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larryhammerUta Koi episode 5 was another double-barreled one -- the poem Kisen recited also being from Hyakunin Isshu, #8. Though of course the bulk (call it 5 part a) was Komachi's story.
Which takes place in the early spring of 860, in the aftermath of episode 1a -- over a decade after episode 4, with Narihira going on 35. That Narihira traveled to Mikawa Province (modern Aichi Prefecture) is attested in attested in KKS #411-412 -- the irises were a visual reference to that first poem. The date of Yasuhide's appointment as secretary of Mikawa, attested from Komachi's response is to his invitation in KKS #938 (the one he rightly had so much trouble interpreting), is unknown but 860 is consistent with his known career. Combining the two trips is good plotting. Taking along Komachi, of all people, is just whack. I love talespinning like that.
Other references: The Fuji poem Komachi goes "otaku" over is another HI poem, #4. Narihira's moon-viewing comments plays off another famous KKS poem of his. I didn't catch the poem Komachi recites at the start, and haven't rewatched yet.
Confession time: I guessed wrong about Komachi's poem -- I didn't count on the adaptors' vigorous tendency to ignore all linguistic double-meanings in favor of personal ones, so the lovelorn possibilities were flattened out into a general statement about life's regrets. Which is not specifically wrong, and is even a traditional interpretation, but it's not the way *I* think of that particular poem. What I was expecting was that, after the 850 death of the emperor that historically Munesada served and in-story Komachi was a concubine for, the former would (as he did historically) take orders and become Henjô -- in response to which she would write about him as a lost love. (This would have especially worked as it would have cast a supposed poem exchange between them in an whole 'nother light.) Ah, well.
Historical nitpick: neither the third-ranking official of a province nor a well-born woman would have walked across Japan. They would have ridden as part of a entourage -- a large and admittedly expensive to animate one. Historical accuracy: Kisen's comments about the fashions of poetry between the mid-9th century and Tsurayuki's time is spot on. Artistic oddity: Kisen is the first poet to be depicted as aging.
So -- cumulative series timeline through episode 5:
Next episode: Grand Prix racing in the Heian capital with non-stop action, according to the summary. Okay then.
---L.
Which takes place in the early spring of 860, in the aftermath of episode 1a -- over a decade after episode 4, with Narihira going on 35. That Narihira traveled to Mikawa Province (modern Aichi Prefecture) is attested in attested in KKS #411-412 -- the irises were a visual reference to that first poem. The date of Yasuhide's appointment as secretary of Mikawa, attested from Komachi's response is to his invitation in KKS #938 (the one he rightly had so much trouble interpreting), is unknown but 860 is consistent with his known career. Combining the two trips is good plotting. Taking along Komachi, of all people, is just whack. I love talespinning like that.
Other references: The Fuji poem Komachi goes "otaku" over is another HI poem, #4. Narihira's moon-viewing comments plays off another famous KKS poem of his. I didn't catch the poem Komachi recites at the start, and haven't rewatched yet.
Confession time: I guessed wrong about Komachi's poem -- I didn't count on the adaptors' vigorous tendency to ignore all linguistic double-meanings in favor of personal ones, so the lovelorn possibilities were flattened out into a general statement about life's regrets. Which is not specifically wrong, and is even a traditional interpretation, but it's not the way *I* think of that particular poem. What I was expecting was that, after the 850 death of the emperor that historically Munesada served and in-story Komachi was a concubine for, the former would (as he did historically) take orders and become Henjô -- in response to which she would write about him as a lost love. (This would have especially worked as it would have cast a supposed poem exchange between them in an whole 'nother light.) Ah, well.
Historical nitpick: neither the third-ranking official of a province nor a well-born woman would have walked across Japan. They would have ridden as part of a entourage -- a large and admittedly expensive to animate one. Historical accuracy: Kisen's comments about the fashions of poetry between the mid-9th century and Tsurayuki's time is spot on. Artistic oddity: Kisen is the first poet to be depicted as aging.
So -- cumulative series timeline through episode 5:
- Munesada's and Yasuhide's stories [ep.3 & 4] - late 840s, a year or two apart
- Munesada takes orders and becomes Henjô [not shown] - 850
- Yukihira's story [ep.1 part b] - 855
- Narihira and Takaiko's affair [ep.1 part a] - 859 (the year she was a Gosechi dancer, at age 17)
- Narihira, Yasuhide, and Komachi travel east [ep.5 part a] - 860
- Sadaakira aka Yôzei born [not shown] - 868
- Yôzei enthroned/Narihira's poem [ep.1 part a] - 877
- Yôzei tutored by Narihira [ep.2] - 877-880 (not recorded)
- Narihira dies [ep.2] - 880
- Yôzei deposed and married to Yasuko [ep.2] - 884
- Yasuhide visits Kisen on Uji [ep.5 part b] - uncertain, probably 860s or 870s
- Tsurayuki visits Kisen [ep.3 & 5 frame] - c.905 (not recorded, unlikely to have happened)
Next episode: Grand Prix racing in the Heian capital with non-stop action, according to the summary. Okay then.
---L.