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| Shinkei |
Shinkei, or Bishop Shinkei as he was also known as, lived
from 1406 to 1475 A.D. He was a student of Shōtetsu and a fervent believer in
the superiority of waka compared to
the new trend in poetry at his time, renga.
The end of his life was very tumultuous due to the Ōnin War (1467-1477).
That war was completely crazy and destructive. The war
began over a dispute over who would be the next shogun after Ashikaga
Yoshimasa. The details of the dispute are boring and uninteresting, but the
effects of that war on Japan were dramatic. Kyoto was reduced to ashes and
Japan remained in a state of civil war for about 100 years following the war.
This period is known as the Sengoku Jidai,
which translates to the Warring States Period. The war was so was debilitating
to both sides that the entire shogunate disintegrated into several smaller
states, and it wasn’t until Oda Nobunaga that Japan was again, at least partially,
unified.
Shinkei, like his teacher Shōtetsu, was enamored with
classical Japanese poetry and culture. He felt that the poets of the Heian
period were the best, and the dilettante samurai
poets of his day lacked real talent.
His poetry is idiosyncratic and cynical at times. He
devoted some poetry to describe the grievances of his time, but most of his
poetry followed the tried and true themes set down by his predecessor. He was
also high-ranking in the Buddhist clergy, he was a “bishop” after all, so some
of his poetry has a Buddhist ring to it.
Some of the poetry I translated is in waka form, but other poems are split as
they would be for a renga sequence,
meaning that they start with the 7-7 couplet. I did include a couple of his
5-7-5 hokku, which essentially are haiku, but unlike later haiku poetry, these weren’t meant to
stand alone and were usually incorporated into a longer renga sequence.
ふかき夜の梅のにほひに夢さめてこす巻きあへぬ軒の春風
心敬
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| Red Plum and Moon |
In the depths of night
The sweet aroma of plum
Stirs me from my dreams.
I hadn’t even rolled the screen,
Spring’s powerful breeze through the eaves.
Shinkei
By “rolled the screen” he’s referring to a bamboo screen which would usually be unrolled in
front of the window, similar to a curtain.
夢うつつともわかぬ曙
月に散る花はこの世のものならで
心敬
In the dawn light, I can’t parse
My dreams from reality.
In the moon’s dull glow,
Those scattering blossoms
Don’t belong to this world.
Shinkei
I like this poem
because of its dreamy feel.
面影は春やむかしの空ながらわが身ひとつに霞む月かな
心敬
There’s hardly a trace,
Even if this sky of this spring
Seems to be the same
As those past, I’m just one man,
The moon has become hazy.
Shinkei
I had a hard time
with this one and I found it kind of bizarre. I feel
like he is lamenting the time passing and the general degradation of the world
around him.
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| Can be found here |
風も目に見ぬ山のあまびこ
物事にただありなしを形にて
心敬
One can’t see the wind blowing,
Or the mountain’s echo.
For all things that be,
Whether they are or are not,
They look similar.
Shinkei
This is a very Buddhist
poem. Basically, he is being pedagogical and saying that although we cannot see
the wind or an echo, they still exist but also do not exist.
雲はなお定めある世の時雨かな
心敬
Dark clouds still above
Our already doomed world,
Will there be showers?
Shinkei
The prelude to this
poem is about the Ōnin war.
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| Can be found here |
紅葉朽ち朝霜白き汀かな
心敬
Leaves painted by fall
Rotting at the water’s edge.
Bright white morning frost.
Shinkei
無常
This one has some
nice imagery.
わが心ただ花のみを幻とおもひわくれば乱れてぞちる
心敬
When I dwell on things,
Such as flowers and phantoms,
And how they differ,
My heart, all of a sudden,
Shatters into a million pieces.
Shinkei
I like this one a
lot because I don’t really understand what it means.
