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Saigyō
was a famous Japanese poet of the late Heian and early Kamakura period. Biography Born in Kyoto to a noble family, he lived during the traumatic transition of power between the old court nobles and the new samurai warriors. After the start of the age of Mappō, Buddhism was considered to be in decline and no longer as effective a means of salvation. These cultural shifts during his lifetime led to a sense of melancholy in his poetry. As a youth, he worked as a guard to retired Emperor Toba, but in 1140 at age 22, for reasons now unknown, he quit worldly life to become a monk, taking the religious name . He later took the pen name , meaning “Western Journey”, a reference to Amida Buddha and the Western paradise. He lived alone for long periods in his life in Saga, Mt. Koya, Mt. Yoshino, Ise, and many other places, but he is more known for the many long, poetic journeys he took to Northern Honshū that would later inspire Bashō in his '' Narrow Road to the Interior''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sankashū
''Sankashū'' (山家集, , “Collection of a Mountain Home”) is a collection of poems by Saigyō, most probably made by the poet himself, and issued c.1180. Dating Because the collection contains no poems from the last decade of Saigyō's life, 1180-90, he is thought to have closed it c.1180, and circulated it thereafter. Divisions The collection contains 1552 poems, and falls into three parts. The first (1-572) is divided into four sections containing poems of the four seasons; the second (573-1041) into two sections - Love and Miscellaneous; and the third (1042-1152) again into two sections - Miscellaneous Songs and One Hundred Songs. Quality Where much court poetry of the time was convoluted, the ''Sankashū'' is known for its directness of utterance. His early translator, Hei-Hachuro Honda, valorised Saigyō's poems of solitude over those that were involved in more communal activities. Later critics, however, have paid more attention to how his poetry was rooted both i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oku No Hosomichi
''Oku no Hosomichi'' (, originally ), translated as ''The Narrow Road to the Deep North'' and ''The Narrow Road to the Interior'', is a major work of ''haibun'' by the Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, considered one of the major texts of Japanese literature of the Edo period. The first edition was published posthumously in 1702. The text is written in the form of a prose and verse travel diary and was penned as Bashō made an epic and dangerous journey on foot through the Edo Japan of the late 17th century. While the poetic work became seminal of its own account, the poet's travels in the text have since inspired many people to follow in his footsteps and trace his journey for themselves. In one of its most memorable passages, Bashō suggests that "every day is a journey, and the journey itself home". The text was also influenced by the works of Du Fu, who was highly revered by Bashō. Of ''Oku no Hosomichi'', Kenji Miyazawa once suggested, "It was as if the very soul of Japan h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyakunin Isshu
is a classical Japanese anthology of one hundred Japanese ''waka'' by one hundred poets. ''Hyakunin isshu'' can be translated to "one hundred people, one poem ach; it can also refer to the card game of ''uta-garuta'', which uses a deck composed of cards based on the ''Hyakunin Isshu''. The most famous and standard version was compiled by Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241) while he lived in the Ogura district of Kyoto. It is therefore also known as . Compilation One of Teika's diaries, the ''Meigetsuki'' (明月記), says that his son Tameie asked him to arrange one hundred poems for Tameie's father-in-law, Utsunomiya Yoritsuna, who was furnishing a residence near Mount Ogura; hence the full name of ''Ogura Hyakunin Isshu''. In order to decorate screens of the residence, Fujiwara no Teika produced the calligraphy poem sheets. Hishikawa Moronobu (1618–1694) provided woodblock portraits for each of the poets included in the anthology. Katsukawa Shunshō (1726–1793) designed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shin Kokin Wakashū
The , also known in abbreviated form as the or even conversationally as the Shin Kokin, is the eighth imperial anthology of waka poetry compiled by the Japanese court, beginning with the ''Kokin Wakashū'' circa 905 and ending with the ''Shinshokukokin Wakashū'' circa 1439. The name can be literally translated as "New Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems" and bears an intentional resemblance to that of the first anthology. Together with the ''Man'yōshū'' and the '' Kokinshū'', the ''Shin Kokinshū'' is widely considered to be one of the three most influential poetic anthologies in Japanese literary history. It was commissioned in 1201 by the retired emperor Go-Toba (r. 1183–1198), who established a new Bureau of Poetry at his Nijō palace with eleven Fellows,Brower 8 headed by Fujiwara no Yoshitsune, for the purpose of conducting poetry contests and compiling the anthology. Despite its emphasis on contemporary poets, the ''Shin Kokinshū'' covered a broader range of poetic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoshino, Nara
is a town located in Yoshino District, Nara Prefecture, Japan. As of September 1, 2007, the town had an estimated population of 6,337 and a density of . The total area was . Geography The town of Yoshino is located in the northern portion of Yoshino District. Most of the area is mountainous, but the section along the Yoshino River is somewhat flatter and contains most of the town's roads, train tracks and houses. * Mountains: Yoshino Mountain * Rivers: Yoshino River * Lakes: Lake Tsuburo The most well-known area within the town is Yoshino Mountain, famous for its many thousands of sakura trees; much poetry has been written on the subject by several famous authors, including Chiyo and Uejima Onitsura. These flowering cherry trees were planted in four groves at different altitudes, in part so that the trees would be visible coming into bloom at different times in the spring. An account of Yoshino written in about 1714 explained that, on their climb to the top, travelers would be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waka (poetry)
is a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature. Although ''waka'' in modern Japanese is written as , in the past it was also written as (see Wa, an old name for Japan), and a variant name is . Etymology The word ''waka'' has two different but related meanings: the original meaning was "poetry in Japanese" and encompassed several genres such as ''chōka'' and ''sedōka'' (discussed below); the later, more common definition refers to poetry in a 5-7-5-7-7 metre. Up to and during the compilation of the ''Man'yōshū'' in the eighth century, the word ''waka'' was a general term for poetry composed in Japanese, and included several genres such as , , and . However, by the time of the '' Kokinshūs compilation at the beginning of the tenth century, all of these forms except for the ''tanka'' and ''chōka'' had effectively gone extinct, and ''chōka'' had significantly diminished in prominence. As a result, the word ''waka'' became effectively synonymous with ''tanka'', and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heian Period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. It is a period in Japanese history when the Chinese influences were in decline and the national culture matured. The Heian period is also considered the peak of the Japanese imperial court and noted for its art, especially poetry and literature. Two types of Japanese script emerged, including katakana, a phonetic script which was abbreviated into hiragana, a cursive alphabet with a unique writing method distinctive to Japan. This gave rise to Japan's famous vernacular literature, with many of its texts written by court women who were not as educated in Chinese compared to their male counterparts. Although the Imperial House of Japan had power on the surface, the real power was in the hands of the Fujiwara clan, a powerful aristocratic f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Poetry
Japanese poetry is poetry typical of Japan, or written, spoken, or chanted in the Japanese language, which includes Old Japanese, Early Middle Japanese, Late Middle Japanese, and Modern Japanese, as well as poetry in Japan which was written in the Chinese language or '' ryūka'' from the Okinawa Islands: it is possible to make a more accurate distinction between Japanese poetry written in Japan or by Japanese people in other languages versus that written in the Japanese language by speaking of Japanese-language poetry. Much of the literary record of Japanese poetry begins when Japanese poets encountered Chinese poetry during the Tang dynasty (although the Chinese classic anthology of poetry, ''Shijing'', was well known by the literati of Japan by the 6th century). Under the influence of the Chinese poets of this era Japanese began to compose poetry in Chinese '' kanshi''); and, as part of this tradition, poetry in Japan tended to be intimately associated with pictorial painting, p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fujiwara No Teika
, better-known as Fujiwara no Teika"Sadaie" and "Teika" are both possible readings of ; "...there is the further problem, the rendition of the name in romanized form. Teika probably referred to himself as Sadaie, and his father probably called himself Toshinari, but the Sino-Japanese versions of their names were used by their contemporaries, and this practice is still observed." pg 681–692, note 2 of ''Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century'', Donald Keene. 1999, Columbia University Press, (1162 – September 26, 1241), was a Japanese anthologist, calligrapher, literary critic,"The high quality of poetic theory (''karon'') in this age depends chiefly upon the poetic writings of Fujiwara Shunzei and his son Teika. The other theorists of ''tanka'' writing, stimulated by father and son either to agreement or disagreement, contributed also toward the high level of poetic theory, but we may say that Shunzei and Teika were most rep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mono No Aware
, literally "the pathos of things", and also translated as "an empathy toward things", or "a sensitivity to ephemera", is a Japanese idiom for the awareness of , or transience of things, and both a transient gentle sadness (or wistfulness) at their passing as well as a longer, deeper gentle sadness about this state being the reality of life. Origins and analysis The idiom comes from Heian period literature, but was picked up and used by 18th century Edo period Japanese cultural scholar Motoori Norinaga in his literary criticism of '' The Tale of Genji,'' and later to other germinal Japanese works including the . It became central to his philosophy of literature; he viewed it the main theme of ''The Tale of Genji''. His articulation was the result of well-established poetic readings of ''The Tale of Genji'' and the concept became central to his own; ''Genji'' was "instrumental" in the term's establishment. According to Norinaga, to "know" is to have a shrewd understanding and co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kokin Wakashū
The , commonly abbreviated as , is an early anthology of the ''waka'' form of Japanese poetry, dating from the Heian period. An imperial anthology, it was conceived by Emperor Uda () and published by order of his son Emperor Daigo () in about 905. Its finished form dates to 920, though according to several historical accounts the last poem was added to the collection in 914. The compilers of the anthology were four court poets, led by Ki no Tsurayuki and also including Ki no Tomonori (who died before its completion), Ōshikōchi no Mitsune, and Mibu no Tadamine. Significance The ''Kokinshū'' is the first of the , the 21 collections of Japanese poetry compiled at Imperial request. It was the most influential realization of the ideas of poetry at the time, dictating the form and format of Japanese poetry until the late nineteenth century; it was the first anthology to divide itself into seasonal and love poems. The primacy of poems about the seasons pioneered by the ''Kokinsh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Man'yōshū
The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in a series of compilers, is today widely believed to be Ōtomo no Yakamochi, although numerous other theories have been proposed. The chronologically last datable poem in the collection is from AD 759 ( 4516). It contains many poems from a much earlier period, with the bulk of the collection representing the period between AD 600 and 759. The precise significance of the title is not known with certainty. The contains 20 volumes and more than 4,500 poems, and is divided into three genres: , songs at banquets and trips; , songs about love between men and women; and songs to mourn the death of people. These songs were written by people of various statuses, such as the Emperor, aristocrats, junior officials, soldiers ( songs), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
