Chapter Tracciare il senso di una vita. Wabinureba e Hisakata no nei codici della raccolta poetica di Komachi (Komachishū)

Abstract

The way in which Ono no Komachi’s personal collection (Komachishū) loosely shapes her “life” is believed to have been influenced not only by stories and legends that were orally transmitted soon after her death, but also by the image of flowering and decline depicted in her most celebrated poem, Hana no iro wa. Through an analysis of the textual lines of the collection, this paper aims to shed light on the significance of another renowned poem by Komachi, Wabinureba. This poem is pivotal in establishing one of the central themes of the Komachishū - Komachi’s later life of misery (ukimi) - and serves as inspiration for the chōka that narrates Komachi’s sad and uncertain existence following the loss of her partner. By examining the chōka, this contribution further argues that, as it was included in a previous 45-poem variant text of the Komachishū, it could have served as a potential framework for portraying Komachi's life as depicted in the expanded popular text (the 116-poem rufubon) of the collection.