Paper short abstract:

It is believed that Japanese gods are engaged in the practice of waka, and many messages from the gods have been transmitted in the form of waka, called takusenka (oracle poems). My paper will explore various oracle poems between different realms.

Paper long abstract:

　　It is said that the Japanese gods were the first to recite the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable waka. According to the kana preface to the Kokinshū (ca. 905), during the age of the gods, the songs did not have a fixed number of syllables, but when it came to the age of humans, Susano-o no mikoto was the first to recite the 31-syllable waka. Ever since then, it is believed that Japanese gods are engaged in the practice of waka, and many messages from the gods have been transmitted in the form of waka, called takusenka (oracle poems).

One early example of takusenka may be found in section 117 of the Ise monogatari (latter half 10th c.) as an exchange between an emperor and the god Sumiyoshi Myōjin. Among the imperial poetry collections, the third anthology, Shūishū (ca. 1005), was the first to include two takusenka. In the fourth anthology, Goshūishū (1087), a sub-section of poems involving gods, referred to as jingi (lit. "gods of heaven and earth"), appears in the miscellaneous section, containing two pairs of poems between gods and humans. The seventh imperial anthology, Senzaishū (1187), contains an independent section for jingika ("god poems"). A large number of takusenka were also included in Kiyosuke's poetic treatise Fukuro no sōshi, completed slightly before. Shortly after that, the practice of offering poems to the gods became increasingly prevalent. The eighth imperial anthology, Shin Kokinshū (1205), includes as many as 13 takusenka at the beginning of its jingika section. Perhaps in conjunction with the practice of poetic offerings, interest arose in how the gods responded through takusenka.

The belief that gods and humans are able to understand each other via poetry can also be observed in the kagura uta (sacred chants performed before the god）passed down in the kagura tradition at various locales in Japan. In the Buddhist tradition, buddhas and bodhisattvas also employed poems as oracles. My paper will explore these types of poetry between different realms.