About on "Matsukaze (Pine Wind)" in Edo
Tadami Yamada
江戸の「松風」について 山田維史
When you think of "Matsukaze," many people associate it with "Matsukaze," the 18th chapter of The Tale of Genji. It tells the story of a female diver connected to a mysterious pine tree at Suma Bay. The Noh play "Matsukaze" is also based on the same legend, telling the story of a woman's obsession with love. The graves of twin women named Matsukaze and Murasame, who died madly in love, were located on the pine trees at Suma Bay.
Pine trees were often planted on beaches to shelter from the sea winds and as sand-preventing forests. There are many famous seaside pine groves throughout Japan, including Miho no Matsubara in Shizuoka City, depicted in Hiroshige's "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido," Kehi no Matsubara in Tsuruga City, mentioned in the Manyoshu, and Amanohashidate, home to the legend of the feather robe. While the song's lyricist and composer are unknown, the song "Umi" (Sea) is so familiar that everyone knows its lyrics: "Where the pine grove disappears into the distance, the shadow of a white sail floats." There's also the proverb "pines at Isobe." There is The phrase "pines at Isobe", though I will say with no conteniue and no lid, but I think that "the pines of Suma no Ura" were also likely that originally it referred to pines at Isobe or pines at the beach.
In this article, I will examine the sensibility with which "pine wind" (matsukaze) was expressed in Edo period haiku. I will glance at literary works from each era to compare and examine whether the expression changed over the Heian, Kamakura, and Muromachi periods.
In Katagiri Yoichi's "Utamakura: Uta Kotoba Jiten" (Dictionary of Poetry and Idioms of Poem) (revised edition, published by Kasama Shoin co., Inc.), under the heading "pine," he states, "The wind blowing through the pine treetops, in other words, the pine clapping," and gives examples such as a poem by Saigū no Nyogo from the Miscellaneous Collection of Collected Poems and a poem by Fujiwara no Ietaka from the Miscellaneous Collection of New Kokin Wakashū. That is,
琴の音に峰の松風かよふらし
いづれのをよりしらべそめけむ 斎宮の女御
The sound of the koto, the wind blowing from the pine peaks...
Which one did you choose to study?
Saigū no Nyōgo
(I wonder what kind of string strings are used to play the wind in the pine trees which sounds similar to the sound of the koto)
滝の音松の嵐も馴れぬれば
うち寝るほどの夢は見せけり 藤原隆家
Once you become accustomed to the sound of the waterfall
and the storm of the pine trees,
Fujiwara no Ietaka
(They give you elegant dreams, just like sleeping and dreaming)
The "Shūi-shū" (circa 1006) is the third imperially commissioned anthology of waka poetry, but the first, the "Kokin Wakashu" (905), does not contain a poem using the idiom "pine wind." If we choose, the following poem by the monk Sosei appears in Volume 7. Incidentally, one theory attributes this poem to Kakinomoto no Hitomaro.
住の江の松に秋風吹くからに
声うち添うるおきつ白波 素性法師
As the autumn wind blows through the pines of Suminoe
The sound of the white waves offshore is accompanied
by the sound of the wind
Sosei Hōshi
The years of Sosei Hōshi's birth and death are unknown. It is known that he wrote a poem on a folding screen in front of Emperor Daigo in 909 (Engi 9), so he must have been alive around that time. He was the great-grandson of Emperor Kanmu (737-806). He was the lay son of Emperor Kanmu's grandson, Henshō (Yoshimine Munemasa). His father became a Tendai Buddhist monk, and together with his son, Sosei, he was permitted to visit the Unrin-in palace of Prince Tsuneyasu, son of Emperor Ninmei. After the prince's death, he was entrusted with the management of Unrin-in, a position later succeeded by Sosei Hõshi. Unrin-in was a Tendai Buddhist temple until the Kamakura period, but fell into decline for a time before being restored in 1324 (the first year of the Shõchu era) and becoming a Rinzai Zen temple.
As Rinzai Zen is thought to be important when examining the concepts of "pine" and "pine wind," we will briefly discuss it here.
The Rinzai sect was first introduced to Japan when Emperor Ninmei's mother, Empress Tachibana Kachiko (786-850), of Emperor Saga, invited Giku from Tang China to attend his Zen lectures.
The Rinzai sect's founder was Rinzai Gigen (臨済義玄；year of birth unknown, died 866/867) of the late Tang Dynasty (618-907). His words and deeds were compiled by his disciple, Sansei Huiren, as the Records of Rinzai. The date when the Record of Rinzai was first introduced to Japan is unclear, but according to research by Yanagida Seizan, it was likely introduced in 1254, the sixth year of the Kenchō era, when Master Enming returned to Japan. (Note 1)
The "Record of Practice" of the Record of Rinzai reads,
〈Rinzai Gigen then planted a pine tree. Obaku asked, "What are you doing with so many trees deep in the mountains?" Rinzai replied, "First, it's for the temple gate, and second, to serve as a guidepost for future generations." He then struck the ground three times with his hammer. Obaku replied, "But you have already taken my punishment thirty times." Rinzai struck the ground three times again with his hammer and let out a sigh. Obaku said, "My sect will flourish in the world when it comes to you."〉
The above is the idiom "Gankoku saisho (巌谷栽松)" (planting pine trees in rocky valleys). It means "planting pine trees on hard rocks and in steep valleys."
Pines are also an important motif in Zen paintings. The preface to the inscription (and poem) "Shosetusanbo-ki" (Record of the Pine Snow Mountain Hut) by Kagaku Kenchu(華嶽建) for the "Shosetsusanbo-zu (Drawing of Pine Snow Mountaine hut)" (1442, the second year of the Kakitsu era), housed in the Yamato Bunkakan Museum, reads, "The waterside realm, the ridge of Dosan mountain, only speaks of pine trees." (Note 3)
"Pine trees" is a phrase that captures the essence of the "Records of Rinzai," and is the essence of the Zen realm.
The Rinzai sect, which was introduced to Japan by Emperor Saga's Empress Tachibana Kachiko in the first half of the 8th century, is described in the Genko Shakusho, written by the Rinzai monk Kokan Shiren (虎関師錬；1236-1346) in the late Kamakura period. The text reads, "The emperor exercised great authority. The Grand Emperor established the Danrin Temple and occasionally consulted him on the Way. Many officials received instruction. The brothers Chusan Daibu Tōkō were among those chosen." (Note 4)
According to research by Akira Hibino, the Genko Shakusho's description means, "While it is unclear what content Gikū taught, it is clear that those seeking his teachings were from the upper echelons of society."
However, this does not mean that the Rinzai sect was deeply rooted in Japan. It was not until Eisai (1141-1215), a "monk without wealth or power" (according to Hibino Akira), who returned from China at the end of the 12th century after receiving Zen training from Koan Esho (date of birth and death unknown), that Rinzai Zen became widely accepted in Japan, not just by the upper classes. (Note 5)
Meanwhile, we must also mention the poem by Saigū no Nyogo mentioned earlier: "The sound of the koto seems to blow the pine wind on the peak. Which one did I choose to study?"
In this poem, the "sound of the pine wind" is likened to the "melody of the koto (Japanese harp)." In fact, the "sound of the pine wind" is also likened to the "melody of the koto" in the haiku poem by Keikiitsu, which we will examine later. This metaphor appears to be not a unique expression based on personal sensibility, but rather a cultural (traditional) metaphor.
So, was there a source that cultivated this sensibility?
Shortly after Tachibana no Kachiko brought the Rinzai sect to Japan, Fujiwara no Takemori discovered the "Genhaku Shishu (The Poetry of Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi)," a collection of poems by mid-Tang dynasty poets Yuan Zhen (元稹) and Bai Juyi (白居易), among Chinese goods and presented it to Emperor Ninmei. This was in 838. Six years later, in 844, the "Collection of Poems by Bai Juyi" was brought to Japan by the monk Hui Gye (恵萼), who had been studying abroad. This was when Bai Juyi was still alive. The poem "Gogendan (五弦弾；To Play Five Strings)" in Volume 3 of the "Collection of Poems by Bai Juyi" is as follows:
五弦弾 五弦弾
聴者傾耳心寥寥
趙壁知君入骨愛
五弦一一為君調
第一第二弦索索
秋風拂松疏韻落
（以下八行略）
To play five-string, to play five-string,
Those who listen should listen carefully and their hearts should love.
Zhao Bi knows his love has entered his bones
Five strings, one for each tune, are tuned for him
The first and second strings are tuned
The autumn wind blows the pine trees, and the rhyme falls.
(The following eight lines are omitted.)
Note; Zhao Bi (趙壁) was a master zither player of the Tang Dynasty.
The poetry of Bai Juyi (白居易 ; 772-846) had a profound influence on Heian period literature. His masterpiece, "Song of Everlasting Regret," is quoted in "The Tale of Genji" (note 6), and the above-mentioned "Gogendan" is quoted in the Noh plays "Tsunemasa" and "Semimaru." Furthermore, of the 588 poems in the "Wakan Roeishu," compiled by Fujiwara no Kinto in the 12th century (possibly between 1013 and 1018), 136 are poems by Bai Juyi.
I think it is safe to say that the following Chinese poem by Minamoto Hideaki, (源英明) included in "Wakan Roeishu (和漢朗詠集)," was a direct influence of "Gogendan."
露滴蘭叢寒玉白
風銜松葉雅琴清
秋風颯然新
Dewdrops on the orchid bushes, the jade white in the cold.
The wind picks up pine needles, the elegant koto is pure.
The autumn wind is brisk and fresh.
I believe the cultural background for the sensibility that compares the "sound of the pine wind" to the "melody of the koto" can be traced back to Bai Juyi's poem "To play Five-String." Furthermore, it was not until the introduction of Rinzai Zen, which arrived in Japan around the same time, that "pine wind" came to express the sensibility of the era in Kamakura and Muromachi period literature, particularly in waka poetry.
As mentioned above, Yoichi Katagiri's "Utamakura: A Dictionary of Poetry and Idioms of Poem" cites Ietaka's poems from the Shin Kokin Wakashū (1205), which also contains 30 other poems that incorporate "pine wind." Here are some excerpts, I will try to translate into modern language from the original ancient language. (Note 7)
秋くれば常盤の山の松風も
うつるばかりに身にぞしみける 和泉式部
As autumn comes, the pine winds of Mount Evergreen
The reflections are so strong they touch my body. - Izumi Shikibu
ながむれば千々に物思う月にまた
我が身ひとつの峯の松風 鴨長明
As I gaze upon the moon, I can see the moonlight changing in all its glory
The pine winds of the peak, which are one with me. - Kamo no Chomei
まれにくる夜半も悲しき松風を
絶えずや苔の下に聞くらん 藤原俊成
Even on those rare nights, the sad pine winds
I hear them endlessly beneath the moss. - Fujiwara no Shunzei
Furthermore, the poem "Matsukaze" (pine wind) was included as a theme at the Kasuga Shrine Poetry Contest in 1204, as revealed by the inscriptions by Fujiwara no Ariie and Fujiwara no Ietaka. These two poems are:
我ながら思うか物をとばかりに
袖にしぐるる庭の松風 藤原有家
I wonder what I think,
The pine wind in the garden swirls around my sleeves. - Fujiwara no Ariie
(I am a little lost in thought, but the pine wind in the garden is weeping my sleeves with tears.)
かすがやま谷の埋れ木くちぬとも
君につけこせ峯の松風 藤原家隆
Even if the buried trees in Kasugayama Valley are choking
I will take advantage of you, the pine wind on the mountain. - Fujiwara no Ietaka
The Shin Kokin Wakashu was compiled by imperial order of the retired Emperor Emeritus Gotoba. It is the last of the eight imperially commissioned waka anthologies compiled after the Kokin Wakashu. Later, the retired Emperor Toba (1180-1239) composed the following poem by the pond in the garden of Genpuku-ji Temple on Mount Katsuragi in Kaifu County (present-day Aichi Prefecture), where he was exiled during the Jōkyū War. (Note 8)
蛙なく葛田の池の夕畳
聞くまじ物は松風の音 後鳥羽上皇
Frogs croaking on the evening tatami mats at Kuzuta Pond
The sound of the pine wind is the most dreadful thing to hear. - Emperor Emeritus Gotoba
(The evening deepens at Kuzuta Pond, where frogs croak, but the sound of the pine wind seems inaudible.)
I have looked at the "pine wind" in poems from the Heian and Kamakura periods. It seems that aristocrats of the time perceived the "sound of the pine wind" as a particularly elegant or melancholic sound. They planted pine trees in the vast gardens of their mansions and temples. The garden of the abbot's chamber at Daitokuji, a Zen temple, is a flat, dry landscape garden, typical of Zen temples, and once housed a pine tree known as the "old rock pine." The old pine tree had already withered by the 1700s, and the name "old rock pine" was later passed on to a pine tree planted in the abbot's south garden. (Note 9)
Also at Daitokuji Temple, the garden of Sunshoan was home to a magnificent grove of red pines (now lost; note 10). Thus, even temple gardens, often in the dry landscape style, were adorned with pines. At the beginning of chapter 139 of Tsurezuregusa by Kenko Hoshi (1283?-1350), he writes, "The trees that are desirable in a home are pine and cherry. Five-needle pine trees are good, and their flowers with single petals are best." Pines were being incorporated into gardens to add elegance to their appearance.
Pine trees planted in gardens would have been far removed from the sensibilities of ordinary people, for whom landscaping would have been unthinkable. Further down the line, during the reign of the Tokugawa shogunate, the symbolism of the evergreen pine came to symbolize even more feudal cultural differences. These are the surnames of nobles and prestigious samurai (such as the Nakamikado Matsuki family, the Matsudaira clan, and the Bizen Matsuda clan, which were descended from aristocrats and samurai), and place names with castles (such as Matsumoto and Matsushiro). They were depicted in sliding screen paintings, such as the famous "Pine Corridor" of Edo Castle, and symbolized authority and ceremoniality.
Now, I will move away from waka, which developed as an aristocratic literary art, and examine the "pine wind" as expressed in the newly emerging haikai poetry, to examine the kind of scenery the "pine wind" created in the Edo period.
I will focus on "Mutamagawa" (武玉川；published in 1750), compiled by Kei Kiitsu (慶紀逸；1695-1762). I used volumes 1-4 of this book, edited by Yamazawa Hideo and published in the Iwanami Bunko collection. "Mutamagawa" contains 18 poems.
Kei Kiitsu's real name was Shiina Kazuhito, and his father was a metalworker employed by the shogunate, a so-called townsman. I specifically call him a townsman because the haiku poems he selected for "Mutamagawa" capture the everyday lives of ordinary people (including sexual matters) that are almost completely absent from the haiku of his predecessor, Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), or the later Yosa Buson (1716-1784). Kei Kiitsu's haiku are filled with a deep sense of sadness, eliciting chuckles and laughter from the reader... though many of the poems are incomprehensible to me as a modern person... they offer a truly astonishing look into life in the Edo period. In stark contrast to Matsuo Basho, who (I believe) revered Saigyo and aimed to create haiku as a sophisticated literary art, rejecting any sense of everyday life, Kei Kiitsu's poems are light and witty, sometimes like social commentary or aphorisms, and lack seasonal words. It's no wonder that he's been described as a pioneer of the later senryu style.
To discuss the essence of Kei Kiitsu, the sexual situation in Edo is more appropriate than "Matsukaze," but we'll leave that for another time.
First, before discussing "Matsukaze" in Kei Kiitsu's selection, let's look at "Matsukaze" by Matsuo Basho and Yosa Buson. But before that, let's take a look at a poem by Oyodo Michikaze (大淀三千風；1639-1707), a native of Ise Iwa, who was five years older than Basho and lived 13 years longer:
鳴門時雨て浮世の松は風もなし
Naruto Shigurete Ukiyo no Matsue wa Kaze mo nashi
(Naruto is hit by the autumn dizzle, however, the wind doesn't even blow to the pine of the floating world.)
The essence of this poem lies in the contrast between movement and stillness. The whirlpools of Naruto are fierce, and there is even a drizzle. But once I turn my eyes to the floating world, there is no wind in the green shade of the pine trees. ...I (the author) sense a touch of the sentimental qualities of Izumi Shikibu and Kamo no Chomei, and their intense gaze on the rocky pines in a world that surpasses elegance.
Now, let's look at Basho's haiku. ...However, in examining all of Basho's haiku, only two mention the "pine breeze."
松風の落葉か水の音涼し （蕉翁句集）
The sound of the falling leaves in the pine wind
Or the cool sound of the water? (Showō Haiku Collection)
松風や軒をめぐって秋暮れぬ （笈日記）
The pine wind blows around the eaves,
and autumn fades away (Oi Nikki)
Taking the following verse, it makes three haiku in total.
松杉をほめてや風のかをる音 (笈日記）
Is the sound of the wind praising
the pine and cedar trees? (Oi Nikki)
There's no need to go into too much detail.
I looked at all 1,055 of Buson's haiku in the Iwanami Bunko edition of Buson Haiku Collection, edited by Ogata Tsutomu. There wasn't a single line that used the word "matsukaze."
Next, I will list all of the lines in the Iwanami Bunko edition of Mutamagawa that use the word "matsukaze." However, as the original lines are difficult to read, I have relied on Yamazawa Hideo's editing to add trailing kana and change kanji to make them easier to read. And also in this article I disclibe them in English transrations.
風車外山の松の吹くあまり
Kazaguruma sotoyama no matsu no huku amari
(The windmill turns because the pine wind blows violently from the mountains near the village.)
松風や関の障子の喰違い
Matsukaze ya seki no syouji no kuichigai
(The pine wind blows in through the gaps in the shoji screens at the barrier.)
洗った馬のかはく松かぜ
Aratta uma no kawaku matsu kaze
(Waiting for the pine wind to blow and for the washed horse to dry.)
Note; The Japanese pronunciation "matsu" means both "to wait" and "pine."
松風ともに質に取る山
Matsukaze tomoni sichi ni toru yama
(The mountain is cold, and the pine wind is pawned along with the mountain.)
松風に気の付かぬ剛力
Matukaze ni ki no tsukanu gōriki
(The burden-carring worker is unaware of the pine wind.)
Note; Goriki is carrying heavy loads and walking his head down, so he doesn't notice pine woind even blowing.)
金剛杖を倒す松風
Kongōjō wo taosu matsukaze
(The wind blowing through the pine trees is storong enough to knock down with useless the kongo staff of a mountain worship practitioner.)
此ころの銭座つぶれて松の風
Konogoro no senza tsuburete matsu no kaze
(Recently, the coin-issuing office has closed down. A cold pine wind is blowing.)
乞食生るゝ松風の中
Kojiki umaruru matsukaze no naka
(Beggars are born in the pine wind. / The economy is in a slump. As the cold pine wind blows, some people have become beggars.)
松風も骨の出来たる小六月
Matsukaze mo hone no dekitaru ko-rokugatsu
(As June approaches, even the pine wind grows its bones. / The pine wind also grows its branches and leaves around June.)
盗まれた伽羅を又聞く松風
Nusumareta kyara wo mata kiku matsukaze
(A pine wind hears the stolen aloeswood again. / My precious aloeswood incense was stolen, but the scent of the pine wind makes me feel like I smell it.)
Note; The Japanese pronunciation of "kiku" means "to listen" and "to smell" a nice fragramce.
琴屋が手では松風も来ず
Koto-ya ga te de wa matsukaze mo kozu
(The pine wind will not come if the koto maker plays it. / The pine wind, which has long been likened to the sound of a koto, doesn't blow even when a koto craftsman shows to play the instrument for customer.)
逃げる浮き世を松風が追う
Nigeru ukiyo wo matsukaze ga ohwú
(The pine wind pursues this fleeing, floating world./ Even if one flees from the harshness of this world, the bleak pine wind will pursue them wherever they go. / Or, another interpretation: Even if one abandons the worldly life and becomes a monk, harsh training awaits, as in "Kōgetsu teri te shō-fū wo fuku ; 江月照吹松風；In everywhere the moon shines on the river surface and the pine wind blows.")
松風の吹きくたびれて竪に降り
(The pine wind blows, exhausted, and blows vertically. / The pine wind blows with its lips pursed, but eventually it gets tired and starts blowing vertically while nodding.)
Note; This is a humorous poem that describes the way the wind blows.
杉を吹く少しの事で松の風
A slight blow on the cedar trees makes the pine wind
(This verse can be interpreted straightforwardly, but it could also be interpreted in a more twisted way. It's difficult. If I were to venture a guess, there is a haiku poet Basho diciple named Sugiyama Sanpu. English style are Basho Matsuo and Sanpu Sugiyama. Last name Matuo include "pine", and Sugiyama means "cedar mountain." If it had blown a little more, it would have become a cedar wind, but unfortunately, it's not quite at the same height. It's still allway a pine wind.)
松風計る住吉の升
The pine wind measures the Sumiyoshi measure
(The "Masu no Ichi" (Country Market), a Shinto ritual at Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine, is still held today. This poem describes measuring the pine wind blowing with the masu sold at the market. The sound of the "pine" (matsu) at the beginning of the poem and the "masu" (measure) at the end is playful.)
あがたの神子の松風に乗る
Riding the Pine Wind of the Agata Miko
(The Agata Miko (The Shrine maiden of Agata) traveled around the country, summoning spirits and summoning spirits. They arrived accompanied by the pine wind. Or they arrived carrying the scent of an incense called "pine wind." The incense "pine wind" is a blend of agarwood, cloves, turmeric, sweet pine, and magnolia root.)
松風を凩にする材木屋
The Lumberyard Turns the Pine Wind into a wintry wind
(The wintry wind is ideal for the lumberyard to rest and dry the wood. The lumberyard even turns the pine wind into a cold wintry wind.)
松と風との甘い相談
A Sweet Conversation Between the Pine and the Wind
(Originally, pine is pine, and wind is wind. After a friendly discussion, they combined to become the pine wind.)
暑い日に折りても見たき松の風
The wind in the pine, even when broken on a hot day
(It's so hot. If the wind can blow on a pine, I'd like to break the pine' branch and let the wind blow at my hand.)
松風に案じが付くと銭の息
When the pine wind is worried, it sighs for money
(Even the pine wind, when it has worries, sighs for money. It can't be so elegant all the time.)
濡れ手へしかと請ける松風
The pine wind, accepting easy money
(They say, "To get millet with wet hand." When a merchant accepts millet with his wet hand, the millet sticks to his palm, resulting in a corresponding profit. Based on this, the pine wind, if accepted it with wet hand, will also stick to his palm, a metaphor for common people's wisdom. A poem that is sure to make readers chuckle.)
銭の有るうちは聞こえぬ松の風
The wind in the pine, when you have money, you can't hear it
(When you have plenty of money in your pocket, you can't hear the solemn sound of the pine wind.)
江戸の友には合わぬ松風
The pine wind, a friend of mine from Edo, doesn't fit
(The Kyoto-style, elegant pine breeze would not suit my bustling Edo friend. It's not just that.)
松風の裾分けをする扇かな
A fan sharing the pine breeze
(The Japanese word "suso wake" has two meanings. One is to share gifts or profits with others. The other is to open up the hem of a kimono. In this poem, the official meaning is "feeling the scent of the pine breeze on your body and sharing it with the person next to you," but I, Yamada, think it also contains a sensual meaning: "The pine breeze blows, opening the hem of your kimono, and you gently press it down with the fan you hold in your hand.")
松風と代わり合いては千鳥啼く
The chirps of the plovers are singing in unison with the sound of the pine wind
(A pine breeze on the beach. It blows and then stops for a moment. Then, instead of the sound of the pine breeze, I hear the chirping of plovers. It's as if they are alternating. ... In haiku, chidori is a winter seasonal word.)
杉へ来て心の直る松の風
The pine breeze comes to the cedar and mends it's heart
(The cedar tree stands straight. The pine's trunk and branches are bent. The wind blowing from the bent pine straightens itself when it comes to the cedar.)
淋しい銭を使う松風
The pine breeze spending lonely coins
(My wallet is so empty. Shit!, it's only this little money. If I spend it, the pine breeze will make me feel even more lonely.)
水道に反りの合わぬ松風
The pine breeze is out of step with the water supply
(This water supply is not like the modern water supply you get when you turn on a tap. It's the Tama River Aqueduct and the Asaka Canal, and the water supply system that was drawn from them. Edo had a well-developed water supply system. Of course, it wasn't piped to every household. Common people couldn't live in detached houses. Water was piped to the communal wells of tenement houses. The elegance of the pine breeze doesn't suit such a water supply. ...It's the opposite of the scene depicted in Basho's haiku above.)
松風を琴とは常の耳でなし
The pine breeze is not a koto (harp) for ordinary ears
(Oh, someone's playing the koto. Hey, that's the sound of the pine wind. Really? It sounds like a koto to me. Your ears aren't like those of an ordinary person. ...Bai Juyi's "To Play Five Strings" is echoing here.)
松風は風の中での通り物
The pine wind is a thing passing through the wind
(The wind has many names, but among them, pine wind is the most well-known.)
松風に蓋をして置く六の花
For now, a lid is placed on the pine wind
(Ah, snow is falling. The hexagonal crystals are beautiful. Let's put a lid on the pine wind and ask it to refrain from blowing. "Six flowers" refer to snow crystals.)
松風の都へ引ける十二月
December: The pine wind is ushered out to the capital
(In Edo, the pine wind in December has no elegance whatsoever. Let's send it to Kyoto.)
衣がえもう松風を顔へうけ
Let's change clothes, let's feel the pine wind on my face
(So, is this change of clothes (Koromogae) for spring/summer, or autumn/winter? "Koromogae" is a summer seasonal word in Tanka (Waka) and Haiku in Japanease traditional culture, and in modern times it is a seasonal word for May. However, while leafing through "Mumagawa," I came across a poem in which a summer kimono is pawned in exchange for winter clothes. For the humble commoner, both the change of seasons and the need for a change of clothes likely marked the change of seasons. Depending on which one it was, the way the pine wind blows and the mood of this poem would be different. It's left to the reader's imagination.)
呑み込んで枯野を通る松の風
The pine wind blows through the withered fields, swallowing everything in the human world
(This may be a reference to Basho's poem, "Sick on a journey, my dreams go wandering around withered fields ; 旅に病んで夢は枯野をかけ廻る.")
袂振るえば松風が出る
Shaking my sleeves, a pine wind comes out
(The pine wind enters the sleeve of the kimono, puffing it up. Hastily shaking the puffed sleeve, the pine wind escapes.)
裾からあたる曽根の松風
The pine wind of Sone blows through my hem of kimono
(At Sone Tenmangu Shrine in Sone-cho, Takasago City, Hyogo Prefecture, stands a sacred tree called "Sone no Matsu (The Pine of Sone)." It's said to have been planted by Sugawara no Michizane. Approximately 680 years later, it survived the flames of war during Hashiba Hideyoshi's conquest of Banshu, and died 200 years later in 1798. While the current "Sone no Matsu" is unknown, at the time this poem was composed it must have been the pine planted by the first Michizane. It was a considerable tree. The pine breeze blowing from this sacred tree completely envelops worshippers from head to toe.)
松風は老い行く坂の這入口
The pine wind reaches the foot of the slope of old age
(The wind from the evergreen pine reaches only the foot of the slope of getting old. ... The green of the pine tree evokes youth, and in contrast, thoughts of old age are reminiscent of Saigyo's poem, "If it were me, the moon would rise high on the pine treetops. The green was covered in frost ; われなれや松の梢に月たけて緑の色に霜ふりにける." (Saigyo Collection, purportedly handwritten by Kanroji Korenaga, Autumn / Saigyo Complete Poetry Collection, edited by Kubota Jun, No. 258)
松風の裾かさばってこぼれ萩
As the pine wind passes by with it spread skirt, bush clover blossoms spill over
手付のうちは松風で置く
I'll leave the pine wind as a deposit
(This interpretation is difficult, but... Even if someone asks for a deposit, I can't give away what I don't have. If there's a fish in my heart, there's a water in your heart. So, how about leaving the pine wind? That'll do.)
松風も最う十月は怖く成り
Even the pine winds become frightening as October approaches
(Even the autumn pine winds begin to make me shudder, reminding me of the cold winter weather.)
松風にふっと気の付く三十九
As the pine wind blow it suddenly noticing me to be thirty-nine
(As the autumn pine wind blows, I suddenly realize I'm 39 years old. Next year I'll be 40. I, Yamada, think that this means from the Analects, "At 30 I stand, at 40 I don't confused.")
松風がふくはづれ開帳
As the pine wind blows, a hidden Buddha statue is unveiled
(As the pine wind blows, a hidden Buddha statue is unveiled at a temple on the outskirts of the temple. ... Or perhaps it means that a gambling den loses its dice and a cold pine wind blows. The Japanese word "kaicho" has two meanings. One is to open the door or the curtain to a hidden Buddha statue. The other is to gamble.)
百夜の傘のかわく松風
As the pine wind blows, the umbrella dries out for a hundred nights
(Even an umbrella that has been passed down for a hundred nights dries in the pine breeze. The legend of Ono no Komachi (小野小町) originates from the Noh play "Kayoi Komachi (通小町)," and it tells of how, after hundred nights, Fukakusa Shosho (深草少将) passed away on the last snowy night without his wish for love for Ono no Komachi being granted.The "Rain-Praying Komachi (雨乞小町)" story is also depicted in many ukiyo-e prints. During a great drought across the country, Ono no Komachi recited a rain-praying song in the Shinsen-en Garden of Heian-kyo (平安京、新泉苑): "Chihaya-furu god, if you please, stand and judge, and open the gates of heaven's sins." A heavy rain immediately followed. ("The Great Color Ukiyo-e Encyclopedia," November 30, 1981, Taishukan Shoten). ...These events are likely the basis for this work.)
秋さびて俵へつめる松の風
A quiet autumn. The rice bales have been packed, and now it's time to pack the pine wind
笛あたゝめて松風を聞く
Warming my flute, I listen to the pine wind
(Let's warm up the shinobue and listen to the pine wind, which can also be likened to the sound of a koto. ... When the shinobue is cold, it produces a low tone; when it's warm, it produces a high tone. The temperature of the flute is adjusted to match the melody.)
松風寒き古い瘡毒
The pine wind is cold. The poisonous old wounds ache because of the cold
(The poisonous sore here may be syphilis.)
松風のかゆい所へしはく吹き
The pine wind blows stingily where it itches (I wish it would blow harder.)
松風のたまる所に炭俵
Where the pine wind gathers, charcoal sacks
(Charcoal sacks are piled up in the pine wind's winddrift. The cold season is coming.)
松風の方がよっぽどいくじなし
The pine wind is far more of a coward
(The cold pine wind blows timidly. I'm enduring the cold. If you're going to blow, blow harder, you coward!)
杣がちぢめてまわる松風
The pine wind that shrunk the woodcutter's arbor
(As the woodcutter clears the pine branches, even the pine wind becomes smaller.)
檀林に居すわると死を松の風
When I sit in the temple, I hear the pine wind that awaits my death
( "Danrin" means a Zen temple. The pine wind in this verse is the connection to "growing pine trees in the rocky valley." The author Keikiitsu's irony and humor may be found in the Zen state of "simply sitting." We have already mentioned that the Japanese words "matsu" (pine) and "matsu" (wait) are pronounced the same.)
押詰めし空に根のなき松の風
The rootless pine wind in the crowded sky
(...This verse is also difficult to interpret. The pine wind blows and flows without taking root in the sky. Having exhausted all discussion in the sky, the pines of the temple's temple blow the pine wind of the Zen state without taking root.)
I have attempted to interpret these fifty-two verses.
I cannot claim with certainty that my interpretation is correct, and there may be hidden meanings that were common knowledge in the Edo period that I cannot discern. All we can say is that in this era, the "pine wind" is far removed from the pines of Suma Bay that graced it during the Heian and Muromachi periods. The "pine wind" embodies the image of the delusion of love and the pitiful image of a man tormented by worldly desires even after death, and not even a vague trace of these lingers in the haiku poem "Mutamagawa."
One thing we can consider here is that the difference in style between the "pine wind" in Heian period aristocratic literature and that of Edo townspeople may be a reflection of cultural class differences. When Kei Kiitsu, a townsman, says, "A pine wind that will not meet my Edo friends," and adds, "December, when the pine wind leads me to the capital," he is clearly contrasting Kyoto, which was influenced by aristocratic culture, with Edo, where townspeople culture was thriving and surpassing that of the samurai. This is not a simple contrast, but a spirit of "competition."
Compared to Kei Kiitsu's straightforward, even rough-edged haiku, which even has a sense of strength, Matsuo Basho, who admired Saigyo during the Heian period, has a truly graceful pine breeze haiku: "Are the leaves falling in the pine wind? The sound of water is cool." In the haiku itself, there is no intention to actively engage with the secular world. This intention differs from the true nature of Matsuo Tosei Basho (松尾桃青芭蕉), who was a haiku master and a skilled politician. In that respect, Basho was a modern artist.
However, while I have just described it as "rough-edged," if we consider that Kei Kiitsu was intent on breaking away from the fixed 5-7-5 format of haiku, then it might be said to have been a bold challenge to the traditional Japanese rhythm of 7-5 or 5-7 meter. I will have to revise this point.
"Edo's pine winds" may, unexpectedly, hint at the issue of cultural class differences in Japanese culture, which cannot be overlooked.
[Note 1] Yanagida Seizan, "Comprehensive Memorandum on the Literary Materials Related to the Early Period of the Linji Dynasty in China (Part 5): Notes on the Linji Record (Continued)," Hanazono University, Zen Studies, 56, p. 12, February 20, 1968.
[Note 2] "The Complete Linji Record: The First Notes," 1660 (Manji 3), published by Tsurugaya San'emon, Kyoto, pp. 63-64. "The Supplement to the Linji Record: The Records of Zen Master Huishao," publication date unknown, published by Shohodo, Kyoto, p. 79. (Waseda University Library Archives)
"The Linji Record," translated and annotated by Iriya Yoshitaka, Iwanami Bunko, p. 185.
[Note 3] There are many studies on the inscription on the painting "Pine Snow Mountains." For reference, the following paper is provided below. Katsuhiro Yoshizawa, "Questions about the Interpretation of Paintings," Hanazono University, Zen Culture Research Institute Bulletin, No. 25, 2000
[Note 4] "Kundoku: Genkyo Shakusho," 2 volumes (Zen Culture Research Institute)
www.zenbunka.or.jp/deta/text/entry/post.html
[Note 5] Akira Hibino, "A Study on the Acceptance of Zen: The Cases of Tachibana Yoshiko and Eisai," Chunichi Automobile College Research Bulletin, Nos. 3 and 4, 1972
https://nakanihon.ac.jp>nac_ronso_003_11
[Note 6] It is generally accepted that "Kiritsubo," the opening volume of The Tale of Genji, was not written first. Regardless of this, it is also generally accepted that "Kiritsubo" is based on "Song of Everlasting Regret." The line from "Song of Everlasting Regret" ("The hibiscus of Taiye, the willows in the sky, how can tears not flow like this? The hibiscus like a face and willows like eyebrows") is directly quoted in "Kiritsubo" ("Katsuten Yamada"): "The hibiscus of Taiye, the willows in the sky, indeed, look like the faces we once shared."
There have been many studies on the influence of "Song of Everlasting Regret" on "The Tale of Genji," but Eiji Ueno's "The Tale of Genji and Song of Everlasting Regret" (published in the Bulletin of the Faculty of Letters, Seijo University) is a useful reference.
https://www.seijo.ac.jp/graduate/gslit/orig/journal/japanese/pdf/sbun-036-05.pdf
[Note 7] The sources of the five quoted waka poems are all from the "Shin Kokin Wakashū" (New Collection of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poetry), as follows: Izumi Shikibu (Volume 4, Waka Poems, Part 1), Kamo no Chomei (Volume 4, Waka Poems, Part 1), Fujiwara no Shunzei (Volume 8, Songs of Lament), Fujiwara no Ariie (Volume 17, Miscellaneous Poems), Fujiwara no Ietaka (Volume 18, Miscellaneous Poems).
[Note 8] Minakata Kumagusu's essay "The Uncroaking Frog" mentions that this poem by Emperor Gotoba appears in the Onshu Chocho Goki (Collected Works of Minakata Kumagusu 2, Heibonsha, p. 56).
[Notes 9, 10] Akisato Rito, "Illustrated Guide to Famous Places in the Capital, Forests, and Springs" (Edited by Shirahata Yozaburo, Kodansha Academic Library, Volume 1, pp. 42, 62)
November 25, 2025
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