▶Let us pity each other, mountain cherry — as I long for you, so long for me, for I have no other friend who knows my heart but your blossoms.
Archbishop Gyōson (1055–1135) was a Buddhist monk of the late Heian period and a great-grandson of Emperor Sanjō. He took vows at twelve and entered Onjō-ji (Mii-dera), and from his youth he trained as a mountain ascetic, walking the steep peaks of Ōmine and Kumano. He later rose to become head of the Tendai school and Archbishop, and was known for the power of his prayers. The poem appears in the Miscellaneous section of the Kin'yō Wakashū, with the headnote "Composed on unexpectedly seeing cherry blossoms in bloom at Ōmine." It is a poem about stumbling upon a wild cherry flowering deep in the mountains, where no one goes.
"Morotomoni" means "together, with each other." "Aware to omoe" means "feel tenderly for me." Just as I feel for you, feel for me too, he calls to the mountain cherry. "Hana yori hoka ni shiru hito mo nashi" means that here in the deep mountains, no one but you knows who I am. A cherry tree blooming where no one sees it, and a man training where no one knows him. Two solitary beings meet by chance in the heart of the mountains and try to reach each other.
What drew us to this poem was that, in the middle of his harsh training, Gyōson spoke not to a person but to a single cherry tree. To call "together" to something that cannot answer, he must have been very deeply alone. Yet from the side of the cherry, blooming where no one saw it, Gyōson was also the first one who ever noticed it. In the lyrics we laid that meeting over a misty mountain path today. One person, and one tree. When two lonely beings meet, "no one knows me" is no longer only a lonely phrase. Like the mist clearing to show what could not be seen, we sang the moment a heart that thought itself alone comes undone, as a quiet and mysterious rising.
もろともに(金葉集/大僧正行尊・百人一首66番)Garu JP
霧の奥の 名前のない 道をゆく
熊よけの 鈴の音が 先をゆく
振り返れば 来た道も 白く 埋もれる
誰も知らない 山を ひとり のぼる
声を出せば 霧が 吸いこんでいく
その奥に ほのかな 灯りが ひとつ
もろともに あはれと思へ 山桜
花よりほかに 知る人もなし
咲いていたのか こんなところで
誰に 見せるでもなく
もろともに もろともに
ひとりと ひとつ
はるか昔 岩を踏み 滝に打たれた 僧がいた
険しい峰の その途中で
ひとひらの 薄紅に 足を 止めた
はじめて 誰かに 話しかけた
返事はない それでも 揺れていた
うなずくように 枝の先が
もろともに あはれと思へ 山桜
花よりほかに 知る人もなし
泣いたことも 笑ったことも
知っているのは 君だけ
もろともに もろともに
ここにいる
風が止む
霧が晴れる
谷いっぱいに
花びらが 降る
もろともに あはれと思へ 山桜
花よりほかに 知る人もなし
ひとりきりだと 思ってた
見えなかった だけだった
もろともに もろともに
ひとりと ひとつ
山桜 知る人もなし
Morotomoni (Kin'yo-shu / Archbishop Gyoson, Hyakunin Isshu No. 66) Garu JP
Deep in the mist, I walk a path that has no name
The bell I carry for the bears goes on ahead of me
I look back, and even the way I came is buried in white
Climbing alone up a mountain no one knows
When I call out, the mist swallows my voice
and far within it, one faint light
"Together, let us feel for each other, mountain cherry,
for no one knows me but you, my flower"
So you were blooming here, in a place like this
not showing yourself to anyone
Together, together
one person, one tree
Long ago there was a monk who trod the rocks and stood beneath the falls
Halfway up the steep ridges
he stopped before a single petal of pale pink
and for the first time, he spoke to someone
There was no answer, and yet it swayed
the tip of a branch, as if to nod
"Together, let us feel for each other, mountain cherry,
for no one knows me but you, my flower"
The times I cried, the times I laughed
you are the only one who knows
Together, together
you are here
The wind falls still
The mist clears
and all across the valley
petals are falling
"Together, let us feel for each other, mountain cherry,
for no one knows me but you, my flower"
I thought that I was all alone
I just couldn't see
Together, together
one person, one tree
Mountain cherry, no one knows but you