Paper short abstract:

This paper will consider the textual relationships in kankoji waka - poems referring to Chinese tales - arguing that these contributed to the generation and changing of poems' meanings, outlining a four-part division of these intertextual functions.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will consider kankoji waka - poems referring to Chinese tales - and argue that it is essential to comprehend the role played by the Chinese text in the interpretation of such works. In general, a textual clue reminds readers of a tale, and allows them to supplement their interpretation and appreciation of a poem through a grasp of the semantic relations between the two texts.

However, this paper will propose a broad, four-part division of the intertextual functions at work in kankoji waka: first, the use of expressions in the poem which recall the Chinese tale based on the poet having a shared awareness of the tale with the reader. For example, the poetic expression aki no chigiri ('an autumn vow') suggests, 'on the Seventh day of the Seventh Month in the Hall of Longevity, when whispering to himself alone at midnight' from the Song of Eternal Woe.

Second, rather than a reference to the Chinese tale being present in the poem, a correspondence of emotion between the texts being created through the use of headnotes mentioning works such as the Song of Eternal Woe, naturally incorporating them into the poem's world.

Third, poems where there are significant differences in association and awareness between readers, due to the complexity of the reception of the texts of the tale in Japan; and, finally, poems where words from a tale are only assimilated on a surface level and its deeper meanings are abstracted.

This paper will consider how the textual relationships at work in kankoji waka, combined with the active participation of readers, contributed to the generation and changing of poems' meanings, through an analysis of poems from the late classical and early mediaeval periods.