Paper short abstract:

In this paper I will argue that the "direct expression of feelings" in seijutsu shincho poems of Man'yōshū means heightened coherence. These poems represent the beginnings of written poetry as opposed to oral tradition; within the corpus of waka they belong on the "prosy" end of the spectrum.

Paper long abstract:

Kibutsu chinshi (mono ni yosete omohi wo noburu; poems that relate feelings relying on things) and seijutsu shincho (tada ni omohi wo noburu; poems that directly relate feelings) are two categories of poems in Volumes 11 and 12 of Man'yōshū, usually seen as complementary. Itō Haku argues that the two terms were coined by Hitomaro; I maintain that regardless of their origin these categories are an important early attempt at a literary taxonomy, prefiguring later karon developments. The variety of "things" in kibutsu chinshi make them immediately attractive to the scholars of literature, while there is nothing obvious about seijutsu shincho. Kōnosu Hayao even argues that seijutsu shincho are a category subsidiary to kibutsu chinshi. Some scholars, however, have made fascinating observations that touch both upon the possible place of seijutsu shincho in the history of waka and their more formal characteristics. Even though both categories contain only tanka verses, Mori Asao, for instance, notes that seijutsu shincho appear "prosy" rather than poetic. Some scholars have pointed out that these poems might represent certain transitions: on the spectrum from chanting and singing to writing and reading (Mori Asao, Ōura Seiji); from the oral, folk tradition to the literary, aristocratic tradition (Mori Atsushi). Thinking about the evolution of waka diachronically is thus intertwined with literary-theoretical questions of defining such binaries as poetry and prose.

Building upon these and other approaches, I will try to answer the question: what does it mean for a speaker of a seijutsu shincho poem to express feelings "directly"? I argue that the main feature of these poems is a heightened level of coherence. The feeling is expressed through explaining the circumstances and the motivations, as well as through revealing cultural biases and constructs. The main operation of these poems is that of sense-making: the speakers arrive at some coherent narrative of what is going on. Having developed a working definition of the category, I will turn my attention to the poems themselves: through a series of close readings I will attempt to showcase why these poems merit further study.