I was reading something today and a very old and famous poem from Narihisa showed up. His old poem also brought this haiku about him to mind.
業平の歌よりはじむ夏期講座
narihira no uta yori hajimu kaki kōza[1]
summer classes
begin with a poem
by Narihira
—Ozawa Katsumi[2]
I think we all remember that feeling of dread in high school upon learning we’d be studying some old, archaic poem in English class. It’s likely that many students in Japan can relate to this feeling.
The name mentioned in the haiku is Arihara no Narihira (在原 業平), one of the most famous poets in Japanese history. Narihira is considered one of the Six Poetic Geniuses, is featured in the Hyakunin Isshu (百人一首), a very famous collection of poems, as well as having many poems featured in other imperial anthologies. All the kind of stuff that makes him required reading in school.
But it’s not all boring. Besides poetry, Narihira is renowned for his many love affairs. It is said he had an affair with the high priestess of Ise Grand Shrine, as well as famed poetess Ono no Komachi, and with the emperor’s consort, Fujiwara no Takaiko, an act that caused a big scandal and got him in so much trouble that he fled east for a time. The Tales of Ise, a collection of poems and stories which he inspired, suggests that he fathered Emperor Yōzai. To this day, he still appears in media as the model handsome, amorous nobleman.
He died in 880 at the age of 54/55, and his death poem reflects his shock at his sudden end.
つひにゆく道とはかねて聞きしかど昨日今日とは思はざりしを
tsui ni yuku michi to wa kanete kikishikado
kinō kyō to wa omouwazarishi wo
although I had
heard of the road
we all must travel in the end—
yet I never thought
it would come for me so soon
