Episode 447 – On a Summer Night, The First Thought of Sleep

July 22, 2022 1 Comment

This week, we’re taking a look at the legacy of one of Japan’s most influential poets: Ki no Tsurayuki. His poems may not quite be the popular phenomenon they once were, but his views about how poetry works have always been influential, and shaped how we think about poetry down to this day.

Sources

Keene, Donald, ed. Anthology of Japanese Literature from the Earliest Era to the Mid 19th Century.

Rodd, Laura and Mary Henkenius, trans. Kokinshu: A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern.

Konishi, Jin’ichi. “The Genesis of the Kokinshu Style,” trans. Hellen Craig McCullough. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 38 (1978)

Brower, Robert and Earl Miner. Japanese Court Poetry.

Heldt, Gustav. “Liquid Landscapes: Tosa Nikki’s Pioneering Poetic Contribution to Travelogue Prose.” Japan Review 32 (2019)

A good introduction to Manyogana from imabi.net

Images

The Tosa Nikki, as copied by next week’s subject Fujiwara no Teika.
A drawing of Ki no Tsurayuki by Yosai. From the Edo period.
The oldest existing copy of the Kokin Wakashu, from the Gen’ei period (early 1100s).

 

1 thought on “Episode 447 – On a Summer Night, The First Thought of Sleep”

  1. What happened to the intro and outro?
    Fujiwara no Teika! Could it be what I’ve spent years waiting for?

Comments are closed.