Fujiwara Teika's Hundred-Poem Sequence of the Shoji Era

FujiwarTa eika's Hundred-PoSeemjuencoeftheShojiEra

by ROBERT H. BROWER

Introduction

T I. Foreword'

UHE greatJapanescelassicapl oetandcriticFujiwaranoSadaie,orTeika,2 is bestknownto popularhistoryforhislittleanthologyofthirty-onesyllablepoemscalledHyakuninsshu,'3One HundredPoemsby One

HundredPoets'.Eventoday,thiscollectionis memorizebdy mostcultured Japanesei,fonlybecausea literarycardgameplayedduringtheNewYear seasonisbaseduponit.Moreimportantth, eHyakuniisnshuhasforthepastthree hundredyearsand morebeenthechiefvehicleby whichtheJapanesehave cometo learnsomethinogftheirnativetraditionof classicalpoetrya,nd so closelyis Teikaidentifieidn thepopularmindwiththisanthology(andoften littlelse),thatI mayperhapbseforgivetnhisrathepreculiarwayofbeginning: namelyb, ystressintghatthecollectionpresentehdereis an entireldyifferent work.

The 'Hundred-PoemSequenceoftheShojiEra',or Shojihyakushu4-tsheet of a hundredpoemswe aredealingwithhere-is a sequenceofTeika'sown compositiownritteinn 1200(thesecondyearoftheShojiera) bycommandof Ex-EmperoGro-Toba.5Thiswasa littlemorethantwoyearsaftertheyoung

I I wish to expressthanksfor invaluable assistancefromthe late ProfessorMizukami Kashiz6 'J?vP- (1924-1975), who devoted muchofhiswaningstrengthduringthespring and earlysummerof 1975 to my problemsin revisingmymanuscriptH. is prematuredeath has deprivedme of a cherishedfriendand irreplaceablecounselorof many years. I am also indebted,as usual, to the teacherof us both, ProfessorKonishi Jin'ichi 4'f:-, whoallowedme precioushoursoftimedespite his many other commitmentsand heavy administrativeduties at Tsukuba National

UniversityH. is specialcontributioins acknowl.

edgedseparatelybelow. An earlydraftof the

translatiown aspresentedbeforetheColloquium

oftheCenterforJapaneseand Korean Studies

of the Universityof California,Berkeleyi,n

May 1973.A grantfromtheCenterforJapanese

Studiesof theUniversityofMichiganenabled

me to reviseand completethestudy.

2

, 1162-1241.

3 ,fA -

4

ff -g

5 aA&5, 1180-1239;r. 1183-98.

This content downloaded from 128.95.155.147 on Sat, 3 Aug 2013 15:57:18 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

224

MonumenNtaipponicaX,XXI,3

sovereighnad abdicatedand in hisnew-founfdreedomfromthestiflincgeremonialrestrictioonfsfullimperiasltate,hadbegunto turnhisrestlesesnergies andenthusiasmtosthepursuiotftheartsandthepatronagoefartistps,articularly

poetrayndthepoetsofthne ativteraditiotnh,evernaculawrakaA. sforTeika'sShoji

sequencei,tis butoneofmanywhichthepoetwroteduringhislonglife-his personaclollectiobneginws ithfifteesnequenceosfa hundrepdoemsf,orexample. Howevert,heShJjhi yakuswhaas botha landmarkin hisartistidcevelopment andcrucialtotheadvancemenotfhiscareer.It also containas fewofhiisbest poemsC. omparedtotheHyaakunisisnhu(whosevalueand literariymportancIe

wouldnotfora singlemomendteny),Teika'sShojikj'akushwuas an individual achievemenotffargreaterimportancbeothtothepoethimselafndto hiscontemporarieAs.s an exampleofthehyakushour,'hundred-poesmequence',the

poeticgenrethatbecameso popularduringthelatetwelftalnhdearlythirteenth

centurieist,is bothcharacteristaincdseminal. I havetouchedupontheShojihIyakusehlszeuwlheirneter-mofsitsimportancteo

Teika'slifeand career-howit providedthemeansofestablishinhgimin Ex-

EmperoGr o-Toba'sfavora,ndplayeda pivotarl oleinconsolidatinhgisspecial positionas thepoeticheirofhisfathert,hegreatShunzeoi rToshinaria,6ndas poeticlawgiveirn hisowntimeandforcenturiefsollowingI.7shallrefraifnrom

recountinmganydetailsofthatstoryagainhere.Ratherm, yprimarypurpose in thepagesthatfollowis topresenat translatioanndcommentaroyftheShoIji hyakusihtuselfH. owevert,othebestofmyknowledgteh, isisthefirsttranslation intoa Westernlanguageofa complethe undred-poesmequencecomposedby anyindividuaJlapaneseclassicalpoet.Consequentlyso,meexplanationofthe genreandofTeika'sparticulawr orkseemsin order.8

II. The DevelopmentofPoeticSequences

SETSbysinglpeoetsconsistinogffivet,en,fifteetnw, entyth, irtyfi,ftyor,a hundred poemsbecameincreasinglcyommonfromthetenthcenturyT. he popularity

6 M ,) 1114-1204. 7 See nmy'Ex-Emperor Go-Toba's Secret

Teachings: Go-Toba noIn gokuclenik'a&IItOpui X;, in HJAS, 32 (1972), especially pp. 14-16. Also the translation and study by Earl Miner

and myself of Teika's Kindai shl7kai4 ................
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