Thursday, April 18, 2013

Monk Tonna: The Guarded Wanderer

Monk Tonna

This next post is devoted to Monk Tonna. He lived from 1289-1372. During his life, the poetry world in Japan was split between the more conservative Nijō faction with the more liberal Kyōgoku-Tamekane faction. These rival factions arose because of their differing views on how to the poetic master Fujiwara no Teika. Pretty much all poets had to align themselves with one of these competing groups.
Tonna on the other hand had a different role model: Saigyō. Saigyō is definitely one of my favorite poets in history, and I believe the Tonna showed good taste in choosing him. Saigyō was a Buddhist monk who spent his time wandering around Japan, and Tonna tried to follow in his footsteps. Unfortunately, I don’t believe Tonna was as deep and profound as Saigyō was. Tonna adhered to the Nijō faction’s conservative guidelines which was definitely a prudent thing to do considering that the Nijō faction did dominate, but it shows to me that he lacked a backbone. He didn’t blaze his own trails as Saigyō did.
Nevertheless, he was a very gifted poet. His poetry has very strong sabi (loneliness) vibes to it, very Buddhist. Sometimes the poetry extolling the virtues and profundity of Buddhism can get on my nerves with its paradoxical platitudes, but Tonna effectively utilized natural imagery to convey his message. I think this adds depth.

Can be found here
宮城野の木の下闇に飛ぶ蛍露に勝りて影ぞ乱るる

頓阿

In the forest’s gloom
At the hill’s of Miyagi,
Fireflies dart about,
Outshining the drops of dew,
A cacophony of light.

Tonna

I like this poem because the image is both soothing and melancholy. There seems to me to be also an interesting juxtaposition. I usually expect dew to be present at dawn, and fireflies at dusk. So having them together makes me think that Tonna is trying to convey a deeper message. I cannot think of an explicit meaning, but perhaps he wanted us to meditate on something irrational (a fairly common practice by Zen monks) to broaden our minds.

雲消えてみどりに晴るる空見れば色こそ軈て虚しかりけれ

頓阿

The clouds have vanished,
The sky takes on a greenish hue,
And yet, when I look,
The deep color, before long,
Seems to fade into nothing.

Tonna

This poem has a strong Buddhist ring to it and I think the imagery of the sky adds a lot to it. I got a little confused with the color word he used. He used midori which literally means “green” but I’ve seen translations of this poem use “deep blue” which would make more sense since it is the sky. The Japanese have a weird relationship with the colors blue and green. The word for blue is aoi but it could also denote green, or some sort of blue-green. So I never really know what color they are referring to.

Dream
憂き身には思ひ出ぞなき敷島の道に忘れぬ昔ならでは

頓阿

Of my wretched life
I have no memory at all.
The elegant path,
The path of poetry
Alone, I’ve not forgotten.

Tonna

A bit cheesy I think.







Mt. Fuji
かぎりなき空もしられて富士のねの煙のうへにいづる月かげ

頓阿

In Fuji’s slumber
Smoke rises to distant heights,
Reaching and meeting
The light of the ascending moon.
Heaven truly has no bounds.

Tonna

I really like this poem’s imagery. The massiveness of the sky this poem displays sabi (loneliness) to instill in the reader a strong sense of worthlessness which would be necessary to understand a Buddhist perspective on the world. This perspective being that our individual lives are completely insignificant to the turning of the wheel of time (samsara), the cycle of birth and rebirth.
Or maybe he was just looking at Mt. Fuji.

Snipe
月宿る沢田の面にふす鴫の氷より立つ明方の空

頓阿

The moon has made house
In the marsh’s chilly water.
Rising from the ice
Weary snipes retreat to home,
As the sky glows bright with dawn.

Tonna

This poem does exemplify sabi but I don’t hear a Buddhist tone in it. It seems to be merely a nice, cold scene. Since those birds (snipes) are nocturnal, it makes sense they would return to their roost at dawn.

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