The Hundred Poets, Part I

(Hyaku-nin isshu, 百人一首内)

Publisher: Ebisu

c. 1840-1842

 

Hyaku-nin isshu is an anthology of 100 poems by 100 different poets compiled by the thirteenth-century critic and poet Fujiwara no Sadaie (also known as Teika).  The poems are all five-line poems of 31 syllables arranged as 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7.  This form was known as waka and is now known as tanka.  The 100 poets are in approximately chronological order from the seventh through the thirteenth centuries.  The number associated with each poet appears in the margin of most of the prints, with a few incorrectly numbered.  Some of the prints portray the poets, and some show scenes associated with their lives or poetry.  The poem and some descriptive text appear on each print.  Robinson described 58 prints in this series, and it is unlikely that any more exist. The poems were translated by Clay MacCauley in his book “Single Songs of a Hundred Poets” (1917, Kelly and Walsh, Yokohama).  The prints are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban.

 

Number: 1

Poet: Emperor Tenchi Tennô

Scene: Peasants harvesting grain in the foreground with a palace overlooking the sea in the distance

Robinson: S19.1

 

The poem translates:

   Coarse the rush-mat roof

   Sheltering the harvest-hut

   Of the autumn rice-field;

   And my sleeves are growing wet

   With the moisture dripping through.

 

This print superficially resembles the above print.  However, it is lacking Kuniyoshi’s signature, his personal red seal (below his signature), the publisher’s square seal below that, and the carver’s signature-seal (below and just to the right of the publisher’s seal).  A careful comparison of corresponding parts of the two prints will reveal slight differences.  This print was copied from the above using newly carved woodblocks.  No matter how skilled the carver, it is never possible to perfectly duplicate the original. 

 

Number: 2

Poet: Empress Jitô Tennô (持統天皇)

Scene: Empress Jitô Tennô at a palace door looking out at the wooded mountains of Kaguyama

Robinson: S19.2

 

The poem translates:

   The spring has passed

   And the summer come again;

   For the silk-white robes,

   So they say, are spread to dry

   On the "Mount of Heaven’s Perfume."

  

Number: 3

Poet: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (柿本人麿)

Scene: The aged poet holding his brush and watching a pheasant with writing materials before him

Robinson: S19.3

 

The poem translates:

   Oh, the foot-drawn trail

   Of the mountain-pheasant’s tail

   Drooped like down-curved branch!

   Through this long, long-dragging night

   Must I lie in bed alone?

 

Another state of the above design