Kyogoku Tamekane: The Stubborn Sentimental

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Kyōgoku Tamekane ( also known as Fujiwara no Tamekane) lived from 1254 to 1332 A.D. He was the grandson of Fujiwara no Teika and had a very strong personality. His life was tumultuous and lived a big chunk of his life in exile.

After the death of his grandfather, there was a split between his followers. Some considered Teika’s later, more conservative years to be the ones to emulate. They were known as the Nijō faction.

Kyōgoku Tamekane and his supporters felt that Teika’s earlier, more rebellious years were superior. In the end, the Nijō faction won out because of their political connections, and they controlled the content of the final ten imperial poetic anthologies.

Kyōgoku Tamekane was pushed to the margins, but he never gave up his belief that he was right. He suffered because of his irascibility and stubbornness (namely, exile), but his poetry is considered by most later scholars to be superior to the conservative Nijō faction. He was a sensitive and emotional man. His poetry reflects his love of natural beauty, and he liked to couple natural scenes with human sentimentality. His poetry was influential but not as respected as it should have been due to his refusal to back down to his more powerful adversaries. Overall, I consider him a kick-ass waka poet.

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梅の花紅にほう夕暮れに柳靡きて春雨ぞ降る

京極為兼

Glowing bright crimson,

Those plum blossoms intrigue me.

Bending and yielding,

The willow sways back and forth

In the evening spring showers.

                                                         Kyōgoku Tamekane

This poem contains only natural imagery and he leaves the emotional content to the imagination.

枝にもる朝日の影のすくなさに涼しさふかき竹のおくかな

京極為兼

Drops of dawn sunshine

Leak through branches above,

Yet, only a few.

Such a profound coolness here...

Lost in the bamboo thicket.

Kyōgoku Tamekane

This is one of those poems that refreshes me, and lets me imagine myself relaxing underneath bamboo trees.

浪のうへにうつる夕日の影はあれど遠つ小島は色暮れにけり

京極為兼

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The waning sunlight

Is reflected in the waves,

There’s a silhouette,

But, that far away island

Has been engulfed in darkness.

Kyōgoku Tamekane

沈みはつる入日のきはにあらはれぬ霞める山のなほ奥の峰

京極為兼

As the evening sun

Sinks ever so slowly,

In the distance

Yet another lonely peak

Appears in the hazy hills.

Kyōgoku Tamekane

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さびしさもしばしは思ひ忍べどもなほ松風のうすくれの空

京極為兼

In my loneliness

Sentiments of love appear

Only for a moment,

The pines rustle in the wind

Under the pinkish sky.

Kyōgoku Tamekane

I like this poem because there is no obvious connection between the two parts. I like how he combines a natural scene with a fleeting emotion.