Shin Kokinshu
Encyclopedia
The , also known in abbreviated form as the or even simply the Shin Kokin, is the eighth in a series of 21 imperial anthologies of waka
poetry compiled by the Japanese court, beginning with the Kokin Wakashū circa 905 CE and ending with the Shinshokukokin Wakashū circa 1439 CE. 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, 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 ages than the Kokinshū, including ancient poems that the editors of the first anthology had deliberately excluded. It was officially presented in 1205, on the 300th anniversary of the completion of the Kokinshū.
(1162–1241), Fujiwara no Ariie (1155–1216), Fujiwara no Ietaka (1158–1237), Jakuren
(c. 1139-1202), Minamoto no Michitomo (1171–1237) and Asukai Masatsune (1170–1221). The anthology was also given a preface in Japanese prose by Fujiwara no Yoshitsune and a preface in Chinese—the scholarly language of the Court—by Fujiwara no Chikatsune, in a manner reminiscent of the Kokinshū.
literary technique, and the effect that each of these elements had on Japanese poetry after its publication. Even though the Kokinshū is famous in part for its organization throughout the anthology, as each poem is generally given as a lead-in to the next, the Shin Kokinshū goes above and beyond the standard created by the original collection. The Kokinshū editors used linking poems as a general guide, but the Shin Kokinshū editors created “an anthology that may be read from beginning to end as a single long structure divided into books”. For example, in the sections on the topic of Spring, the editors pieced together a detailed representation in poetic form of the advancement of spring and the passage of time, using similar words and expressions to link each poem to the next. In the section on travel poems, the progression is from ancient poets and styles to modern ones, and as is common in Japanese waka anthologies, the sections on Love are arranged to show the stages of an affair from first love to bitter parting.
This kind of detailed manipulation resulted in an anthology that did not necessarily contain all of the best works of the day. As Fujiwara no Teika complained, Go-Toba’s insistence on including the works of old, obscure or even unaccomplished composers in the anthology in order to maintain appropriate links to those poems that were worthwhile made the honor of having forty-six of his own poems included in the anthology less satisfactory. Individual egos aside, the end result was a composition that not only spanned centuries of Japanese literary tradition and evolving literary styles but also provided a veritable textbook on what well and poorly written poems looked like. The elaborate linking format developed by the editors was also picked up and carried forward with the development of the renga
or “linked verse” form, in which poets wrote a series of verses together in turns by continuing the image of the previous verse and introducing something new for the next poet to work with. Renga also made frequent use of the honkadori technique, since each poet had only a short phrase to work with and the ability to use allusions to prior, complete poems was an important one.
The term "Honkadori" refers to the practice of “allusive variation,” and can be literally translated as “taking from an original poem”. Even though allusions to older poems were common in the poetic discourse of the day, following the 11th century and prior to Fujiwara no Teika’s experimentation with honkadori, it was frowned upon to make obvious borrowings from past writers. However, that changed significantly with the publication of the Shin Kokinshū. Instead of mimicking only the horizontal flow of the Kokinshū, the poems in the New Collection also make vertical links to the poetic traditions of the past, and by borrowing from specific poems and not simply from stock phrases, the authors and editors of the poems in the Shin Kokinshū were able to step away from overused and more clearly unoriginal topics that ancient poems had popularized. The following example compares one of Teika’s own poems in the Shin Kokinshū to its honka, or original poem, in the Kokinshū.
Although the poems are written on the same subject, with the newer one drawing directly from the older, Fujiwara no Teika’s interpretation both modernizes the poem and provides it with greater subtlety. It also accomplishes a connection between the Kokinshū and the Shin Kokinshū.
The 20 books of the Shin Kokinshū contain nearly 2,000 tanka poems, with the number varying depending on the edition, as Go-Toba continued to edit the anthology extensively even after his exile to the island of Oki. Each poem is introduced with information regarding the occasion for which it was composed (if that information was available) and in most cases an author is also listed. Major contemporary poetic contributors to the Shin Kokinshū include Saigyō with 94 poems; Jien
with 92; Fujiwara no Yoshitsune with 79; Fujiwara no Shunzei
with 72; Princess Shikishi with 49; Fujiwara no Teika with 46; Fujiwara no Ietaka with 43; Jakuren with 35; and Go-Toba with 33.
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...
poetry compiled by the Japanese court, beginning with the Kokin Wakashū circa 905 CE and ending with the Shinshokukokin Wakashū circa 1439 CE. 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
Emperor Go-Toba
was the 82nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1183 through 1198....
(r 1183-1198), who established a new Bureau of Poetry at his Nijō palace with eleven Fellows, 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 ages than the Kokinshū, including ancient poems that the editors of the first anthology had deliberately excluded. It was officially presented in 1205, on the 300th anniversary of the completion of the Kokinshū.
Editors of the Anthology
Although Go-Toba retained veto power over the poems included in the anthology as well as the order in which they were presented, he assigned the task of compilation to six of the Fellows of the Bureau of Poetry. These were Fujiwara no TeikaFujiwara no Teika
Fujiwara no Teika , also known as Fujiwara no Sadaie or Sada-ie, was a Japanese poet, critic, calligrapher, novelist, anthologist, scribe, and scholar of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods...
(1162–1241), Fujiwara no Ariie (1155–1216), Fujiwara no Ietaka (1158–1237), Jakuren
Jakuren
' was a Japanese Buddhist priest and poet. He was adopted by the noted poet Fujiwara no Shunzei upon the death of Shunzei's younger brother...
(c. 1139-1202), Minamoto no Michitomo (1171–1237) and Asukai Masatsune (1170–1221). The anthology was also given a preface in Japanese prose by Fujiwara no Yoshitsune and a preface in Chinese—the scholarly language of the Court—by Fujiwara no Chikatsune, in a manner reminiscent of the Kokinshū.
Significance
The significance of the Shin Kokinshū lies prominently in the technical expertise of the compilers, their novel and extensive use of the honkadoriHonkadori
In Japanese poetry, is an allusion within a poem, to an older poem which would be generally recognized by its potential readers. Honkadori possesses qualities of yūgen and in Japanese art. The concept emerged in the 12th century during the Kamakura period...
literary technique, and the effect that each of these elements had on Japanese poetry after its publication. Even though the Kokinshū is famous in part for its organization throughout the anthology, as each poem is generally given as a lead-in to the next, the Shin Kokinshū goes above and beyond the standard created by the original collection. The Kokinshū editors used linking poems as a general guide, but the Shin Kokinshū editors created “an anthology that may be read from beginning to end as a single long structure divided into books”. For example, in the sections on the topic of Spring, the editors pieced together a detailed representation in poetic form of the advancement of spring and the passage of time, using similar words and expressions to link each poem to the next. In the section on travel poems, the progression is from ancient poets and styles to modern ones, and as is common in Japanese waka anthologies, the sections on Love are arranged to show the stages of an affair from first love to bitter parting.
This kind of detailed manipulation resulted in an anthology that did not necessarily contain all of the best works of the day. As Fujiwara no Teika complained, Go-Toba’s insistence on including the works of old, obscure or even unaccomplished composers in the anthology in order to maintain appropriate links to those poems that were worthwhile made the honor of having forty-six of his own poems included in the anthology less satisfactory. Individual egos aside, the end result was a composition that not only spanned centuries of Japanese literary tradition and evolving literary styles but also provided a veritable textbook on what well and poorly written poems looked like. The elaborate linking format developed by the editors was also picked up and carried forward with the development of the renga
Renga
' is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry. A renga consists of at least two or stanzas, usually many more. The opening stanza of the renga, called the , became the basis for the modern haiku form of poetry....
or “linked verse” form, in which poets wrote a series of verses together in turns by continuing the image of the previous verse and introducing something new for the next poet to work with. Renga also made frequent use of the honkadori technique, since each poet had only a short phrase to work with and the ability to use allusions to prior, complete poems was an important one.
The term "Honkadori" refers to the practice of “allusive variation,” and can be literally translated as “taking from an original poem”. Even though allusions to older poems were common in the poetic discourse of the day, following the 11th century and prior to Fujiwara no Teika’s experimentation with honkadori, it was frowned upon to make obvious borrowings from past writers. However, that changed significantly with the publication of the Shin Kokinshū. Instead of mimicking only the horizontal flow of the Kokinshū, the poems in the New Collection also make vertical links to the poetic traditions of the past, and by borrowing from specific poems and not simply from stock phrases, the authors and editors of the poems in the Shin Kokinshū were able to step away from overused and more clearly unoriginal topics that ancient poems had popularized. The following example compares one of Teika’s own poems in the Shin Kokinshū to its honka, or original poem, in the Kokinshū.
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Although the poems are written on the same subject, with the newer one drawing directly from the older, Fujiwara no Teika’s interpretation both modernizes the poem and provides it with greater subtlety. It also accomplishes a connection between the Kokinshū and the Shin Kokinshū.
Structure
The structure of the Shin Kokinshū echoes that of the Kokinshū in many ways, but it also shows the influence of the intervening imperial anthologies. As can be seen in the table below, the Shin Kokinshū omits certain books from the original anthology, and includes others on poetic topics that gained prominence only after the publication of the Kokinshū.| Topic | Kokinshū | Shin Kokinshū | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasons | 1-2 | Spring | 1-2 | Spring |
| 3 | Summer | 3 | Summer | |
| 4-5 | Autumn | 4-5 | Autumn | |
| 6 | Winter | 6 | Winter | |
| 7 | Congratulations | 7 | Congratulations | |
| 8 | Partings | 8 | Laments | |
| 9 | Travel | 9 | Partings | |
| 10 | Acrostics | 10 | Travel | |
| Love | 11-15 | Love | 11-15 | Love |
| Miscellany | 16 | Laments | 16-18 | Miscellaneous |
| 17-18 | Miscellaneous | |||
| 19 | Miscellaneous Forms | 19 | Shinto Poems | |
| 20 | Traditional Poems from the Bureau of Song |
20 | Buddhist Poems | |
The 20 books of the Shin Kokinshū contain nearly 2,000 tanka poems, with the number varying depending on the edition, as Go-Toba continued to edit the anthology extensively even after his exile to the island of Oki. Each poem is introduced with information regarding the occasion for which it was composed (if that information was available) and in most cases an author is also listed. Major contemporary poetic contributors to the Shin Kokinshū include Saigyō with 94 poems; Jien
Jien
Jien was a Japanese poet, historian, and Buddhist monk.-Biography:Jien was the son Fujiwara no Tadamichi, a member of the Fujiwara family of powerful aristocrats. He joined a Buddhist monastery of the Tendai sect early in his life, first taking the Buddhist name Dokaie, and later changing it to...
with 92; Fujiwara no Yoshitsune with 79; Fujiwara no Shunzei
Fujiwara no Shunzei
was a noted Japanese poet and nobleman, son of Fujiwara no Toshitada. He was also known as Fujiwara no Toshinari or Shakua ; in his younger days , he gave his name as Akihiro , but in 1167, changed to Shunzei...
with 72; Princess Shikishi with 49; Fujiwara no Teika with 46; Fujiwara no Ietaka with 43; Jakuren with 35; and Go-Toba with 33.
See also
- 1205 in poetry1205 in poetry-Works:* Fujiwara no Teika , Fujiwara Ariie, Fujiwara Ietaka , the priest Jakuren, Minamoto Michitomo, and Asukai Masatsune, editors, Shin Kokin Wakashū the eighth Japanese imperial waka poetry anthology, which had been ordered in 1201 by former Japanese Emperor Go-Toba...
- List of Japanese poetry anthologies
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