Tracing the Origins of Melancholy in Japan’s Oldest Anthology
The Man’yōshū is more than just an ancient collection of poetry; it’s a precious historical document that reflects the emotions, thoughts, and society of its time.
Comprising over 4,500 poems, it contains many verses celebrating joy and hope. However, it also includes a significant number of poems that delve into the deepest recesses of the human heart, exploring themes of melancholy and loneliness.
This is especially evident in the elegies (banka), which mourn the dead, and the love poems (sōmonka). In this essay, we will unravel the multifaceted nature of the sorrow and loneliness depicted in the Man’yōshū and explore the emotional lives of ancient Japanese people through a selection of ten representative poems.
For the people of ancient Japan, sorrow was not merely a private emotion.
The origins of the elegy, which served a magical and ritualistic purpose to appease and recall the spirits of the dead, hint at its special nature. Over time, however, the poems gradually transformed into personal expressions of grief.
This shift mirrored a broader societal change, as attitudes towards death evolved from a communal concept of loss to a more individual one, particularly after the proclamation of the Haksōrei (edict on simple funerals) in 645 CE.
This evolution allowed for a deeper, more introspective expression of feelings, encompassing not just universal sorrows like death and separation, but also social hardship and an existential sense of loneliness without a clear cause.
Table of Contents
To provide a comprehensive understanding of the emotional depth portrayed in the Man’yōshū, this report is structured around three main themes: death and loss, unrequited love, and introspective loneliness.
By introducing the author and context of each poem, we will explore how the emotions within them have resonated universally across time.
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Ten Selected Poems on Sorrow and Loneliness
| Poem (Modern Japanese) | Author | Brief Explanation |
| 秋山の黄葉を茂み惑ひぬる妹を求めむ山道知らずも (akiyama no momiji wo shigemi madoinu-ru imo wo motomemu yamaji shirazu mo) | Kakinomoto no Hitomaro | An elegy mourning his deceased wife. He sings of the grief of searching for her in a mountain path dense with autumn leaves. |
| 明日香川しがらみ渡し塞かませば流るる水も のどにかあらまし (asukagawa shigarami watashi sekakaseba nagaruru mizu mo nodoka ni arashi) | Kakinomoto no Hitomaro | Written for the deceased Princess Asuka. He compares his inability to prevent her sudden death to being unable to stop the river’s swift flow. |
| 妹と来し敏馬の崎を帰るさに独りし見れば涙ぐましも (imo to koshi minume no saki wo kaerusa ni hitori shi mireba namidagumashi mo) | Ōtomo no Tabito | A traveler who lost his beloved wife returns alone to a place they once visited together. Seeing the same scenery brings tears to his eyes. |
| 妹が見し楝の花は散りぬべしわが泣く涙いまだ干なくに (imo ga mishi ouchi no hana wa chirinubeshi waga naku namida imada hi naku ni) | Yamanoue no Okura | Written in sympathy for his friend Ōtomo no Tabito. He laments that the flowers seen by the late wife are scattering, while her husband’s tears of grief are yet to dry. |
| 恋にもそ人は死にする水無瀬川下ゆ我痩す月に日に異に (koi ni mo so hito wa shinisu-ru minasegawa shita yu are yasu-ru tsuki ni hi ni kotonari) | Lady Kasa | She sings of her love-sickness, which is causing her to waste away secretly, much like the unseen flow of the Minase River. |
| 皆人を寝よとの鐘は打つなれど君をし思へば寝ねかてぬかも (mina hito wo neyo to no kane wa utsu-nare do kimi wo shi omoeba nekatenu kamo) | Lady Kasa | A poem about sleepless nights and impatience while waiting for a lover, even as a bell rings to signal that everyone should go to bed. |
| 君が行き日長くなりぬ山尋ね迎えか行かむ待ちにか待たむ (kimi ga yuki hi nagaku narinū yama tadune mukae ka yukamu machi ni ka matamu) | Empress Iwa no Hime | The empress waits for her husband, the emperor, to return from a journey. The poem expresses longing mixed with impatience. |
| なにしか来けむ君もあらなくに (nani shika kekemu kimi mo ara naku ni) | Princess Ōku | After the death of her brother, Prince Ōtsu, she returns home. The simple words condense her deep sense of loss and solitude: “Why did I come back? You are no longer here.” |
| うらうらに照れる春日に雲雀あがり心悲しもひとりし思へば (urura ni tereru haruhi ni hibari agari kokoro kanashi mo hitori shi omoeba) | Ōtomo no Yakamochi | He contrasts the bright, cheerful spring day with the sadness and loneliness welling up inside him for no clear reason. |
| 世間を憂しとやさしと思へども飛び立ちかねつ鳥にしあらねば (yo no naka wo ushi to yasashi to omoe do mo tobitachi kanetsu tori ni shi araneba) | Yamanoue no Okura | This expresses the despair of being unable to escape social hardship, a feeling of being trapped because he is “not a bird” that can fly away. |
Part 1: The World of Elegies – Grief for the Departed
An elegy (banka) originally referred to a song sung by those pulling a coffin during a funeral procession, later becoming a general term for poems mourning the dead.
The Man’yōshū contains 263 of these, accounting for 5.8% of the collection.
This figure shows how immediate and profound death was for the people of that era.
Elegies were believed to hold a magical purpose – to recall or comfort the soul of the deceased – but they gradually evolved into a literary form that expressed personal sorrow openly.
This shift suggests that the ancient Japanese view of life and death transitioned from a communal wish for rebirth to a personal feeling of loss.
Perhaps the poets of the Man’yōshū publicly sang of their grief to heal their emotional wounds.
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro’s “Lament of Bleeding Tears”
“Autumn mountains, so thick with brilliant leaves, I am lost, searching for my love; but the path to her, I do not know.“
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, hailed as a “Poetic Saint,” left behind numerous magnificent court poems.
At the same time, he also wrote many poems lamenting personal grief.
Among them, the most famous is his “Lament of Bleeding Tears,” mourning the death of his wife.
This poem describes Hitomaro’s grief as he searches for his wife’s ghost in a mountain thick with autumn leaves.
In his longer poems, Hitomaro expresses regret that he could not visit his wife’s village frequently to avoid public scrutiny.
It is believed that their relationship was a “secret marriage,” and he was torn between social decorum and personal affection.
This regret adds a layer of depth to his grief, making it more than just a simple parting.
He sang in the market of Karu, “I call out my love’s name, and I wave my sleeve,” an act that was both an ancient spiritual ritual to summon the soul and a literary “drama of emotion,” where his suppressed feelings exploded.
Hitomaro’s poem, which openly expressed personal grief, influenced Ōtomo no Tabito and Yakamochi, establishing a tradition of “elegies for a deceased wife.” This marked the birth of a new poetic spirit that elevated personal sorrow into a work of art.
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro’s “Asuka River” – A Prayer for Tranquility
“ If only I could build a dam and block the Asuka River’s flow,then perhaps the water’s current might also become calm.“
This poem, also by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, was composed to mourn the deceased Princess Asuka.
t expresses the poignant feeling of helplessness by likening the sudden, swift passing of her life to a river’s flow that cannot be stopped.
At the heart of this poem is a contrast between the power of nature (the flowing river) and the irreversible fate of human life (death).
The name of the place, Asuka River, adds to the literary depth, as Asu can mean “tomorrow,” suggesting a finite time, while the river’s eternal flow suggests a concept of eternity.
By associating the unstoppable “tomorrow” (death) with the river’s eternal flow, he elevates personal grief into a universal meditation on the laws of nature and time.
This poem offers a glimpse into the philosophical thoughts of the Man’yōshū poets, who sought to place personal sorrow within the grand order of the natural world.
Ōtomo no Tabito’s Loneliness on His Journey Home
“When I returned to the Minume Cape that I came to with my love, looking at it alone now, my tears well up.“
Ōtomo no Tabito lost his beloved wife while he was serving as governor in Tsukushi.
Her death reportedly “robbed him of the will to live.”
This poem was composed when he returned to the capital and passed by Minume Cape (near modern-day Kobe), a place they had once visited together.
The essence of the grief in this poem lies not just in the separation, but in the contrast between a physical place and a lost memory.
The same scenery they once enjoyed together now only serves to amplify the pain of his present solitude.
This illustrates the universal human experience where happy memories, linked to a specific place, intensify the pain of current loneliness.
The poem’s clear structure of universal sorrow, where past joy magnifies present solitude, resonates with people across different eras.
Yamanoue no Okura’s Shared Grief
“The Chinese toon flowers that my love saw are about to scatter, but my tears, which I cry, have yet to dry.“
This poem is from the “Japanese Elegies” section and was composed in sympathy for the death of Ōtomo no Tabito’s wife.
The poem laments that while the flowers seen by the late wife are scattering, the tears of her grieving husband have not yet dried.
This poem’s main theme is empathy.
However, Okura himself had also lost his wife, and it is thought that his own experience is projected into this poem.
A complex resonance of feelings exists here: singing about another’s sorrow to heal one’s own, or being reminded of one’s own grief through another’s.
Furthermore, the image of the Chinese toon flowers, which are “pure and clean yet evoke a sense of loneliness,” adds symbolic depth.
The contrast between unchanging nature (the flowers) and the fragility of a lost life was a favorite technique of Man’yōshū poets, a way of placing personal grief within the principles of nature.
The Anguish of Unrequited Love – Sorrow in Sōmonka
Sōmonka are poems exchanged between lovers, spouses, or friends.
They depict not only happy love but also the profound sorrow of separation and heartbreak.
These poems served as a means for the poets to introspectively examine their own feelings.
The love poems of women, in particular, often expressed the struggles caused by social class differences or the busy schedules of their male counterparts.
This shows that the women of this era honestly confronted their emotions.
The fact that the suffering of love is described as a physical effect, such as “wasting away,” as seen in the poems of Lady Kasa, suggests that people at the time felt a strong connection between their emotions and their physical bodies.
Lady Kasa’s Unrequited Love and Physical Decline
“Love can indeed kill a person. Like the Minase River’s unseen flow, I am wasting away, day by day.”
Lady Kasa, who is said to have held an unrequited love for Ōtomo no Yakamochi, experienced both spiritual and physical decline because of her suffering.
This poem is her honest expression of that agony, comparing her unseen suffering to the unseen flow of the Minase River.
It is speculated that Lady Kasa and Yakamochi’s love was a romance between different social classes.
This social constraint was at the root of her suffering.
The fact that she sent him 24 poems but received only 2 in return was the direct cause of her decline.
This poem suggests that for people of that time, love was not just a passing emotion but a profound experience that could affect one’s very life and body.
Lady Kasa’s Endless Thoughts and Sleepless Nights
“Everyone hears the bell and goes to sleep, but when I think of you, I cannot find my rest.“
This poem captures the agony of a sleepless night, waiting for a loved one while the bell rings to signal that everyone else is asleep.
Here, the “bell’s sound,” which symbolizes a collective “communal time,” is used to emphasize the poet’s solitude (her own “individual time”). The fact that everyone else is asleep makes her sleeplessness all the more painful.
This poem captures the universal anguish of waiting and impatience against the backdrop of the era’s social time, giving it a timeless quality that resonates with people today.
Empress Iwa no Hime’s Impatient Heart
“It has been so long since you left. Shall I go to the mountain and look for you? Or shall I wait here, and continue to wait?“
Empress Iwa no Hime, the consort of Emperor Nintoku, composed this poem while waiting for her husband to return from a journey.
The poem conveys not only her longing but also her impatience and frustration with his long absence.
Empress Iwa no Hime was known for her jealousy and passionate temper, and this poem offers a glimpse into that character.
Her emotions were not just “loneliness” but a more complex feeling of “frustration from waiting.”
The phrase, “Shall I go to the mountain and look for you?
Or shall I wait here, and continue to wait?” shows her conflict between the impulse to act (to go and meet him) and the necessity to wait due to her position.
This symbolizes the lonely position of a noble who cannot freely express her emotions or act on them.
This poem deeply depicts the complex psychology of a woman in the imperial court, bound by her status, as she struggles with love, impatience, and personal anguish.
The Scenery of Loneliness and Introspection
The Man’yōshū contains many poems on the theme of “loneliness,” felt not only during specific events like death or heartbreak but also on a journey or in everyday life.
This indicates that the Man’yōshū poets had attained a more introspective state, expressing emotions that arose from within, independent of external factors.
Princess Ōku’s Return Home and Sense of Loss
“Why did I come back? You are no longer here.“
Princess Ōku was returning to the capital after being released from her duties as a high priestess in Ise.
On her way, she mourned the death of her brother, Prince Ōtsu, who had been executed for treason.
Having lost her father (Emperor Tenmu) and her mother, her deep loneliness and grief are condensed into this simple phrase.
This poem expresses a profound sense of loss, where a physical place (the capital) ceases to be a “home for the heart” because her loved one is no longer there.
Due to her special status as a high priestess, her family interactions were limited, and she likely had no one with whom to share her grief publicly after her brother’s tragic death.
This fact deepens her solitude.
This poem symbolically portrays the universal theme that social status and position can deprive a person of emotional support, leading to profound loneliness.
Ōtomo no Yakamochi’s “Heartbreak” on a Beautiful Spring Day
“On the spring day, so brightly shining, a skylark soars high, and my heart is filled with sadness when I am alone with my thoughts.“
Unlike the other poems, which trace sorrow to specific events (death, heartbreak, parting), this one expresses a sadness that wells up from within, unrelated to any external occurrences.
This poem skillfully employs a sharp contrast between the bright and cheerful external world (the spring day, the skylark) and a dark internal emotion (“heartbreak”).
This contrast shows that the Man’yōshū poets had gained an introspective understanding of their own inner worlds, not just the external one.
This “loneliness without a reason” or “introspective sadness” connects to the concept of mono no aware, or “the pathos of things,” explored in later Heian literature, and is one of the origins of Japanese aesthetics.
This poem resonates with the modern feeling of loneliness, like “eating alone” or “spending Christmas alone,” because it captures a universal human emotion.
Yamanoue no Okura’s Despair and Resistance Born from Poverty
“Though I think this world is a sad and shameful place, I cannot fly away, for I am not a bird.“
This poem is the final verse of the “Poem of Dialogue on Poverty.”
It expresses the despair and resignation of being unable to escape a life of poverty, lamenting that while the world is full of sadness and shame, he cannot fly away from the suffering because he is “not a bird.”
Okura’s poem focuses not only on personal emotions but also on social hardship and the loneliness it creates.
His loneliness is rooted not just in the loss of personal relationships but in a greater sense of despair from being trapped within a social hierarchy.
The expression “for I am not a bird” reflects the reality of the time when people would resort to wandering or fleeing to escape poverty.
This poem gives voice to the profound anguish of those who were so bound to their circumstances that even such an escape was impossible.
It suggests that sorrow is not just an internal matter but is deeply connected to larger issues like social inequality and class structure.
The Man’yōshū is proof that it captured not only the subtle nuances of the human heart but also the darker side of society at the time.
Conclusion: The Timeless Echo of Man’yōshū Melancholy
The ten poems discussed in this report show the diverse ways in which the Man’yōshū poets expressed “melancholy and loneliness.”
Composed in various contexts – death, heartbreak, social hardship, and introspective solitude – each poem carries a different kind of sorrow.
Why do these poems, written over 1,300 years ago, still resonate deeply with us today?
It is because the emotions they depict are rooted in universal human psychology, transcending time and culture.
The sense of loss after losing a loved one, the impatience of unrequited love, the despair felt in an unreasonable society, and the sadness that comes without reason – these are feelings that are not foreign to us in the modern world.
The Man’yōshū is not merely a classical text but a living literary legacy that continues to speak to our hearts.
The melodies of sorrow and solitude that the Man’yōshū poets faced can serve as a guide for us as we confront our own emotions, teaching us about the depths of the human experience.
References
- Kokugakuin Unvercity: Evening song
- Digital Contents Promote: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Nara Prefectural Manyo Culture Museum: First, with all my heart
- Nara Prefecture Official Site: My First Manyoshu
