もの心細げに思ひ里がちなるを、いよいよあかずあはれなるものに思ほして、人のそしりをも憚らせたまはず、世のためしもまりぬべき御もてなしなり。

It's the same story and characters, but there are a lot of differences in the style and diction.  Some of the more notable points:
1. The use of the honorific ohasu instead of ari for the Kiritsubo Intimate (a common feature for the whole chapter).
2. The omission of the Intimates at the same level
3. The extra use of けり at the end of the second sentence.


Monday, January 14, 2013

Kiritsubo, 1.3


On to the third sentence!  Kiritsubo's troubles are further described.

Her palace service morning and night also caused nothing but shock in others' hearts, and perhaps she bore the weight of [people's] spite, for she became very ill, and tended to be at home with a vaguely lonely appearance, and [the Emperor] looked on her more and more with great pity – he did not heed the criticism of others, and his actions were sure to become an example for the world.

First, the headnotes:

うらみをおふつもりにや
 人の恨みの我が身にかかる事を、物を引き負ふになそらへて、負(おふ)といへるなり。さて、恨みを負ひて、とやかくや心を苦しめたるが積もりてついに病がちになり給へる意なり。

Kiritsubo taking the resentment of others is described metaphorically as bearing a weight, so the word ofu is used. What is meant here is that the weight of these grudges pile up and she becomes sickly.

さとがち
 里に住みがちなり。

Shinshaku (1758): She tends to go home.

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The word sato here means her parents' house, as opposed to her residence in the palace.

いよいよあかず
 人の妬むによりて、里に住みがちなれば、逢ひ給ふこと遠くして、いよいよ飽かずあはれにおぼえ給ひつつ、ついには人のそしりをもえ憚らせ給はぬなり。げに人の情はさるものになんありける。この脉(すぢ)、次々にますます甚だしくなりもてゆく様、よくよく心をつけて味わふべし。

hyo: The Intimate often goes home due to the spite of others, so the Emperor cannot meet her. He views her with great pity, and soon does not listen to any criticism of his behavior. This is indeed how peoples' feelings work. This story element grows as the tale moves on; the reader should pay close attention to it and savor it.

世のためしにもなりぬべき
 末に楊貴妃にたとへんの本なり。

Shinshaku (1758): This is the basis for the comparison to Yang Guifei later.

Then in the 語釈 appendix we have four words:

みやづかへ
 宮は内裏のこと、「つかへ」は彼方より使はれ奉るをいふ。さて、転(うつ)りては大宮ならぬ所に仕(つか)ふるをもすべて「みやづかへ」といへり。

miya refers to the palace, and tsukae means being dispatched there and working.  Now then, this word changed to refer to palace service beyond just the Emperor's quarters.

あつしく
 小町集に「人知れぬ我(われ)が思ひに逢はぬまは身さへ温(ぬる)みて思ほゆるかな」
夕顔の巻に「御頭(ぐし)も痛く、身も熱き心地して」
若菜下に「御身もぬるみて、御心地もいとあしけれど」
手習の巻に「うちはへぬるみなどし給へることはさめ給ひて、さわやかに見え給へば」
などあり、すべて病者は身に熱の有りて、あつきものなれば、「あつし」などいひならひたるが、末には病とだにいへば、「あつしう」などいへるやうになりたるならん。

Genchu yoteki (1830): The poetry collection of Ono no Komachi says [poem 48]:"In my own thoughts that others do not know, when I do not meet him for a time, even my body grows warm." From the "Yugao" chapter: "His head hurt, and his body felt hot."  From the "Wakana ge" chapter: "[Lady Murasaki]'s body was warm, and she felt bad..." From the "Tenarai" chapter: "The fever that had been going on for a while has lessened, and she seems calmer..." Such examples all deal with the fact that a sick person's body has a fever, and is hot (atsuki), so the term atsushi is used.  Eventually the sickness itself was described as atsushiu.

 見弱く病あるをいへり。拾遺に病の重きを厚しといふにや、といへるは物語にてはかなはず。

Tama no ogushi (1796): This means she is weakened from illness. The Genchu shui's claim that the weight of illness is thick (atsui) does not fit with the way the term is used in the Tale.

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Nevertheless modern sources seem to support Keichu's theory that the "thick" illness, rather than the heat, is the origin of the term.  (Incidentally, although many modern editions agree with Hagiwara's あつしく, Heian-period evidence suggests it was probably pronounced あづしく.)

 不快ナ ワヅラフ

fukai na, wadurafu (患う)

もの心ぼごげ

 すべて「もの」云々と物といふことを添へていふ詞は、物事につけて云々といふ意にて、ただ何となく、おのづから然る意なり。ここもその意にて、何といふこともなくただ物事につけて心ぼそきなり。「げ」は「気(け)」にて、さる景色に見ゆるを他(ほか)より見ていへる意なり。「け」は「サウニ」と訳(うつ)すべし。

All the words that are mono plus something have the meaning of "dealing with things," and it simply means that somehow the state arises on its own.  Here too, this means that there's nothing specific, but simply towards one thing or another she is lonely.  The ge syllable is derived from 気, and means that the state is being viewed from someone else's point of view. It should be translated as sou ni.

さとがち

 和名に曰く、「周易説卦ニ云ハク、其ノ木ニ於ル也、堅多心ト為ス、師説多心ヲ奈賀古可遅(ナカゴカチ)ト読ム」。これによるに、何がちといふ類は、皆この「多」の字なり。

Genchu shui (1698): In the Wamyō Ruijushō, it says "The I ching says 'That tree is hard and has multiple trunks.'  The teacher says: 多心 is read as nakagokachi."  Looking at this, anything-gachi has to do with the character 多 ("many").

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The Wamyō Ruijushō is a 10th century dictionary/thesaurus.  It contains a lot of quotations from classical Chinese sources with Japanese equivalents given in Man'yo-gana.  Sometimes only kanji are given with no sources.  I need to look up the I Ching quote in a modern edition to get a better translation.  I'm also very doubtful of Keichu's theory here and I don't understand why Hagiwara thought it was worth quoting.