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柳緑花紅 yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai The Willow Is Green, the Flower Is Red

柳緑花紅, the willow is green, the flower is red, is credited to Su Shi and is not found in the editions of his works searched. The attribution's oldest witness found is a head-note in a Japanese phrase book of 1688. The four characters are a Song Zen answer, and by 1430 the Japanese line was sung on the Noh stage.

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Japanese Scroll of The Willow Is Green, the Flower Is Red (yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai) — Calligraphy by Eri Takase
The Willow Is Green, the Flower Is Red柳緑花紅yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai

Original art by Master Calligrapher Eri Takase

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Abstract

柳緑花紅, read in Japanese yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai, the willow is green, the flower is red, is in the デジタル大辞泉 and the 日本国語大辞典 a figure for things as they are in nature, and for the beauty of spring; both give its source as a line of Su Shi 蘇軾, 柳緑花紅真面目 [1], though not every Japanese reference book does. That line is not in Su Shi's collected poems, prose, song lyrics and notes as the standard editions print them, searched in full [2], nor, by a library's hand search and a scholar's, in Japanese books of and on his poems, a Chinese edition of his poems and the Ming collection of his Zen writings [3][4]; the oldest witness of the attribution found in the texts searched is a head-note in the Japanese Zen phrase book printed in 1688, which under the same entry names the four characters' source, a capping word in a commentary on the Diamond Sutra prefaced in 1179 [5][6][7]. The image is older still: a Tang poet's spring banquet, the flowers red and the willows green [8], then a Zen master's answer in a book given its imperial preface in 1036 [9][10]. In Japan the four characters are in the Zen records from the thirteenth century; the Japanese line was sung on the Noh stage by 1430, when Zeami's sayings teach its foot-stamps [11][12]; the plays and the commentaries read it as things just as they are and as grasses and trees showing the buddha [13][14][15].

Overview

The sense. The デジタル大辞泉 enters 柳緑花紅, ryūryoku kakō, as a cross-reference to 柳は緑花は紅 [16], and gives three senses: 自然のままであること, being as nature made it; 春の美しい景色を形容する言葉, words describing a beautiful spring scene; and ものにはそれぞれ個性が備わっていることのたとえ, a figure for each thing having its own character. The 日本国語大辞典 gives the first as 柳は緑色をなし、花は紅に咲くように、自然そのままであること。また、ものにはそれぞれの自然の理が備わっていること, as the willow is green and the flower blooms red, being just as nature is; also, each thing having its own natural principle, with the play Yamanba as its first example, and the third as things differing each in its own way, first from a puppet play of 1694 [1]. Both dictionaries give the source as Su Shi's 柳緑花紅真面目 [1], as do the 大漢和辞典 and a dictionary of Zen phrases for the tea room, by the list of a library's 2014 search [3]. Others do not: the 故事成語を知る辞典, on the same kotobank page, gives the source as the drinking monk Yuxian's song and has Su Shi probably drawing on it [1]; a phrase dictionary of 1992 gives the Diamond Sutra commentary, and another of 1992 gives no source [3]; and Misaki Gisen reports the same commentary in 小学館's 故事・俗信・ことわざ大辞典 of 1982 [4]. The Su Shi attribution is the subject of much of what follows.

The words. 柳 is the willow, 緑 green, 花 the flower, 紅 crimson or scarlet. Read as Chinese, 柳緑花紅 is four words; read as Japanese, the phrase book of 1645 already marks it 柳ハ緑リ花ハ紅イ, the willow is green, the flower is red [17], which is the Japanese line yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai. The Chinese records also write it the other way round, 花紅柳綠, the flower red, the willow green, which is the older order.

The text in English. Daisetz Suzuki gives it in 1927 as The flower is red and the willow is green [18]; Miura and Sasaki in 1965 as The willows are green, the flowers are red [19]; Shigematsu in 1981 as Willows are green; flowers, red [20]. The oldest book in a European language found to carry it, in the Internet Archive's full text and the English books read here, a German collection of Japanese proverbs of 1898, translates it Bei der Weide ist Grün, bei Blumen Roth and adds Bedeutung zweifelhaft, meaning doubtful [21].

The historical record

The Tang, a spring banquet. In the Quan Tang shi, the poet and calligrapher Xue Ji 薛稷 (died 713) [22], seeing a friend off, ends 更思明年桃李月，花紅栁綠宴浮橋, and I think further of next year, the month of peach and plum, the flowers red and the willows green, a banquet on the floating bridge [8]. The pair is a spring scene, in the order flower, willow. No Tang poem read has the order 柳綠花紅.

1036, a Zen answer. The Tiansheng guangdeng lu 天聖廣燈錄, given its imperial preface in the fourth month of 1036 [10], the year the 大辞泉 gives for Su Shi's birth [23], records the hermit of Dingshan, Weisu 惟素: 問：如何是一味法界？師云：花紅柳綠, "What is the dharma-realm of one taste?" The master said: "The flower red, the willow green" [9]. It is the oldest dated book that carries the four characters among the texts of the Chinese canon searched at CBETA. A verse of Haiyin Chaoxin 海印超信, which Misaki Gisen places in the early eleventh century and calls the first Zen use [4], survives in later Song and Yuan compilations: on the Śūraṅgama's seeing that seeing cannot reach, 見不及處，江山滿目，不覩纖毫，花紅柳綠，白雲出沒本無心, where seeing does not reach, rivers and mountains fill the eye and not a hair is seen; the flowers red, the willows green, the white clouds come and go with no mind of their own [24][25].

The Song, spring and what is before the eyes. The drinking monk Jiuxian Yuxian 酒仙遇賢, who died in 1009, sang 秋至山寒水冷。春來柳綠花紅, autumn comes, the hills cold, the water chill; spring comes, the willows green, the flowers red, in the Wudeng huiyuan 五燈會元 [26], a compilation made at the end of the Song by the reprint preface of 1364 [27]. A commentary on the Song of Enlightenment prefaced in 1146 lists 山高海濶，栢短松長，柳綠花紅 as the realm of the great bodhisattvas, hard to see, and only before the eyes [28]. And Yefu Daochuan 冶父道川, the 川老 of the Japanese, in his capping words on the Diamond Sutra, prefaced in 1179, at the passage on the sage who bore insult: 目前無法，從教柳綠華紅；耳畔無聞，一任鸎吟燕語, before the eyes there is no dharma, so let the willow be green and the flower red; at the ear there is nothing heard, so leave the orioles to sing and the swallows to chatter [6][7]. Neither this commentary nor any CBETA text read joins the phrase to Su Shi or to 真面目.

Japan's Zen records, the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Rankei Dōryū 蘭溪道隆 (1213–1278) [29], preaching at Jōrakuji while the axes of the builders sound, asks why his hearers hear and are not awakened, and goes on: 色空明暗。柳緑花紅。豈不是色。諸人見得。爲甚麼此心不明, form and emptiness, light and dark, the willow green and the flower red: is this not form? You all see it; why is this mind not clear? [30]. Nanpo Shōmyō 南浦紹明 (1235–1309) [31], at Sōfukuji in Dazaifu, which he entered in the twelfth month of 1272 by the Japanese calendar, is asked on the first day of the third month, 花紅柳綠。現成公案如何商確, flowers red, willows green: how is this kōan made manifest to be weighed?, and answers 春日遲遲春光美, the spring day is long, the spring light lovely [32]; at a New Year sermon he says 日暖風和花紅柳綠。新年佛法一切成現, the sun warm, the wind mild, the flowers red, the willows green: the buddha-dharma of the new year is all made manifest [33]. Mugaku Sogen 無學祖元 (1226–1286) [34], in verses on images of Kannon, writes 處處普門。處處圓通。驢鳴犬咬。柳綠花紅, everywhere the universal gate, everywhere perfect penetration; the donkey brays, the dog bites, the willow green, the flower red [35]. Gidō Shūshin 義堂周信 (1325–1388) [36], taking the seat at Nanzenji in 1385, says that before he mounted it the wind was high and the moon cold on the peak, and once he had, 鎖春亭畔柳緑花紅, by the pavilion that locks in spring, the willows green and the flowers red [37]. In these records the phrase is spring and the New Year, and the plain world before the eyes, seen or not seen through.

1430, the Noh stage. Zeami's sayings, written down by his second son 元能 and dated by the dictionaries to 1430 [12][38], teach the rhythm of the line, as a typeset of 1908 prints it, read at the page image: 「柳はみとり、花はくれない」のひやうし、ほんは「花は」の時、二ふむべし、「みとり」の「り」の外、一ふみくわふれば、おも白きかゝり也, for the rhythm of "the willow is green, the flower red", the basic way is two stamps at "the flower"; besides the ri of midori, add one more stamp, and the effect is delightful [11]. The sentence does not name the play; the English translation of 1984 places it in Yamanba [39]. So by 1430 the Japanese line was sung, with its foot-stamps taught. The plays carry it in three settings. In Yamanba, which the 大辞泉 says is held to be Zeami's [40], the mountain crone sings 佛あれば衆生あり。衆生あれば山姥もあり。柳は綠花は紅の色々, where there are buddhas there are beings, where there are beings there is the mountain crone; the willow green, the flower red, each its own color [41]. In Tōgan Koji, whose author the 日本国語大辞典 calls unknown [42], the lay preacher, asked what sermon there will be, answers 萬事は皆目前の境界なれば。柳は綠花は紅。あら面白の春の氣色やな, all things are the world before your eyes: the willow green, the flower red. Ah, the delight of the spring scene [43]. And in Hōkasō [44] and Bashō, the line is grasses and trees showing the buddha: かるが故に草木も發心の姿を現し、柳は綠花は紅なる、その色々を現せり, and so the grasses and trees show the form of the awakened mind, the willow green, the flower red, each showing its colors [13]; されば柳は綠。花は紅と知る事も。唯其まゝの色香の。草木も成佛の國土ぞ, and so to know the willow green and the flower red, just as they are in color and scent: this is the land where grasses and trees become buddhas [14]. Misaki reads these lines as the Tendai teaching that grasses and trees attain buddhahood, and the phrase as the Song Zen line meeting the old Japanese doctrine that the marks of the world abide [4].

The sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the line in kana and in a lecture. A kana sermon printed in movable type, which the Library dates to the Keichō and Genna years, 1596 to 1624, and the catalogue gives to Ikkyū, ends its first section with Tōgan Koji's words: うたふもまふも法のこゑ柳はみとり花はくれな井あらおもしろの春のけしきや, singing and dancing alike are the voice of the dharma; the willow green, the flower red, ah, the delight of the spring scene [45]. And the lectures on the Nihon shoki of Kiyohara no Nobukata 清原宣賢 (1475–1550), printed in movable type in the Kan'ei years, 1624 to 1644, read at the leaf: 柳ハ緑花ハ紅是カ自然ノ文字ソ是カ散シテ萬ツニナルソ元来文字ハ萬物ノ上ニ其マヽ具テ有ソ, the willow green, the flower red: this is nature's own writing; scattered, it becomes the ten thousand things; letters from the first lie on all things just as they are [46].

1645 and 1688, the phrase book and its head-note. The Zen phrase book printed in 1645 has 柳緑花紅 on the first page of its four-character phrases, marked for reading 柳ハ緑リ花ハ紅イ, between 清風明月 and 火煖水冷, with no note [17]. The annotated print of 1688, in the same place, adds two small notes under the entry, 現成公案, the kōan made manifest, and 金剛經註中十六丁着, the Diamond Sutra commentary, middle fascicle, leaf 16, a capping word, and a head-note in the upper band: 東坡ガ詩ニ柳緑花紅眞面目, in a poem of Dongpo: 柳緑花紅眞面目 [5]. The source note is right: the capping word is Daochuan's, in the middle fascicle [6]; and the kōan made manifest is the words of the monk's question to Nanpo [32]. The head-note is the oldest witness of the Su Shi attribution found in the Chinese canon at CBETA, the Library's full text and the books read here. The Meiji print of 1889 reproduces both [47].

1683, Ekū: things just as they are. The Noh commentary 法音抄 of Ekū 恵空 (1643–1691) [48], which the national catalogue dates by its colophon to 1683 and which the Library holds in a print of 1714, reads Tōgan Koji's line as Zen's teaching outside the scriptures, and then, read at the leaf: 柳ハみどり花ハくれな井とハ其まゝの体也　山姥にも此事を注す　説法明眼論にも草木成仏樹林説法の事を論ぜる所みな此義なり, the willow green and the flower red is the form of things just as they are; this is noted at Yamanba too; where the Seppō myōgen ron discusses grasses and trees becoming buddhas and the forest preaching the dharma, it is all this sense [15]. It names no Chinese source.

1741 to 1772, the head-note reaches the plays. The 謡曲拾葉抄 of Inui Teijo 犬井貞恕, prefaced in 1741 by the national catalogue and printed in 1772 [49][50], glosses Yamanba's line with 東坡詩云柳緑花紅真面目ト矣, and beside it quotes the kana sermon as Ikkyū's 水鏡 [50]. From here the Noh commentaries carry the Su Shi line: a Meiji commentary of 1891 puts it as a head-note to Hōkasō, 柳ハ緑花ハ紅○東坡の詩ニ柳緑花紅眞面目とあり [51], and the Meiji dictionaries read in the Library's snippet view repeat it, none naming which poem of Su Shi's, or which collection, carries it [52][53][54].

1797, a stone at the fork. The illustrated guide to the Ise pilgrimage printed in 1797, at its picture of Ōtsu Oiwake, the fork where the road to Uji and Fushimi leaves the road to Kyoto, notes 札場の傍に柳緑花紅の標石あり, beside the notice board there is a 柳緑花紅 marker stone, with the Japanese reading in kana beside the four characters [55]. A Shiga University library note of 1991 on the stone, recorded by the Hiroshima Prefectural Library's reference answer, says that the phrase's origin is not clearly shown [3].

Ikkyū, in the tale books. A collection of tales about Ikkyū, by a compiler the Library dates to the late Edo period, in a printing of 1889, gives him a deathbed verse, 生也死也　死也生也　柳はみどり　花はくれなひ　喝　柳不綠　花不紅　御用心〳〵, birth, death; death, birth; the willow green, the flower red. Kwatz! The willow not green, the flower not red. Take care, take care, and introduces it itself as hearsay: 又ある末期とやらんに遊しけるとて人のいへるは, another so-called deathbed verse, which people say he made [56]. The same book has the poem 見ることに皆そのまゝのすがた哉柳はみどり花はくれなゐ, all that I see is the form of things as they are: the willow green, the flower red [57]. These are the Ikkyū of the tales; nothing read shows Ikkyū wrote the line.

What is not in Su Shi. Su Shi's collected poems, prose, song lyrics and notes in nine texts of the Siku and Sibu editions, searched whole, do not have 柳綠花紅 in either order; the one 真面目 in them is 不識廬山真面目, I do not know the true face of Lu Mountain, in the poem written on the wall of Xilin Temple [2][58]. A public library in Hiroshima, asked in 2014 for the source, searched five Japanese books, three editions and selections of his poems, a study of the man and a book of his remarks on poetry, and did not find it [3]. Misaki Gisen, in a thesis of 2000, reports that he did not find it in the Japanese translation of the poems of 1928 to 1931, the fifty-fascicle Beijing edition of 1982, or the Ming 東坡禪喜集, and that no one in China explains the phrase by Su Shi [4]. Three instruments, independent of each other, find no line of Su Shi's that has the phrase. That is a statement about the editions searched, and not that he never wrote it.

The line in English

1898, Ehmann. P. Ehmann, in the fifth part of his collection of Japanese proverbs, printed in Tokyo, enters Yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai. Bei der Weide ist Grün, bei Blumen Roth (die schönste Farbe). Bedeutung zweifelhaft, meaning doubtful: a proverb, with no Chinese source and no Zen [21].

1927, Suzuki. Daisetz Suzuki, in the first series of his Essays in Zen Buddhism, quotes "The flower is red and the willow is green" and puts it in a logical formula, A is at once A and not-A [18]. It is the oldest English witness found in the English books read here and the Internet Archive's full text.

1949 and 1962, Blyth. R. H. Blyth calls it the well-known Zen aphorism that takes the universe in its suchness (Haiku, 1949) [59], and in 1962 gives, as Ikkyū's words on another occasion (the death poem he gives is a different verse), The willow is green, the flower is red. Kwatz! The willow is not green, the flower is not red, and the poem Miru goto ni mina sono mama no sugata kana [60]: the Ikkyū of the tale books.

1965, the phrase books and the proverb books. Miura and Sasaki's The Zen Koan enters it as four-character phrase no. 31, Yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai. The willows are green, the flowers are red [19]. Buchanan's Japanese Proverbs and Sayings gives Willows when green, flowers when red, i.e., beauty and truth are best seen in the state of nature [61].

1981 to 2003, Shigematsu, Rimer, Hori. Shigematsu, Willows are green; flowers, red (no. 1199) [20]; Rimer's Zeami, the willows are green, the flowers scarlet [39]; Hori's Zen Sand enters it as 4.630 and two longer phrases built on it, among them 6.266, Yanagi midori narazu hana kurenai narazu [62].

Today. The デジタル大辞泉 and the 日本国語大辞典 lead with two senses, things as nature made them and the beauty of spring, and source the line to Su Shi [1].

A reading

The line is older than the poet it is credited to, and the attribution has a date and a place: a head-note in a Japanese phrase book of 1688, written above an entry whose own source note names the right book. As I read the witnesses, the head-note joined the phrase to the one 真面目 everyone knew, Su Shi's true face of Lu Mountain; nothing read shows how, and I give that as a guess, not a finding.

What the line means has always been two things at once. In the Song books and the Japanese records it is spring, the New Year, the plain world before the eyes; and it is also the question of whether one sees through it, Rankei's you all see it; why is this mind not clear? In Japan it became a line of song, sung and danced, and the plays and Ekū's commentary read it as grasses and trees showing the buddha just as they are. A Kyoto scholar of the sixteenth century called it nature's own writing. Ehmann in 1898 thought its meaning doubtful, and Suzuki made it a paradox. I sign the dictionaries' first sense for the scroll, everything just as it is, with the Japanese sense that the seen world, as it is, is already the teaching; spring is the season the records name with it.

On the reading, I sign yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai: the marks of the 1645 phrase book, Zeami's sayings and the plays; ryūryoku kakō is the Sino-Japanese reading the 大辞泉 gives the four characters [16].

Notes

The Chinese texts write 柳綠 and 華紅 as well as 花紅: Daochuan's commentary in CBETA's text has 從教柳綠華紅 [6]. The Wenyuan ge text of the Quan Tang shi writes 栁, a variant form of 柳, in Xue Ji's line [8]. The Japanese records read write 柳緑 and 柳綠.

The 1688 source note reads 着 where the 1889 print has 著 [5][47]. Its leaf 16 is the leaf of the Japanese print the annotator used, which was not opened; the passage and the fascicle agree with CBETA's text [6].

In Nobukata's lecture the Library's text reads 其マヽ其テ有ソ; the leaf reads 具テ, are furnished [46]. The one complete manuscript of Zeami's sayings, the 堀家本, burned in 1923, by the 世界大百科; the 1908 typeset is the witness read [12][11].

Misaki's thesis is in the Library's collection for reading in Japan only; it was read here by its full-text snippets, and his findings on Su Shi and Chaoxin are given as his [4].

Japanese Scrolls by Master Calligrapher Eri Takase

Japanese Scroll of The Willow Is Green, the Flower Is Red (yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai) in a block font by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
柳緑花紅VB5JBlock
Japanese Scroll of The Willow Is Green, the Flower Is Red (yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai) in a cursive font by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
柳緑花紅VC5JCursive
Japanese Scroll of The Willow Is Green, the Flower Is Red (yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai) in Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase's own style (jiun)
柳緑花紅VD5JJiun
Japanese Scroll of The Willow Is Green, the Flower Is Red (yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai) in a semi-cursive font by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
柳緑花紅VS5JSemi-Cursive

Sources not seen

三崎義泉「柳緑花紅と中世の本覚思想」, 天台学報 28, and his thesis read whole: they would give Misaki's full argument and his witnesses for the medieval Tendai reading. Neither can be opened outside Japan.

月庵宗光's kana sermon, which the national catalogue dates to a print of 1402, with the sentence 山は是山。水は是水。柳は綠花は紅; read here only in an 1890 typeset, it may be an older witness of the Japanese line than the Noh.

The 1991 Shiga University library note on the Ōtsu stone, whose address did not resolve.

The Edo prints of the Ikkyū tale books, which would date the deathbed verse before the Meiji printings.

A reader with access to any of these is invited to write to Takase Studios at Tim@Takase.com.

References

  1. 「柳は緑花は紅」, デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 and 故事成語を知る辞典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9F%B3%E3%81%AF%E7%B7%91%E8%8A%B1%E3%81%AF%E7%B4%85-648802
  2. Kanseki Repository, the texts of 東坡全集 (KR4d0076), 東坡詩集註 (KR4d0077), 增刊校正王狀元集注分類東坡先生詩 (KR4d0078), 經進東坡文集事略 (KR4d0079), 施註蘇詩 (KR4d0080), 蘇詩補註 (KR4d0081), 東坡詞 (KR4j0005), 仇池筆記 (KR3j0093) and 東坡志林 (KR3j0094), searched whole. https://www.kanripo.org/text/KR4d0076/013
  3. Collaborative Reference Database, National Diet Library, entry 1000224745 (広島県立図書館, 2014, updated 2018), 「柳は緑 花は紅」の出典. https://crd.ndl.go.jp/reference/detail?page=ref_view&id=1000224745
  4. 三崎義泉『止観的美意識の展開 : 中世芸道と本覚思想との関連』, doctoral thesis, 大正大学, the degree 2000 (the Library's record 1999), snippet view, National Diet Library; its chapter 「柳緑花紅と中世の本覚思想」 first appeared in 天台学報 28. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/3174840
  5. 東陽英朝 集『増補首書 禪林句集』, 京師 小川多左衞門, 貞享5 (1688), the copy of 神戸大学附属図書館, the first page of 四言, canvas 13. 国書データベース. https://doi.org/10.20730/100272428
  6. 道川 頌並著語, 『金剛經註』 卷中, at the 忍辱仙人 passage: 目前無法，從教柳綠華紅, at CBETA (X24n0461, p. 550b24–c01). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X24n0461_p0550b24
  7. 『金剛經註』, 川老金剛經序, signed 淳凞己亥 (1179), at CBETA (X24n0461, p. 535c18). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X24n0461_p0535c18
  8. 『御定全唐詩』 卷九十三, 薛稷, 餞唐永昌 (the Wenyuan ge text, 8b), Kanseki Repository. https://www.kanripo.org/text/KR4h0140/093
  9. 李遵勗, 『天聖廣燈錄』 卷三十, 真州定山惟素山主, at CBETA (X78n1553, p. 571b17–b18). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X78n1553_p0571b17
  10. 『天聖廣燈錄』, the imperial preface, 時景祐三年四月日賜序 (1036), at CBETA (X78n1553, p. 426a23). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X78n1553_p0426a23
  11. 秦元能 聞書, 吉田東伍 校注『世子六十以後申楽談儀』, 東京 池田信嘉, 1908, p. 18, scan 10 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/859396/1/10
  12. 「申楽談儀」, デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 and 改訂新版 世界大百科事典 (成立 1430), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%94%B3%E6%A5%BD%E8%AB%87%E5%84%80-70071
  13. 野村八良 校訂『謡曲集』 下巻, 有朋堂, 1914, 放下僧, p. 366, scan 192 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1704255/1/192
  14. 大和田建樹『謡曲文粋』, 1899, 芭蕉, p. 452, scan 258 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/876573/1/258
  15. 恵空『法音抄』 5巻, 淺見吉兵衛, 1714 print (the 国書データベース work record gives the colophon 天和三, 1683), 東岸居士, scan 7 (page image) and scan 8, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2567653/1/7
  16. 「柳緑花紅」, デジタル大辞泉 (りゅうりょく‐かこう ⇒ 柳は緑花は紅) and 精選版 日本国語大辞典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9F%B3%E7%B7%91%E8%8A%B1%E7%B4%85-658981
  17. 『句雙紙』, 正保2 (1645), 西村又左衛門, the first page of 四言, canvas 9. 国書データベース. https://doi.org/10.20730/100103433
  18. Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, First Series, Luzac, 1927 (the shelf copy, pdf page 273).
  19. Isshū Miura and Ruth Fuller Sasaki, The Zen Koan, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965, four-character phrases, no. 31 (the shelf copy).
  20. Sōiku Shigematsu, A Zen Forest: Sayings of the Masters, Weatherhill, 1981, no. 1199 (the shelf copy).
  21. P. Ehmann, Die Sprichwörter und bildlichen Ausdrücke der japanischen Sprache, Theil V, Tokyo, 1898 (Supplement der Mittheilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens), p. 370, no. 3350 (page image). https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_jnIYAAAAYAAJ_2/page/n455
  22. 「薛稷」, ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典 (生 645 or 649, 没 713), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%96%9B%E7%A8%B7-87275
  23. 「蘇軾」, デジタル大辞泉 (1036–1101; 号 東坡居士), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%98%87%E8%BB%BE-90096
  24. 『禪宗頌古聯珠通集』 卷二, the verse of 海印信 on the 楞嚴經's 見見之時, at CBETA (C078n1720, the case p. 636c23–c24, the verse p. 637a01–a03). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/C078n1720_p0637a01
  25. 道泰, 『禪林類聚』 卷八, 海印信云, at CBETA (X67n1299, p. 47c12). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X67n1299_p0047c12
  26. 普濟, 『五燈會元』 卷八, 酒仙遇賢: the life, the songs and his death in 祥符二年 (1009), at CBETA (X80n1565, p. 183a18–b14). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X80n1565_p0183a18
  27. 『五燈會元』, 釋廷俊's preface to the reprint, signed 至正二十四年 (1364): 宋季靈隱大川禪師濟公 … 作五燈會元, at CBETA (X80n1564, p. 1c10–c12; the signature p. 2a10–a11). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X80n1564_p0001c10
  28. 彥琪, 『證道歌註』, 山高海濶，栢短松長，柳綠花紅，鶯吟鶴唳 … 祇在目前, at CBETA (X63n1241, p. 269a20–a23); preface 紹興丙寅 (1146), p. 260b02. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X63n1241_p0269a20
  29. 「蘭渓道隆」, デジタル大辞泉 (1213–1278), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%98%AD%E6%B8%93%E9%81%93%E9%9A%86-17903
  30. 『大覺禪師語錄』, a sermon at 常樂寺, at the SAT database (T80n2547, p. 47b16–c09). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2547_,80,0047
  31. 「南浦紹明」, デジタル大辞泉 (1235–1309), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%8D%97%E6%B5%A6%E7%B4%B9%E6%98%8E-108986
  32. 『圓通大應國師語錄』 卷上, 太宰府萬年崇福禪寺語錄, 三月旦上堂, at the SAT database (T80n2548, p. 102a02–a07; the entry into the temple, 文永九年臘月, p. 97c02). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2548_,80,0102
  33. 『圓通大應國師語錄』, 元正上堂, at the SAT database (T80n2548, p. 112b16–b18). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2548_,80,0112
  34. 「無学祖元」, デジタル大辞泉 (1226–1286), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%84%A1%E5%AD%A6%E7%A5%96%E5%85%83-16997
  35. 『佛光國師語錄』 卷第八, 佛祖讃, 觀音, at the SAT database (T80n2549, p. 214b04–b06 and 214c21). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2549_,80,0214
  36. 「義堂周信」, デジタル大辞泉 (1325–1388), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%BE%A9%E5%A0%82%E5%91%A8%E4%BF%A1-51171
  37. 『義堂和尚語錄』, 住瑞龍山太平興國南禪禪寺語錄, the entry of 至徳二年 (1385) and the inaugural sermon, at the SAT database (T80n2556, p. 512c20–c23 and 513b05–b11). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2556_,80,0513
  38. 「世阿弥」, デジタル大辞泉 (1363?–1443?), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B8%96%E9%98%BF%E5%BC%A5-85456
  39. J. Thomas Rimer and Yamazaki Masakazu, trans., On the Art of the Nō Drama: The Major Treatises of Zeami, Princeton University Press, 1984, Reflections on Art (the shelf copy, pdf page 245).
  40. 「山姥」, デジタル大辞泉 (世阿弥作とされる), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%B1%B1%E5%A7%A5-144009
  41. 大和田建樹『謡曲評釈』 第5輯, 博文館, 1907–1908 (the Library's date for the nine-volume set), 山姥, p. 140, scan 75 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/876568/1/75
  42. 「東岸居士」, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 (作者不詳), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9D%B1%E5%B2%B8%E5%B1%85%E5%A3%AB-2066140
  43. 大和田建樹『謡曲評釈』 第2輯, 博文館, 1907–1908 (the Library's date for the set), 東岸居士, p. 61, scan 35 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/876565/1/35
  44. 「放下僧」, デジタル大辞泉, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%94%BE%E4%B8%8B%E5%83%A7-627217
  45. 『水鏡』, 古活字版, the Library dates it 〔慶長・元和年間〕, scan 6 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2532194/1/6
  46. 〔清原宣賢 講〕『日本書紀抄』 2巻, 古活字版, the Library dates it 〔寛永年間〕, scan 5 (page image), National Diet Library; the item record gives 清原宣賢 1475–1550. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2544852/1/5
  47. 『禅林句集』, Nagoya, 1889, scan 16 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/899715/1/16
  48. 「恵空」, デジタル版 日本人名大辞典+Plus (1643–1691), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%81%B5%E7%A9%BA-14558
  49. 「謡曲拾葉抄」, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%AC%A1%E6%9B%B2%E6%8B%BE%E8%91%89%E6%8A%84-1432204
  50. 犬井貞恕『謡曲拾葉抄』, 明和9 (1772) print, the copy of 鹿児島大学 玉里文庫, 山姥, canvas 1077 (the 国書データベース work record gives 寛保元序、明和九刊). 国書データベース. https://doi.org/10.20730/100050572
  51. 増田于信『謡曲新評』 初編, 1891, 放下僧, scan 89 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/993025/1/89
  52. 池田四郎次郎 (蘆洲) 編『故事熟語辞典』, 1906, 柳綠花紅, snippet view, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/862863
  53. 簡野道明『故事成語大辞典』, 1907, 柳綠花紅, snippet view, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1087753
  54. 藤井乙男 編『諺語大辞典』, 1910, 柳は綠花は紅, snippet view, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/862766
  55. 秋里湘夕 撰, 蔀関月 編・画『伊勢參宮名所圖會』 5巻, 寛政9 (1797), 大津 追分, scan 21 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2563505/1/21
  56. 平田止水 編, 源基定 補『一休諸国物語』, 1889 printing, pp. 172–173, scan 90 (page image), National Diet Library; the Library's record dates the compiler, 平田止水, to the late Edo period (江戸時代後期). https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/879888/1/90
  57. 『一休諸国物語』, 1889 printing, p. 222, scan 115 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/879888/1/115
  58. 「真面目」, 精選版 日本国語大辞典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%9C%9F%E9%9D%A2%E7%9B%AE-539116
  59. R. H. Blyth, Haiku, vol. 1, Eastern Culture, Hokuseido, 1949, pp. 8 and 357 (the shelf copy).
  60. R. H. Blyth, Zen and Zen Classics, vol. 5, Hokuseido, 1962, pp. 158 and 174 (the shelf copy).
  61. Daniel Crump Buchanan, Japanese Proverbs and Sayings, University of Oklahoma Press, 1965, p. 6 (the shelf copy).
  62. Victor Sogen Hori, Zen Sand: The Book of Capping Phrases for Koan Practice, University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003, 4.630, with 6.265 and 6.266 (the shelf copy).

Authors

Tim Jackowski (Systems Architect, Takase Studios, LLC) · 典 Ten (Anthropic Claude Opus 5.5, Takase Studios, LLC)

AI written · Ten wrote the history. Tim Jackowski commissioned it and answers for it.

Not yet reviewed.

Cite as: Tim Jackowski and Ten, "Philology of 柳緑花紅 (yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai)," Takase Studios, 2026, https://takase.com/library/philology/yanagi-wa-midori-hana-wa-kurenai.