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| Emperor Go-Daigo |
After
a long hiatus, I decided to rekindle this blog with a post about a little known
renga (linked-verse) poet: Monk
Kusai. He probably lived from about 1282-1376 A.D. during the tumultuous Southern
and Northern Courts period (Nanbokuchōjidai).
The Kamakura Shogunate collapsed in 1333 A.D. and during this power vacuum the
Emperor Go-Daigo tried to restore the power of the Imperial court at the
expense of the samurai. This
ill-fated venture is known as the Kenmu Restoration and it was an utter
failure. It seems like it would have been a tough time to live, but perhaps it
helped inspire some of his poetry...
I
could not find a lot of biographical details about Monk Kusai, but as you can
tell by his name, he was a Buddhist monk. Buddhist spirituality is reflected in
some of his poems. He was also apparently a teacher of Nijō Yoshimoto, and helped
compile the Tsukubashū and a rule
book for renga. He was an early renga master and very important for the
development of renga.
The
poems below are all from the Tsukubashū,
and I was able to find them thanks to Steven Carter’s Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology. However, the
translations are my own. In order to really appreciate renga poetry, you should look at the two verses as separate, and
try to form the mental bridge that connects them. Kusai was big on subtlety. He
was not fond of linked verses where the link was too obvious. So keep that in
mind when you read these.
思わぬ方に宿をこそ訪え
花に行く心や我を忘るらん
救済
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| Can be found here |
On
an unfamiliar path,
I
seek a nearby lodging.
Blossoms
beckon me,
Maybe
I have forgotten
Myself
for my heart?
Monk
Kusai
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| Can be found here |
月寒し訪いきます友もがな
野寺の鐘の遠き秋の夜
救済
The
coldness of the Moon...
If
only a dear friend of mine
Would
come and visit.
A
distant temple’s bell rings
Deep
in this autumn evening.
Monk
Kusai
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| Can be found here |
池に石ある滝つ白波
泣く涙硯の上に落ちそいて
救済
Beneath the waterfall’s splash
There is a stone in that pond.
Tears roll down my face,
Falling so inelegantly
Atop my ink stone.
Monk Kusai
誘いても花を思わぬ嵐かな
救済
Invite all it may,
This cruel, unforgiving gale
Doesn’t care for blossoms.
Monk Kusai
