小倉百人一首 Hyakunin Isshu
Poem 61
いにしへの
奈良の都の
八重桜
今日九重に
匂ひぬるかな
いにしへの
ならのみやこの
やえざくら
きょうここのえに
にほひぬるかな
From the ancient capital of Nara
Eight-petalled cherry blossoms
Today, deep within the nine palace gates
Have bloomed beautifully in court!
It can be said that “Flash fiction is a form new to many Americans—not so for the Japanese”.
The existence of the Hyakunin Isshu is a prime example as to why this quote stands true. The Hyakunin Isshu is filled with 100 examples of ancient pieces of flash fiction. The fact that the book was compiled in the 13th century alone shows the age of this form of writing. However, even the poems within this anthology date back further than the 13th century, such as to the Nara period (710 AD - 794 AD). The span of time within this book can be seen through Poem 61. As the first line suggests, this poem was composed in a time when Nara was already considered to be the ancient capital. Yet to us modern-day readers, the author of this poem also lived in an ancient time, writing this piece sometime during the Heian period (794 AD - 1185). The themes, specifically of nature, within this poem and the whole book in general, are giveaways to their age.
Translation rationale -
My thematic interpretation of the poem is that there is an excitement in court about beautiful cherry blossoms being brought to their palace from somewhere as important as Nara. I view this poem to be filled with excitement as they are experiencing cherry blossoms for Nara that remind them of the past. As such, while there is obvious excitement in being able to experience these special cherry blossoms again, there is also a hint of sadness behind the poem, in which the author is slightly reminiscing about the past days in the great Nara capital.
To convey this excitement in my translation I did the obvious first thing, which was to add in an exclamation point at the end, which was something that Joshua Mostow also did (click for professional translations). However, the University of Virginia poem does not have this punctuation and indeed the feeling comes across as more relaxed and dreamy than excited. I also wanted to add the adverb “beautifully” to enhance the excitement even more and to express that the excitement is centered on something lovely and a pleasure to see and smell, which is something both Mostow and the U of V translations fail to mention. The U of V translation does mention the “sweet perfume” of the flowers but as explained before this gives the poem a dreamier vibe.
I ultimately decided to translate ここのえ as “deep within the nine palace gates” because I felt that saying “nine palace gates deep”, as I did in my original translation, took away from poeticism of the poem. I think my translation of this noun makes the most sense compared with the professional translations and it strengthens the impression of the exclusivity of being somewhere as important as the center of the palace, which is something the other translations fail to do.
Cultural Grammar:
The author uses the exclamation particle かな at the end of the poem, which gives off the impression that everyone at the palace is excited about the beautifully blooming cherry blossoms, the line which this particle is modifying.
While this last line does convey feelings of happiness, when looking at the full poem, an underlying sadness can be detected, through the use of language. The fact that the author mentions that Nara is the ancient capital is interesting because it seems that these older poets often try to omit as much as possible. Since she explains the importance of Nara, it puts an emphasis on its archaic-ness. This also adds even more exclusivity to the poem because the author is experiencing something as rare as these special cherry blossoms blooming in the current court (outside of Nara). However, this rare sight in those current days brings a bit of sadness to the poem of bygone days.