[74] うか (Uka)

 Poem Meaning and Background

Picture of Hasedera in the rain, from Hasedera's Instagram page 

憂かりける・人を初瀬の・山おろし

ukari keru・hito o Hatsuse no・yama oroshi

はげしかれとは・祈らぬものを

hageshikare to wa・inoranu mono o

〜源俊頼朝臣（Minamoto no Toshiyori Ason）

Translation

It was not for this

I prayed at the holy shrine:

That she would become

As pitiless and as cold

As the storms on Hatsuse's hills.

Meaning

The author of this poem, Minamoto no Toshiyori, had been invited to the house of Fujiwara no Toshitada and asked to compose a poem. The subject he was to write about was 「神仏に祈ってもかなわない恋」(shinbutsu ni inottemo kanawanai koi), which means "Love which won't be fulfilled, despite praying to the gods and Buddha". At that time, 長谷寺 (Hasedera), a temple in Hatsuse in Nara Prefecture, was famous for granting prayers related to love. Here, the author references this location, implying that he has prayed at this temple for the person he loves to accept his love; however, his wish is not granted, and instead the person he is pining for only proceeds to treat him even more coldly than before. He likens her attitude to the cold and harsh winds which blow down from the mountain, an unyielding and powerful force of nature, and we can feel the speaker's despair over how things have unfolded, now that his prayers have failed and even the gods cannot help him.

In the first line, 憂かりける人 (ukarikeru hito) means a person who is cold or indifferent; in this case, that person is the object of the speaker's affections. 初瀬(Hatsuse) is a location in Nara prefecture, which is where Hase-dera is located. Hase-dera houses a large, eleven faced Kannon statue (Kannon being the Buddhist deity of compassion) as its main object of worship. The statue itself was carved from a tree in Hatsuse and stands at twelve meters tall, and is said to be the largest wooden statue in Japan.  The phrase 山おろし (yama oroshi) refers to cold and powerful winds which blow down from mountains. In the final line はげしかれ means the winds have become more intense, implying that the woman whom the speaker loves has grown even colder towards him. 祈らぬもの (inoranu mono) is a negation of the verb 祈る(inoru) "to pray for" plus もの, "thing", meaning "this is not what I prayed for".

Author

Minamoto no Toshiyori (1055~1129) was known for his talent for music and poetry. He is also known for compiling the Gosen Wakashū and the Kin'yō Wakashū. He is the son of the poet Minamoto no Tsunenobu, who authored [71] Yuu, and the father of Shune, who authored [85] Yomo.