Yi Shi [Japan]
Long and difficult beaches, short reed festivals,
It is difficult to meet in an instant, and it is difficult to stay in this life.
(Translated by Li Shuguo)
This harmony song originated from the love song in volume 1 1 of New Ancient Collection. The Collection of New Ancient and Modern Songs was founded in the early Kamakura period (1192-1333), which is the eighth collection of songs in Japan, with 20 volumes and nearly 2,000 songs. In the style of chorus, in a word, its characteristics are summarized as "lasting appeal". "Qing Yu" means implication; "Enchanting" refers to the implicit and fantastic connotation of words that we can appreciate with the help of residual emotions. Therefore, the new and ancient collections, Ye Wan Collection and the ancient and modern collections keep pace with each other, forming three brilliant and outstanding songs in the history of Japanese literature, which are known as "three constellations in the history of harmony songs" (Dictionary of Japanese Modern Literature).
The author Shi Xie (the year of birth and death can't be verified) is a female singer in the early period of Ping 'an and one of the 36 singers. Favored by Emperor Yudo (the 59th Emperor), Emperor Tongyudo was promoted to imperial concubine (imperial concubine of Yi Shi) after giving birth to a prince. She wrote a book of poems, Yi Shi. Her poetic style is deliberately ingenious in rhetoric such as preface, pillow words, hanging words and metaphor, with delicate feelings and rich rationality.
"Nambo" is an ancient name in Osaka today. "Nanbo Beach" is a vast beach near Osaka. The chorus means: Nanbo Beach is a dense reed, and the seams between each reed section are so short. Even in such a short time at the junction of two reed festivals, I was tortured by love. I was eager to meet you, but you made an excuse not to meet me. so this is it？ Isn't this cruel?
It should be noted that the author is a court aristocratic woman living in the upper class of society. She lives in luxury and luxury, but material luxury cannot replace and cover up the emptiness of the spiritual wasteland. It can also be inferred that in the male-centered feudal society, women were forced to be in a dependent position, and the ups and downs were reflected in the bitterness and tragic fate of men. These sorrows became the central material for her to vent her depression and wrote a sad love song.
Looking at the overall structure, the "internode" in the original song not only refers to the joint between reeds, but also symbolizes a short moment, "which has a magical effect on highlighting the illusory tryst between men and women." This is a pun with two meanings, which is called "hanging words" in Japanese. "Long waves, short reeds" is a means to strengthen the short and fleeting impression of "Reed Festival", which belongs to the preface. And courted reeds: reeds have shorter stems and shorter nodes. Even in such a short time, you refused to meet without mercy. The song is full of complaints about men's dissatisfaction and resentment, and full of infatuation and anger eager to satisfy. The author vividly reproduces the mysterious spiritual world through ingenious and easy-to-understand art forms, and shows the beauty of "charm" and "symbolic lingering" advocated by New and Ancient Collections. Therefore, some scholars say: "Its structure is unpretentious, but it is full of great power" (Gong Yu).
There is a multi-angle love relationship between Emperor Uto and Prince Dunqing of Yi Shi. It is still uncertain whether this song of peace is aimed at stabbing a person to make friends with him, but it is disloyal and ungrateful. However, as an aristocratic poet, Yi Shi's profound artistic attainments have won high praise from later generations. Together with the famous female singer Onomachi at the same time, she is known as "a double gem in the music world".