Jakdan’s Take on Plum Blossoms

Pages from a manual of plum blossom painting, from Wikimedia.

In this poem, it seems that Jakdan is trying to encourage a dispirited friend. The subject is simultaneously a plum tree and a person, with an inner strength that defies the hardship of winter and emerges before Spring with the first fragrant flowers in the desolate landscape.

	nenden ilha be irgebuhe ucun		A Song on Plum Blossoms
	Jakdan 8.16
	nenden ilha ai colo,		What shall we call the plum blossom?
	lo fuo endurin gege,		The fairy lady of Luofu.
	tuweri forgon-i tuwabun,		In a winter scene,
	tumen ilha-i bonggo,		it is the first of the myriad flowers.
5	abai silenggi aga,		Where is the dew and the rain?
	niša nimanggi juhe,		Heavy are the snow and the ice.
	tuwaci hūwantahūn hada,		When I look, barren are the crags,
	šaci olhoho holo,		when I gaze, dry are the valleys.
	yaya ilha layapi,		Every flower has withered,
10	eiten orho soroko,		and all the grass has yellowed,
	geren bujan niohušun,		the forests are naked,
	erei teile injehe,		but this alone is smiling.
	butui fangšaha wangga,		A dark, smoky fragrance,
	tumin šahūri boco,		a deep, frigid color,
15	gecehengge ten beikuwen,		what has frozen is so cold,
	ilakangge jing hojo,		what has bloomed is suddenly lovely,
	selei cikten sargiyakan,		the iron tree trunks are sparse,
	šušu dasiha niokso,		with a purple covering of lichen.
	simacuka udu da,		Though solitary its origin,
20	dulembuhe aniya fe,		it has passed through ancient years.
	gengge gangga simeli,		Wandering alone, spartan,
	hūwanta alin-i hošo,		at the edges of the empty mountains,
	gaksi manggai bulehen,		with only a crane for companion,
	emgi yaka cecike,		and no other bird.
25	buru bara biyai elden,		Hazy is the light of the moon,
	bolgo micihiyan muke,		clean is the shallow water,
	yadan nimalan hailan,		exhausted are the mulberry and elm,
	niyere toro foyoro,		weak are the peach and plum.
	ilan šahūrun gucu,		Three cold friends,
30	jakdan mailasun cuse,		the pine, cypress and bamboo,
	nimanggi-i sasari,		together with the snow,
	niyengniyeri be meljere,		will strive towards Spring.
	terei da banin kulu,		Its fundamental nature is strong,
	teni emhun enteke,		that is why it is solitary like this.
35	ioi ling antu halukan,		The south slope of Yuling is warm,
	tuttu nenden fushuhe,		so the plum blossoms have burst open,
	yuwan lu jidun soningga,		The north slope of Yuanlu is interesting,
	gu šan alin gebungge,		Gūshān [孤山] is renowned,
	ho hiowen dergi asari,		The eastern tower of Hexuan,
40	inu gebu tucike,		has also become famous.
	lu k'ai mukei jugūn ci,		From the road of the Lukai water,
	benjihengge hon yobo,		what was brought is quite amusing.
	bayan wesihun hafan,		An official of honor and wealth,
	tuwaki seci ai šolo,		wants to see it but has no free time.
45	giru gulu de fulu,		In form it is full of innocence,
	yangse saikan ci moco,		unskilled at looks and beauty,
	banjitai uttu hican,		so frugal by nature,
	ainahai tuttu oilo,		but not so on the outside.
	jalan an-i asari,		The tower of the Order of the World,
50	saha niyalma geli we,		who still knows of it?
	aika niyengniyeri erin,		If everyone is groaning
	niyalma tome eyoyo,		for Springtime,
	hūwaliyambure šasigan,		it is fair to set for them
	terei tebuhe tondo,		a harmonizing stew.
55	kuri kari hacingga,		Dappled and spotted,
	yaka šahūrun bongko,		with whatever cold buds,
	manggai erere aga,		and the earnestly hoped-for rain,
	geli gelere bono,		and also the feared hail,
	edun fulgiyeme jaka,		as the wind blows it,
60	teci biretei mokto,		but when it settles, everything is bare.
	yasa tuwahai wajiha,		I have seen it with my own eyes,
	emu tolgin kumungge,		a dream that is lively.
	tuttu wesihun saisa,		Thus, honored gentleman
	nenden ilha nioroko,		the plum blossoms have appeared.
65	geren wangga gurun de,		In all the countries of fragrance,
	erei teile encungge,		this alone is different.
	uthai yadahūn saisa,		Just so the poor gentleman,
	jalan akdun-i gese,		with the strength of the world,
	taifin erin somitai,		hiding away in times of peace,
70	mohon fonde serehe,		has appeared in the season of depletion.
	banjinjiha baitangga,		A useful one who has come to be born,
	tucikede oyonggo,		his coming forth is important.
	enduri-i fun beye,		Just like a god,
	damu yoo cy-i omo,		only to Yaochi lake,
75	wasibume ebufi,		he was sent down, he descended,
	jalan tuwakū ojoro,		and takes on a worldly aspect.
	ede ucun arafi,		For him I have made a song,
	akūmbume henduhe,		and completely recited it.
	erin tuwabun serenggeo,		Do we speak of seasons and scenes?
80	šumin mujilen noho,		It conceals a deeper thought.
	erei adali oci,		If this is similar to it,
	yabun hamimbi dere.		I think I have done well enough.

Translation Notes

tumin šahūri boco. I cannot find šahūri in my dictionaries, but I think it must be connected with šahūrun, “cold.”

šušu dasiha niokso. For niokso Norman has a form of algae found on the surface of water, but given the context I think this must refer to lichen on the bark of trees or something similar.

gu šan alin. This seems to be a reference to Gūshān [孤山], where the poet Lín Bū [林逋] was buried. Lín Bū was famously said to have taken “the plum tree as his wife and the crane as his son” [以梅为妻，以鹤为子].

A Poem on White Plum Blossoms, possibly by Mucihiyan?

In Manchu, the plum blossom is called nenden ilha, “first flower,” apparently because it blooms before other flowers. Like the earlier Flowers to the tune of the Black-Naped Oriole, this poem associates the flower with a spirit from White Jade Terrace (瑤台).

The imagery of the poem is wonderful, but also interesting are the concluding lines:

agu sinde ai fulu / cingkai minde ala se / mucihiyan-i šasigan / hūwaliyambure!
“Brother, what have you to add? By all means, tell me. Harmonize with this tripod of stew.”

The word for “tripod” here is mucihiyan, which is also the name of Mucihiyan Ioi Fan, a collaborator of Jakdan who translated at least three essays on Chinese poetry into Manchu (see here, here and here). It seems like we could understand these last lines to be Mucihiyan inviting his reader to respond to his poem, which he refers to humorously as a “stew.”. [Edit: see the later post on harmonious stew, which shows that references to tripods and harmonious stew are ancient allusions to the prunes that are the fruit of this tree. It is still possible that this poem is by Mucihiyan, but the case is not so clear.]

In the Staatsbibliothek manuscript this poem is not written in Mucihiyan’s distinctive hand, so if he was the original author then the SB text is a copy made by someone else.

	šanyan nenden ilha be irgebuhengge		A Poem on White Plum Blossoms
	Staatsbibliothek 14.15 (View Online)
	tuweri beikuwen edede,		Brrrr...the winter cold
	moo anan-i gecehe,		has frosted tree after tree,
	juhe nimanggi canggi [extra tooth],		nothing but ice and snow
	edun gecen kejine,		and wind and frost for a long time.
5	damu yoo tai [瑤台] endurin,		But the fairy of White Jade Terrace,
	utulihekūi gese,		as though unaware of it,
	gengge gangga durungga,		takes form, wandering alone,
	nitan hican murungge,		takes shape, spartan and frugal,
	hojo saikan banin wen,		beautiful and lovely in appearance,
10	sele gu-i duha do,		with iron and jade internal organs.
	gecuhun-i ucaran,		The frost is met with
	halukan-i mejige,		tidings of warmth.
	šahūrun-i hesebun,		The fate of the cold,
	niyengniyeri-i šošonggo,		is to conclude with Spring.
15	hūwanta kenggehun alin,		In the bare and empty mountains,
	genggiyen micihiyan muke,		the bright shallow water,
	ilha umai ai akū,		not a flower at all
	emhun ilaka teile,		but one alone has bloomed.
	bolokon-i wa wangga,		A clean fragrant scent,
20	jenduken-i wen wengge,		a secret refined influence,
	buya bongko fulhuren,		tiny sprouting buds
	amba hafun todolo,		an omen of great passage.
	bocoi falan ya nenden,		In the realm of color, what is first?
	wanggai gurun-i bonggo,		In the country of fragrance it is chief.
25	lo foo [羅浮] tolgin-i saisa,		The gentleman of the dream of Luófú,
	biya-i fejile gege,		a lady beneath the moon,
	beye giru buruhun,		dim of body and form,
	juru akū ten hojo,		peerless in its high beauty.
	agu sinde ai fulu,		Brother, what have you to add?
30	cingkai minde ala se,		By all means tell me.
	mucihiyan-i šasigan,		With this tripod of stew
	hūwaliyambure.		harmonize!

Translation Notes

šošonggo. This word normally means “having a chignon” or “shaped like a chignon,” but in this case I think it must be connected with the word šošombi, “to compile; to summarize,” and I think the meaning is that the cold is destined to come to an end with Spring.

Praying Mantis

This is the fourth in the series of poems on lowly creatures set to the Double Tune Celebrating the Sacred Dynasty. Like Dragonfly, this one seems to show a kind of admiration for the subject at the beginning, but true to the form it ends with disparaging lines.

	heliyen [螳螂]		Praying Mantis
	Staatsbibliothek 11.40 (View Online)
	bi tuwaci,		To me, it looks
	baturu kiyangkiyan,		heroic and intrepid.
	tede sejen muheren,		It has a cart and wheels,
	minde suhe arhacan,		I have an axe and halberd,
5	geli ai yadan.		still, it is not dismayed.
	bai gūni,		Just think!
	ergen hairakan,		Its strength is pitiable,
	fahūn mekele amba,		its courage irrationally great,
	beye umesi uyan,		its body very thin,
10	banin oilohon.		its appearance ridiculous.

Dragonfly, to the Double Tune Celebrating the Sacred Dynasty

The dragonfly is called a “needle thief” in Manchu. (In 2008 I heard this name still being used by Sibe people in Cabcal). It is a lowly creature, but unlike Frogs and Autumn Cicada, the poet is sympathetic to this beautiful little insect, and saves the apparently mandatory disparaging last lines for children who play with dragonflies while they are mating.

	ulme hūlhatu [蜻蜓]		Dragonfly
	Staatsbibliothek 11.39 (View Online)
	gebu ai,		What is its name?
	ulme hūlhatu,		Needle thief.
	niowanggiyan yasa beiduri,		Eyes of green sapphire,
	šanyan ashan bolosu,		wings of white glass,
5	banjitai encu.		unusual by nature.
	deyeci,		When flying,
	daruhai emu,		often, if the single ones
	holbon juru latuci,		hook up in mating pairs
	buya jusei efiku,		they become the playthings of little brats.
10	koro suisiru.		May sorrow and misery befall them!

Translation Notes

buya juse. I chose the translation “little brats” because of the negative connotation implied by the word buya.

Jakdan’s Song on Lotus Flowers

Jakdan engaged in clever wordplay, both in his translations and in his own poetry. I doubt I will ever have the subtlety or refinement to see all of his clever plays, but sometimes I catch one.

The lotus flower is called šu ilha in Manchu, and Jakdan opens his song by asking why this is. He follows by saying that the flower is dignified in its color and elegant in its appearance, alluding to the meaning of the word šu as “culture” or “refinement.”

Interestingly, like the two flower poems from SB 11, Jakdan makes a reference to the “yang spirit” (fayangga) of the flower.

	šu ilha be irgebuhe ucun		A Song on Lotus Flowers
	Jakdan 8.17
	ilhai gebu šu sembi,		The flower is named “Lotus,”
	ere yala ai turgun,		and indeed, why is this?
	ambalinggū boco fiyan,		Dignified is its bright color,
	fujurungga banin wen,		elegant its appearance.
5	emte darhūwa emteli,		Each stalk is solitary,
	yaka faju ya siren,		with neither fork nor tendril.
	cikten emhun ilingga,		The stem stands alone,
	geli yaka nikebun,		and without a support.
	niohokon-i saracan,		A green parasol,
10	abdaha-i muheliyen,		is the roundness of the leaf.
	fulgiyakan-i fiyentehe,		The pink petals,
	jaksan icehe tumin,		deeply stained with the color of dawn clouds.
	nantuhūn ci banjifi,		It grows from the filth,
	aide heni nantuhūn,		but where has it the least bit of filth?
15	usihin de šekehei,		It’s submerged in wetness,
	aide heni usihin,		but where is it the least bit of wet?
	boihon muke fosofi,		Though sprinkled with earth and water,
	aide heni icebun,		where is it contaminated at all?
	šun-i fiyakiyan fiyakiyahai,		Though exposed to the burning sun,
20	aide heni lalahūn,		where is it the least bit wilted?
	mukei siden de bifi,		Being in the midst of the water,
	abai buraki hukun,		where is its dust and soil?
	colo ambasa saisa,		Its nickname, to wise gentlemen,
	muke biya-i guwan ši yen,		is Guanyin of the Water and Moon.
25	ere ilhai fayangga,		The spirit of this flower
	yoo cy omoi endurin,		is the fairy of Yaochi lake.
	fusai amaga beye,		The incarnation of a bodhisattva,
	iceburakū banin,		its uncontaminated body.
	boihon sahaliyan seme,		Though the soil is black,
30	banjiha de hon šeyen,		what grows from it is so white,
	lifagan ci faššahai,		bestirring itself from the mud,
	watai baibuha hūsun,		with a fierce strength.
	colgoropi ja waka,		Imposing, not ordinary,
	ten gosihon mujilen,		an exalted and compassionate heart.
35	saisai mujingga gese,		Strong-willed like a hero,
	šadacuka suilacun,		tiring are its labors.
	yanggar sere mudan ai,		What is that resounding tune?
	ilha gurure ucun,		A flower-gathering song.
	saikan gege kejine,		Many pretty ladies,
40	sasa nioboro efin,		together in deep green play,
	hojo gilha inenggi,		on a beautiful clear day,
	yala kumunggai tenggin,		truly a sea of melody.
	geren fucihi teku,		Seating for a crowd of Buddhas,
	suman dolo getuken,		is discernible in the mist,
45	goro tuwaci oihori,		splendid when seen from afar,
	hanci šari felehun,		shining and brash up close.
	jortai wangga benjihei,		The wind plays around,
	yobo arara edun,		pretending to carry its fragrance.
	šu ilha be jonoci,		If one reflects upon the lotus blossom,
50	wajin akū-i sain,		it is infinitely good.
	taka joringga gaifi,		This creation in the Manchu language
	manjurara banjibun,		takes it as the theme of the moment,
	emu tookabure ton,		a diverting enumeration
	irgebuhe muwa gisun,		of crude words of verse.
55	gisun cinggiya bicibe		Though the words are superficial,
	gūnin mujakū šumin,		the idea is extremely deep.
	agu cincilame tuwa,		Brother, scrutinize
	erei baktaka jorin.		the meaning this contains.

Translation Notes

yaka faju ya siren. This is structured like a rhetorical question, “Which fork? What tendril?” But as we can see in the second line of Jakdan’s translation of the Ever-Turning Horse Lantern, this type of rhetorical question can be used to simply convey that something is not, e.g. “there is neither fork nor tendril.”

gosihon mujilen. For gosihon Norman has “bitter; miserable,” and the Qianlong dictionary says that it refers to extremely pitiful grieving and weeping. Norman often commented on the semantic connection between this word and gosin, “pity; mercy; love,” and indeed we see gosingga with the meaning of compassionate, so I think it is not completely untenable to translate this as “compassionate heart.” The Qianlong dictionary also says gosihon can refer literally to a bitter flavor, in which case I wonder if this could also refer to the bitter germ of the lotus seed.

Three poems to The One Part Tune

There are three poems in SB 11 set to a tune called The One Part Tune (一半兒調). These short poems describe their subject and conclude with a line summarizing its attractive qualities as made of “one part this and one part that.”

	[春] tuwabun		Spring Scene
	Staatsbibliothek 11.69 (View Online)
	niyengniyeri fiyan hojo ya,		The colors of spring are pretty, oh,
	tuwabun sabugan ba ba,		everywhere the scenes and the sights,
	cecikei wei ilhai wa,		the calls of birds and the scent of flowers.
	amtangga,		What is appealing:
5	dulin donji dulin tuwa.		It’s one part “listen” and one part “look”!

	toro ilha [桃花]		Peach Blossoms
	Staatsbibliothek 11.70 (View Online)
	toro ilha hon fiyangga,		Peach blossoms, so colorful,
	saikan gege-i cira,		the face of a beautiful lady,
	fiyan fiyen hojo de wangga,		a perfume on the beauty of rouge.
	soningga,		The novelty is:
5	dulin boco dulin wa.		It’s one part color, one part fragrance!

	gefehe [蝴蝶]		Butterfly
	Staatsbibliothek 11.71 (View Online)
	urhu haihū gefehe,		Staggering butterfly,
	goiman dedenggi yangse,		charming, frivolous form,
	ilha baime šodoro,		galloping off after flowers.
	hon yobo,		What is so amusing:
5	dulin gakda dulin juwe.		It’s one part single, one part double.

Translation Notes:

cecikei wei. I infer the meaning of “calls” for wei based on the last line of the poem, but I don’t find this term in my dictionaries.

fiyan fiyen. This pair also came up in Flowers. The word fiyan means “color” and fiyen means “powder.” Together I think these must refer to makeup or rouge.

dulin gakda dulin juwe. I suppose this means that the butterfly is, in one sense a single creature, but with its two broad wings also a double creature.

Autumn Cicada, another grumpy poem

This poem is the second in the series of poems about lowly life forms, set to the tune Double Tune Celebrating the Sacred Dynasty, which included the Frogs of the last post.

Interestingly, the line jooci jooki bai suggests that the poem is directed at the cicadas, rather than being a complaint to a sympathetic listener. Verbiest explains the -ki suffix as follows (translation by Pentti, 1977): “When we are speaking to our equals or superiors, however, we have to add the suffix -ki to the second person imperative in order to express and invitation and not a command.”

	bingsiku [秋涼兒]		Autumn Cicada
	Staatsbibliothek 11.38 (View Online)
	eimede,		Repugnant!
	jamarangge ai,		What is this commotion?
	arkan teni nakafi,		You barely stop and then,
	baji geli hūlahai,		soon you are calling again.
5	jaci muritai.		How stubborn!
	eyoyo,		Ugh.
	jooci jooki bai,		If you’re going to stop, then please just stop!
	erin hahi dulekei,		As the hours rushed by,
	geli ainu bošohoi,		why did you drive them on?
10	dembei yangšan kai.		You’re so exceedingly noisy!

Translation Notes:

eyoyo. I could not find this one in dictionaries, but from context I think it is most likely onomatopoeia for a groaning noise.