¶ Poetry in ‘Takuan from Koto’
While the ‘Journey to the West’ is very poetic, ‘Takuan from Koto’ ventures into the poetic worlds only briefly.
Most of the verses are following the waka and tanka (see below) traditions whenever it is possible with the translation.
¶ Sour Pickled Plums
One to one lay
On the silver plate
Sour pickled plums.
Look! How can unremarkable be
a verse for a dear guest!
¶ Authorship
This poem was composed by Panzaemon Bhante, the abbot of the Golden Peak monastery, at the request of Soliang when he first visited the abbot’s monastery. Later, when the task of the Goddess of the West leads Soliang back to the same monastery, he will recite this poem for the monks to recognise him.
¶ Form and Meaning of the Poem
The poem is written in the form of a tanka: the first three lines represent a standalone poetic form known as a haiku, while the concluding lines indicate the context in which the allegory presented in the haiku should be understood.
Soliang admires the poetic gift of the abbot and asks him to compose a poem. The abbot, however, uses this poem to indicate excessive admiration for his modest abilities:
- In the first lines, he refers to the most ordinary dish – pickled plums. The abbot and Soliang are sitting at a lavish meal, surrounded by various dishes, but the abbot’s attention is drawn to the most ordinary plums.
- In the conclusion of the tanka, it is stated that the remarkable aspect of a work is not determined by its subject, nor even by the artistry of the composer, but by the recipient and the feeling with which it is composed.
¶ Bravery of Monks
Hungry demons
Await on the road.
Monk’s travel hat helps:
Through a narrow eye slit
Fear is not seen.
¶ Authorship
This poem was composed by Panzaemon Bhante, the abbot of the Golden Peak, as a farewell message to Soliang and the accompanying monks.
¶ Form and meaning of the poem
The poem is written in the form of a tanka: the first three lines represent a standalone poetic form known as a haiku, while the concluding lines offer an interpretation of the allegory presented in the haiku.
- Soliang fears hungry weredemons and seeks the assistance of two komuso monks, who have also never encountered demons before. Therefore, the abbot offers them a way to combat their fear.
- On the heads of the komuso monks are straw hats that completely cover their faces. The abbot suggests using these hats as protection against the demons.
- But can a mere straw hat shield them from hungry demon-werewolves or even ordinary bandits? Certainly not. The hat serves a dual purpose:
- on one hand, it obscures the monk’s vision, helping them focus on what lies ahead;
- on the other hand, the face hidden beneath the hat, distorted by fear, remains unseen by others.
¶ Don’t Ever Forget
On the mountain slopes next to the Silent Sea,
Where the waters of the Yellow River wash away the sand
Between the Monastery of the Pointed Peaks and Mountain White,
Bog oak gates lead to a forest full of silence.
Follow the hyacinth path
And it will guide you to the majestic rock.
Don’t let the stone stop you,
Put your step in without any fear.
In the heart of the mountain I placed myself
A skin full of sour wine.
Where wisdom follows youth
For regret there is no reason.
Don’t ever forget, Sogi!
¶ Authorship
This poem is discovered by the messengers of the Goddess of the West on the magical scroll of Yanwang Umma-ö, which he left at the Blue Mountain Monastery. Yanwang encoded in this poem the path to a secret repository where he hid magical items capable of bringing him back from the Under Realm.
¶ Meaning and Form of the Poem
Yanwang Umma-ö can hardly be called a great poet, so his poem turned out to be unrefined: he straightforwardly points out the signs that should help him find the way to his own secret hideout. He himself feels that the poem has turned out too simple and tries to rectify it by adding pompous imagery to the text.
In the final lines, Yanwang decides that he has said enough. Fearing to directly reveal what is in the secret repository, he concludes the poem with a quotation from a poet known to him.
¶ Tanka in Japanese Culture
Tanka means ‘short poem’ and is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature.
Tanka consist of five units (often treated as separate lines when romanized or translated) usually with the following pattern of on: 5-7-5-7-7. The 5-7-5 is called the kami-no-ku (‘upper phrase’), and the 7-7 is called the shimo-no-ku (‘lower phrase’).
On the white sand
Of the beach of a small island
In the Eastern Sea.
I, my face streaked with tears,
Am playing with a crab.
— Ishikawa Takuboku