Yamanoue no Okura
Yamanoue no Okura was a man of quite character for his concerns expressed in his poetry are usually one's that not all would care to convey during his era. He was originally from Korea yet fled for Japan at a young age. Later in his years he became a General of a province in Japan. He was therefore not in a bad economic state, easily able to survive and provide for his family. Despite that he is often seen addressing social concerns in his poetry, especially poverty. His poems are characterized by a Confucian-inspired moral emphasis, unique in Japanese poetry. Confucius being the founder of Confucian was deeply concerned about human flourishing and living a good or virtuous life, he urged the necessity of humanity to cultivate the self so that as a result society could flourish. Although this Confucius philosophy was originally from China, other parts of Asia we
The idea of living an ethical and decent life, in order to escape the cycle of reincarnation and instead enter nirvana, in which one dissolves into nothingness, was the belief of Buddhism. re influenced by it as well, including some of Japan. Yamanoue's poetry is compiled in the Manyoshu the oldest Japanese collection of poems. Yamanoue seems to struggle to speak for his people, quite often in his poetry. One of his popular poems: Song of Poverty quite clearly describes the state of an unfortunate who survives on a lump of salt wile having his parents, wife and children all huddled around him in grief and tears, in the poem he beautifully says: Wide as they call the heaven and earth, For me they have shrunk quite small; Bright though they call the sun and moon, they never shine for me. As a general Yamanoue no Okura definitely admitted to the morals and words of Confucius, yet the disagreement was around the aspect of the afterlife, since Confucius did not reflect on a divine spirit or the notion of an afterlife, Yamanoue no Okura was thus left to turn to something else as part of his belief, that being Buddhism. It was this religion and concept of afterlife that Yamanoue no Okura had faith in. It was completed in 770 AD and it is the collection of 4500 poems from about 630-760 AD, Yamanoe is one of the leading contributors to this book, who collected the poems still remains a mystery. All in all Yamanoue no Okura is considered a great poet of his language and time, that is why he was chosen as one of our key poets. This religion was quite popular in China and parts of Asia. Yet why did he care to write about such matters? It is through his poetry that one can draw a strong conclusion about his character, that he was quite a compassionate and concerned man, who understood the sufferings of the poor. Although his poetry can be depressing, however it reminds not just the reader but also the poet himself of his responsibilities to his people. Was Yamanoue no Okura describing his own state? As a general his financial state would not have been so low as to end up eating only salt, so most definitely he was not describing his condition. Some other of his poetries are about complaining of the old age, love and worry for the sons, hope of a better life in a Buddhist afterlife and more.
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