Return to the index of "Other Women's Voices."
Updated 05-18-08
Ise /Lady Ise /Ise no go (died
c.939)
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"ISE THE DIVER... FEELS HER HOME-SHIP SWEPT AWAY."
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We know a bit more about Ise than about Ono no Komachi, the other major woman poet of the Kokinshu /Kokin wakashu, an imperial anthology completed about 922. Ise was from a family of prominent scholars and poets. Her father was a provincial governor, first of Ise and later of Yamoto; he was a member of the Fujiwara family, although not from the most powerful branch.
In the late 880s, Ise was sent to court as an attendant to Onshi (872-907), the consort of Emperor Uda, who reigned from 887 to 897 but who remained powerful until his death in 931. Ise would have at least two children: by Uda, a boy who died as a child; later, by Uda's son Atsuyoshi, a girl named Nakatsukasa, who like her mother would come to be known as one of the "thirty-six poetic geniuses of Japan."
Until Onshi died in 907, Ise remained in her service; later she would serve Onshi's daughter. Although not always at the court in later years, Ise remained very much part of its literary life, participating in poetry competitions and contributing to court celebrations. She wrote the official accounts of two poetry contests held by the retired Uda in 913 and 921.
The Ise shu, a collection of 483 poems wriiten by and to Ise, was apparently produced in her own lifetime. The first 33 poems of the shu create, with their prose introductions, a narrative (perhaps fictional) of her early years at court, a narrative that is usually called the Ise nikki.
Kokinshu contains 22 of Ise's poems; an anthology of the 950s, Gosenshu, has over 70; still later anthologies continued to include her work. At least one Japanese scholar has proposed Ise as the author of the first part of Yamato monogatari (Tales of Yamato), which deals with life at Uda's court (Keene, p. 457).
Although like Komachi, Ise wrote love poetry, she went on to also write poems on a broader range of topics. There is no complete English translation of her work, but you will find enough online and in print anthologies to hear her voice.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from translations in print:
Ise shu
Official report on an imperial poetry competition (913 CE)
Information about secondary sources.
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1. For groups of poems:
(a) The first of 32 pages that will give you all but the last poem of Ise nikki, the narrative section of Ise shu. Going to "next" at the top of the page will take you to the following pages (#s 2131-62). On most pages, clicking on highlighted words and phrases will bring you useful notes. For all, the translator is Thomas McAuley. (For the last poem of Ise nikki, see below, under "In print.")
(b) From the same site, after a brief biography, links to 55 poems (including the 32 above, which are indicated here as "IS"): from Kokinshu, from two later imperial anthologies, and from Ise shu (some poems were in both Ise shu and an anthology). For each poem, the Japanese is also given in script and in romanization. As above, the translations are by McAuley.
(c) After an introduction by Chieko I. Mulhern, nine poems from various translators.
(d) Second in a group of poets, six poems translated by Jane Reichhold.
(e) Halfway down the page, more from Reichhold: here 18 excerpts from Kokinshu (whole poems or parts) are given in plain text, with linking lines by Reichhold given in italics.
(f) Four poems, translated by Etsuko Terasaki.
(g) In an essay by Teppei Yamada and Steven Grieco, use your browser's search function to go to the two uses of "Lady" for three poems; the romanized Japanese is also given.
2. For single poems:
(a) From the last major imperial anthology, the Shin Kokinshu of the early 1200s: "I would forget you"; "Even in your dreams"; "On Suminoe"; "Do you recall,"; "In a spring night"; "Our meeting." The translations are by McAuley; for each, the Japanese is given in script and romanization.
(b) "Hidden immortal," and at another page of the same site, "News of the palace"; both poems are translated by Terasaki.
(c) At the bottom of the page of this chapter of Murasaki Shikibu's Genji monogatari, "The dew upon the fragile locust wing," in Edward G. Seidensticker's translation (Ise is one of the few poets quoted in full by Murasaki).
(d) In a 1997 essay by Reichhold on Japanese tanka, go to "Lady" for "If only my body," translated by Burton Watson.
(e) Go to the second use of "Ise" for Donald Keene's version of the above, "If I consider my body like the fields."
(f) In this collection, go to the second use of "Ise" for "How shall I wait," translated by Edwin A. Cranston.
(g) At the bottom of the page, two versions of one poem, translated by Michael Haldane, "Pleasure comes to an end"; the original is given in romanization.
3. Finally, various translations of the Ise poem included in Hyakunin Isshu, an important anthology of the 1200s (for Burton Watson's version, see "In print"):
(a) Clay MacCauley's "Even for a time"; the original is also given in script and romanization.
(b) Tom Galt's "Our passage through this world," with Galt's comment on the readings given by different translators.
(c) "Naniwa Bay: the reeds so finely jointed," translated by Linda Reinfeld & Toshi Ishihara.
(d) "Short as the joints of bamboo reeds," by William N. Porter, with the romanized original and a 1700s woodcut.
4. On a c.1112 Ise shu manuscript page of dyed collaged papers, five poems; elsewhere, a page of a manuscript from the same period.
5. An essay, "Female Waka Poets: Love poetry in the Kokinshu" (2006), by S. Yumiko Hulvey, discusses the c.922 imperial anthology; two of Ise's poems are given, translated by Helen Craig McCullough.
6. A review by Mark Morris of Donald Keene's 1993 history, Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century (for information on Keene's treatment of Ise, see "Secondary sources").
7. A 1200s painting of Ise reproduced on a modern (1960) Japanese stamp.
8. For historical background, Reichhold's 1986 essay on early Japanese women's writing; Ise is briefly discussed.
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[Joshua S. Mostow's anthology includes his translation of Ise nikki, the opening section of Ise shu. Mostow believes that the prose narrative joining these first poems of the collection was written after Ise's death but that the poems themselves are Ise's. The detailed notes are helpful for historical background. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
At the house of gathered leaves: shorter biographical and
autobiographical narratives from Japanese court literature /
edited, translated, and with an introduction by Joshua S. Mostow.
Honolulu: University of Hawaiì Press, c2004.
(xii, 211 p.)
LC#: PL771.2 .A8 2004; ISBN: 0824827783
Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-200) and index
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[In her study of Kokinshu, Helen Craig McCullough translates
20 Ise poems; see pp. 387-91 and the index:]
McCullough, Helen Craig. Brocade by night: "Kokin wakashu"
and the court style in Japanese classical poetry. Stanford, Calif.:
Stanford University Press, 1985. (xii, 591 p.)
LC#: PL728.22 .M35 1985; ISBN: 0804712468
Includes indexes. Bibliography: p. [561]-567
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[This anthology includes 14 translations of Ise by Etsuko Terasaki with Irma Brandeis, and one by Willis Barnstone:]
A Book of women poets from antiquity to now / edited by Aliki
Barnstone & Willis Barnstone. Rev. ed. New York: Schocken
Books, c1992. (xxiv, 822 p.)
LC#: PN6109.9 .B6 1992; ISBN: 0805209972.
Includes indexes
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[In another anthology Burton Watson translates 11 of Ise's poems (and Hiroaki Sato gives a prose translation of two more on p. 216):]
From the country of eight islands: an anthology of Japanese
poetry / edited and translated by Hiroaki Sato and Burton Watson;
with an introduction by Thomas Rimer; associate editor, Robert
Fagan. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986, c1981. (xliv,
652 p.)
LC#: PL782.E3 F74 1986; ISBN: 0231063954
Bibliography: p. [641]-648. Includes index
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"String my tears upon it as jewels."
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[The last part of the Ise nikki (the earlier sections are available online). After the death of Empress Onshi in 907, her attendants were preparing for a ceremony to be held on the 49th day. In Japanese the same word is used for "braiding," "joining together," and "thread":]
The empress was always delicate of health, and at length she passed away.... Everyone was as sad as if her death had been totally unanticipated, and the ladies-in-waiting gathered together, crying all day---yet finally it was time for the Forty-Ninth Day services.
The rain was falling heavily that day, and the one who had
been so sad before (Ise] had secluded herself in her room. The
other ladies-in-waiting had assembled in their late mistress'
quarters and were twisting together braids for use in the ceremony.
The person in back [Ise] sent word to them: "The braids
must all be finished. What are you doing? I am doing nothing
but staring out at the rain." The others replied: "We
have braided the threads, and now we are joining together our
voices in lamentation." The person in back replied:
Make a thread
of these weeping voices
gathered together
and string my tears
upon it as jewels. [Mostow,
p.163]
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"...nothing left to cling to."
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[Almost all of Ise's poems are in the brief tanka form; however one of the four longer poems to be found in Kokinshu is hers. When Onshi died, Ise wrote this lament. (The phrase "Ise the diver" reminds the reader of the dangerous work of the women pearl divers in the province of Ise):]
The waves surge higher still
far off:
within the palace
Ise the diver
who has long lived there
feels her home-ship
swept away,
nothing left to cling to;
grief overwhelms her.
Our tears are like
scarlet-tinged
autumn rain.
And like the maple leaves
of autumn, when the members
of the household
have scattered
in their own ways,
uncertainty
fills the air.
We who stayed behind
are like the pampas flowers
in a garden without a keeper.
We huddle together
and beckon to the sky:
the first wild geese of the season
cry out as they fly off,
indifferent to us. [Terasaki,
p.166]
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"...a vessel afloat on the pond's surface."
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[The Kokinshu editors' introduction to this poem reads: "The Priestly Retired Emperor came to watch an entertainment held to celebrate the launching of some new boats in the pond at the residence of the Nakatsukasa Prince. When he prepared to leave toward evening, Ise composed and presented this poem." (The emperor was Uda, the prince Atsuyoshi):]
If our august lord
were but a vessel afloat
on the pond's surface,
how gladly I would declare,
"This is to be your harbor." [McCullough,
p.391]
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"If the Fifth Month comes...."
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[Four poems on spring --- and on the passage of time. The Fifth Month was summer, the traditional time for the cuckoo to be heard:]
If the Fifth Month comes,
we may have more than enough,
cuckoo, of your song.
I would like to hear your voice
before the season begins. [McCullough,
p.437]
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"...with none to see them."
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Blossoming cherries
in far mountain villages
with none to see them:
would that they might not flower
until others had scattered.
[McCullough, p.291]
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"Is it because...."
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That wild geese depart
ignoring the arrival
of the springtime haze---
is it because they dwell
in realms where flowers never bloom? [McCullough,
p.389]
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"...weaving eccentric brocades."
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Spring rains weaving
eccentric brocades
across the face of the water---
will they dye all the hills green? [Watson,
p.127]
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"...not even in dreams."
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[On love. The editors' introduction:"Sleeping with someone who came in secret:"]
Speak of this to no one,
not even in dreams---
and in case the pillow
should be too wise,
we'll have no pillows but our arms. [Watson,
p.127]
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"...rumors noisy as a rushing stream."
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[At the end of a group of poems written at imperial command, apparently sent when Ise was no longer at court:]
I long for a way
to recapture bygone times,
to see the palace
of which I but hear rumors
noisy as a rushing stream. [McCullough,
p.347]
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"...my house become a trickle of coins."
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[Ise sometimes uses a self-deprecating humor. This poem is entitled "On selling her house." The Asuka River was noted for changing quickly from shallow to deep:]
Though the Asoka River
is not my home,
my deeps, it seems,
have given way to shallows,
my house become a trickle of coins. [Watson,
p.129]
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"Now what's left...."
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[And on her own aging:]
Even the old Nagara Bridge in Naniwa
I hear has been rebuilt---
now what's left
that's ancient enough
to compare to me? [Watson,
p.129]
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Official report on an imperial poetry competition (913 CE)
[Setsuko Ito's anthology includes his translation of part of Ise's report of the poetry competition (uta awase) held by Retired Emperor Uda at his court it 913. We know of earlier competitions, but Ise's is the oldest extant record of one. Ito gives Ise's prose report and 24 of the 60 recorded poems (including three written by Ise). The poems are also given in romanization and (in an appendix) in Japanese script:]
Ito, Setsuko. An anthology of traditional Japanese poetry
competitions: uta-awase (913-1815) (Chinathemen Bd. 57).
Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1991. (vii, 430 p.: ill.; 18 cm)
LC#:PL728.81 .I85 1991; ISBN: 3883399485
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"The princesses and princes gaily entered."
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[The participants in the competition were divided into two teams of nine (princes, princesses and courtiers), called the Right and the Left. The topics (all related to spring) had been assigned beforehand by Uda, who also acted as judge. The reading of the poems was only one part of a day-long festivity that included singing and dancing and artwork (the suhana was a miniature garden made of precious metal and gems):]
The Left team began the presentation of the suhana at 10.00 a.m., when it was carried into the chamber by four gentlemen of the fifth rank. The princes, who were most beautifully robed, displayed it to the Emperor. They played an old folk song called "Beach of Ise." The Right team presented its suhana at noon.... They played a slow folk song. Takekawa." The princesses and princes gaily entered the chamber and took their places....
The competing poems were kept together in a small rosewood box. The nobles took their places on both sides of the veranda, and the lady chamberlains occupied four seats on each side. The bamboo blinds were rolled up about half a metre above the floor and the women readers were ready to recite the poems. [p.44]
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"...drop by drop in sparkling jewels."
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[Ise contributed poems to both sides: one to the Left, two to the Right. The first poem below tied with that of her opponent; the second was called the winner:]
Spring rain falls
On the swaying branches
Of the willow tree
Drop by drop in sparkling jewels
Strung upon a thread. [p.46]
[And:]
Destined to fall soon
The cherry-blossom
Is short-lived.
Yet it makes one wait
Such a long, long time. p.49]
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"The audience roared with laughter."
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[Her third poem lost by default. By 913, after over twenty years at court, Ise surely knew her audience, so her choice of words may well have been intended as contributing to the gaiety of the occasion. (Ito's footnote on "rumbles": "The word toyamu, meaning 'sound' or 'vibrate,' had obvious associations for the listener with rumblings of the stomach or with some other embarrassing noise."). Ise's poem and her description of its effect:]
The little mountain cuckoo
Sings his high-pitched song
The Ashita plain in Katada
Trembles and rumbles
With the song of the birds.
When the reader of the Right team got as far as the line toyomumade in her recitation, the audience roared with laughter. The word toyomu is indeed a tricky one. There was so much noise that the reader could not continue, and the poem was never completely presented. It therefore lost the match. [p.57]
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"He made quite sure that they were added to the winning
side."
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[Ise can make gentle fun not only of herself but of Uda, whom she had served for so many years. Her report of the competition's results:]
The Right won the contest. Two poems were written by the Emperor, however, and he made quite sure that they were added to the winning side. Strictly speaking, therefore, the Right team actually lost be one.
Both the winning and losing teams played music and danced. [p.44]
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[H. Richard Okada's study includes the chapter "An Early Figure of Resistance: Lady Ise," which portrays Ise as able to resist male desire and compete with men on an equal footing. Okada describes her work as a professional poet and official recorder of poetry competitions, and then gives a close reading of the poems of Ise nikki. Quoted poems are given in Okada's translation and in romanized Japanese. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Okada, H. Richard. Figures of resistance: language, poetry,
and narrating in The Tale of Genji and other mid-Heian
texts. Durham: Duke University Press, 1991. (x, 388 p.)
LC#: PL726.2 .O42 1991; ISBN: 0822311925, 0822311852
Bibliography: p. 367-376
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[Donald Keene's history has chapters on the Kokinshu and on the later anthologies, in which he quotes three of Ise's poems (see the index); for all the chapters, Keene's bibliographies are useful. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Keene, Donald. Seeds in the heart: Japanese literature from
earliest times to the late sixteenth century. New York: Henry
Holt & Co., 1993. (xiv, 1265 p.)
LC#: PL726.115 .K44 1993; ISBN: 0805019995
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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Updated 05-18-08