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Paper short abstract

Okikaze-shū has Teika's notes of Sanjūrokkasen in which it is written that a fellow who compiled such anthologies are Ma 魔 of the way. Ma is very important to Teika next to Yūgen and Ushin tei. I plan to investigate how Teika used Ma in his writings and clarify the meaning of Ma in Teika's thought.

Paper long abstract

Japanese culture in the medieval period connects with Buddhist thought. Waka poetry studies are the same. FUJIWARA no Shunzei 藤原俊成(1114-1204), who was the most famous critic of the late Heian period, thought that the study of waka was similar to that of the Buddhist teachings. FUJIWARA no Teika 藤原定家(1162-1241), who was Shunzei's son, also inherited that thought from Shunzei as it can be perceived from his writings.

Okikaze-shū 興風集 (the Collection of FUJIWARA Okikaze's Poems) was transcribed by Bōmon no Tsubone 坊門局, who was Teika's sister, and it has Teika's notes of Sanjūrokkasen (Thirty-six Immortals of Poetry) in which it is written that a fellow who compiled such anthologies are Ma 魔 of the way. "The way" means Kadō 歌道 (the way of waka poetry), but what does mean Ma? According to the dictionary, the origin of the word Ma is the Buddhist word Mara. Mara is the demon that tempted Gautama Buddha when he practiced asceticism to attain enlightenment. From that, the word Ma changed its meaning to "barriers for ascetic practices". Teika introduced the Buddhist concept of Ma to waka poetry studies and he thought the previous anthologies of excellent poems were "barriers for ascetic practices." In Buddhism, Mara tried to seduce Buddha with a beautiful woman. What is then "barriers for ascetic practices" in Teika's thought? He often used Ma in the situation of waka. So, this word is very important to Teika next to Yūgen 幽玄 (the style of mystery and depth) and Ushin tei 有心体 (the style of deep feeling).

In this presentation, I plan to investigate how Teika used Ma in his writings: diary, essay on waka poems, judgements of poetry competitions, and I would like to clarify the meaning of the way of waka poetry in Teika's thought.

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Paper short abstract

The Sinitic travel poetry of a monk in the 1140s deals with various aspects of life outside the capital and offers a view of rural Japan hardly seen in contemporary sources. As such, they illustrate the importance of a hardly discussed genre in Heian literature, 'no-topic poetry' (mudaishi).

Paper long abstract

Central to this paper is the travel poetry of a fairly unknown but prolific late Heian poet of 'kanshi' or Sinitic verse, who was known as 'the monk Renzen' or 'Lotus Meditation' (Shaku Renzen 釈蓮禅, 1082?-?). Active in the first half of the twelfth century, he has been nicknamed 'the Saigyō of Sinitic poetry' because of his extensive travels. His most substantial legacy is indeed a long sequence of poems made on a journey to Kyushu in the early 1140s.

This travel sequence is used to discuss a number of assumptions about Sino-Japanese poetic practice and poetic networks in twelfth century Japan. One is the breath of thematic freedom in in Sino-Japanese composition, a point that is directly related to the two main templates of kanshi: 'topic poetry' (kudaishi) and its supposed antithesis, 'no-topic poetry' (mudaishi). While recently 'kudaishi' have received treatment in scholarly literature, 'mudaishi' constitute a completely overlooked yet hugely popular genre category in late Heian verse.

Another assumption is a program of cultural codification of landscapes and their representations, which is related to a discernible creative interest in a world outside court society. The realm of nature was increasingly invaded by new functions and meanings of 'uncultured' (or differently cultured) landscapes, forcing court poets to address parts of Japan so long deemed peripheral.

Finally, a third assumption is that court networks of poets no longer were exclusively the privilege of those who functioned within the usual parameters of the scholar-bureaucrat-poet.

These three notions, categorial, thematic and social, provide the angles to reconsider poetic practices of the late classic age.