Love

Love has long been a prominent theme in the Japanese poetic tradition. Ryojin hisho is no exception. In the anthology, love songs are concentrated in the "miscellaneous" section of the shiku no kamiuta and in the untitled sections of the niku no kamiuta . None is found in the homon uta .

The love songs of Ryojin hisho deal exclusively with the love affairs of commoners and those on the fringes of Heian society, addressing in particular emotions experienced on an instinctual or physical level and ex-pressed with little reservation. The speakers are most frequently women, including courtesans, who tell of their desires, frustrations, vexations, and fears, as well as their flirtatious moods. Most of the songs are presented in an extremely fluid vernacular, which forms a sharp contrast to the homon uta , with their dominantly public, declarative mode of address.

In the performative context of asobi and other entertainers, the songs may have functioned to instruct the audience about the different kinds of love these women experienced. They may also have served as protests against inconstancy, cruelty, and desertion—all part of the love experience of these women. The graphic descriptions of sensual love likely aroused and satisfied erotic impulses of their male listeners as well, which in many cases, of course, was the entertainers' ultimate professional goal.

The next few songs represent a light mood of flirtation, which is achieved largely through repetition of similar phrases, alliteration, and the use of emphatic particles—rhetorical devices that in some cases lend an incantatory resonance as well:

A kindred sense of amorous dalliance dominates the following song, which deals with a successful consummation by a pair of lovers, symbolized by the man's rush hat (ayaigasa ) dropped into the river (the woman):^[22]

The artistry of this song is delightful. First, the echo of the verb ending -nikeri in ochinikeri and akenikeri creates a pleasing, refrainlike effect. This rhythmic cadence is then underscored by the alliterative pairing of ai and ayai in the first line, kamogawa and kawa in the third, and sarasara and sayake in the last line. To cap it off, an end rhyme is contrived by the repetition of ni in the third and fourth lines, and an internal rhyme is gained from the repetition of to in the fourth line. This intricate poetic craftsmanship gives the song a lively sense of movement.

The following two songs are rare instances in which the lyric voice is male, both expressing an erotic yearning for a woman. In the first song, this yearning—metaphorically conveyed through the image of a small flower—is one that cannot be gratified by sight only. In similar fashion, in the second song the presumably male speaker vocalizes his sexual fantasy by identifying himself with creeping and sinewy wild vines. His strong desire, he says, is as inevitable as a karmalike destiny (sukuse )—an exaggerated claim that produces a hint of whimsical humor:

Not all Ryojin hisho love songs are so upbeat, however; some articulate agonized feelings about unresponsive lovers. One such case is the following example, in which an intense desire to fuse with one's beloved is voiced, underscored by the vehement accusation a young woman levels at her feeble lover. The same expression as in the preceding song, kiru to mo kizamu to mo (to try to cut or to chop), is used here, providing thematic

affinity through the lexical repetition. It is also a song of a lover's defiance against outsiders' meddling, especially that of parents or neighbors—also a favorite theme in Man'yoshu and saibara songs:^[23]

In the following two songs we are reminded of the more formal waka , in terms of both tone and poetic artistry. The first one captures a pensive mood grounded in a longing that knows no bounds, reaching out for the object of desire as far as Michinoku Prefecture—virtually the end of the world in Heian times:

Skillfully integrating waka and the folk song tradition, this song achieves layers of meaning by playing on pivot words. In the first line, michi is linked to omoi and noku to produce two phrases: omoi wa michi(ru) ("the heart is full") and michinoku (the name of a province). Then in the second line, suru is connected to both koi and ga , resulting in koi wa suru (to love) and suruga (the name of a province). This technique gives the first half of the song a waka- like sense of semantic control and subtlety. The second half, however, is totally free of rhetorical contrivances; the result is a straightforward and unreserved voicing of the speaker's state of mind.

In the second song, the focus is on a single-shelled abalone, which serves as a metaphor for the one-sided longing of a lover:

A handful of love songs in Ryojin hisho are uninhibited invitations to lovemaking. They evoke banquet scenes where unbridled revelry loosens erotic impulses, such as in the following song, in which an overture for a sexual union is rendered in a quasi-cataloging style:

The act of lovemaking is sometimes described explicitly, as in this song:

Even the reluctance of lovers parting can be expressed in frank physical terms:

As in both waka and folk songs, the theme of unrequited love stands out in Ryojin hisho . Invariably, the pain of love—loneliness, regret, or

the tragedy of betrayal—is expressed from the standpoint of women. The love relationships described in Ryojin hisho usually end in estrangement, with promises more often broken than kept. This group of songs represents perhaps the most intense emotional outpouring in Ryojin hisho .

This song, though reminiscent of no. 462, is more forthright in expressing the lover's desertion; the image of the rugged, wave-battered seashore is particularly evocative of the harshness of such an experience.

In the next song, as the speaker traces the flow of time from past to future, the void in her life created by her lover's leaving is brought into sharp relief. Without his visit, time hangs heavy on her hands, and life is dismal, drained of purpose:

In another song we see the loneliness, shame, and muted agony of a woman whose love affair went wrong. Here, as in the last song, the speaker emphasizes the passage of time, in this case on the smaller scale of one night, and reveals the psychological shifts of her mind—from stoic patience in the early evening to frustration at dawn. Her feeling of abandonment is set off by the concrete image of the "desolate bed," alluding to the sexual nature of her love relationship:

Some of the betrayed women in Ryojin hisho songs do not suffer passively; they vent their anger. Songs of protest, like the following example, give a sharper edge to the anthology's spirited love songs. The speaker here may be a courtesan who lays out a plan of revenge for a fellow courtesan wronged by her lover:

An element of humor is added to the song with the word keka (repentance), originally a Buddhist term referring to a rite of penitence.

The theme of jilted love receives unconventional treatment in another song, one of the most beloved in Ryojin hisho . The speaker is an asobi of unusual pluck, who thrashes her fickle lover with a series of curses:

The song centers on three images—a three-horned devil (symbol of ugliness as well as terror), a bird, and a floating weed—all non- or subhuman

entities.^[27] Vitality and power are successively diminished, from the relative mobility of the devil to the total passivity of a drifting weed. Since the uki in ukikusa (drifting duckweed) also implies melancholy or sadness, the speaker wills that to be part of her lover's lot. The poignancy of the song lies in the fact that the speaker, in her diatribe, projects her own feared destiny onto her lover: loss of beauty, privation, and loneliness from an uprooted existence.^[28]

In practical terms, some of the love songs in Ryojin hisho must have been created to entice male customers into the arms of asobi . In addition, songs such as nos. 338 and 339, discussed above, may be intended to declare the dignity of these women, even though they are basically at the mercy of their patrons. Despite moments of amorous elation, on the whole the songs communicate the harsh reality of love relationships—their risks, unpredictability, and pain—especially for asobi . The lot of these women, we learn, was ultimately one of deep sadness.

Any discussion of love in Ryojin hisho would be incomplete without mention of the following song, at once the best known and one of the most controversial in the anthology:

The controversy involves the identity of the speaker and the meaning of the words asobi and tawabure . Some say that the song is an old asobi's lament over her life spent in sin, while others see it as the wistful reflection of an old person about his or her own life.^[29] When we consider the song in the context of women performers and their professional life, which often included prostitution, the meaning is much clearer: here we en-counter the nostalgia of an asobi who, though limited in her entertaining activities by her age, still finds the music and performance (symbolized by the young children's frolicking) exciting and magical. Her life of flirtation and pursuit of love will end in time, but the delight she finds in songs and entertainment will continue to live on.