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Advanced Japanese Lesson: 忍ぶれど (Waka poem);Though I would hide it…

最初の自己紹介の中で、私は、幼い頃から日本文学や日本語が大好きだったというお話をしましたが、今日は、私が日本文学に興味を抱くきっかけとなった和歌を紹介しましょう。

忍ぶれど 色に出(い)でにけり わが恋は 物や思ふ(う)と 人の問ふ(う)まで

これは今から約1200年前、平安時代に活躍した貴族、平兼盛(たいらのかねもり)が作った和歌です。「和歌」とは「短歌」の古い時代のもので、日本語で発音すると「五・七・五・七・七」という三十一音で表現される短い詩のことです。この和歌はとても有名で、『百人一首』にも採り上げられています。

「誰にも分からないように…と心に秘めていたのに、私の恋心はとうとう表情や言動に現れてしまった。『何か悩みでもあるんじゃないの?』と周囲の人が尋ねるほどに」という意味です。

好きな人を見かけたり噂を聞いたりするだけでドキドキして、また、自分以外の人と親しげにしている様子を見かけて胸が痛くなって…恋を知ると様々なことを考えて思い悩み、まるで「新しい自分」になってしまうようですね。このように、時代や文化、習慣などが違っても、人間が抱く感情は変わりません。文学やことばの奥には、必ず人間がいて、人の気持ちが根源になっています。難しく考えず、人間同士、気持ちを重ね合うことができたら嬉しいと思いませんか。

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In my self-introduction I spoke about my love of Japanese language and literature from a very young age, but today I would like to introduce a particular Waka poem that first got me interested in Japanese literature.

“Though I would hide it,
In my face it still appears –
My fond, secret love.
And now people question me:
“Is something bothering you?”

This Waka was written by Tairano Kanemori; an aristocrat who lived more than 1200 years ago during the Heian period. Waka is an older type of short poem than Tanka that when pronounced in the original Japanese is expressed through a string of 31 syllables in the pattern ‘5, 7, 5, 7, 7.’ This Waka is very famous poem that is featured in the card game “Hyakunin Isshu” (a traditional card game using 100 poems by 100 famous poets).

The poem means roughly, “Although I tried to hide my love away inside my heart, it revealed itself in my expressions, manner and words. So much so that those around me ask, ‘Is something bothering you?’ ”

Just catching sight of someone one is enamored with or hearing a bit of gossip about that person can be enough to start the heart racing. And when one happens upon that person acting intimately with someone else, it makes the heart ache. When faced with matters of love, we develop all manner of new thoughts and worries and it is almost as if we become a ‘new person.’ Throughout the ages, spanning culture and custom, the emotions that humans embrace never seem to change. Deep at the root of all language and literature one will always find a person with real human emotions. Wouldn’t it be nice if people could simply forgo difficult thoughts and share their feelings openly with one another?