Paper short abstract:

This paper considers the method and historical background behind the production of forged poetic commentaries in medieval Japan. Focusing on the Maigetsushō, purportedly by Fujiwara no Teika, I will consider show how Teika's poetic authority and epistolary style were embodied and exploited.

Paper long abstract:

Despite ongoing debate over the authenticity of the waka commentary the Maigetsushō, the predominant view has been that it was authored by Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241) around 1219. This presentation will draw from textual and socioliterary evidence to show that the commentary is a forgery which references fourteenth-century methods of poetry composition and adopts an epistolary style devised to captivate readers. As a work by Teika the commentary may be false, but it reveals the desire of potential readers/waka practitioners to learn from Teika in the years after his death when his authority as an arbiter of poetic practices increased. The epistolary mode adopted by the Maigetsushō imbues it with a style reminiscent of poetic teachings conveyed directly from a master to practitioners in an "authentic" voice. The intention of the author of the commentary was not to create a passable forgery but to faithfully reproduce the actual sentiments and teachings of Teika. This stance is in keeping with the methods of forged religious texts during the same period, which claim to be written by the founders of sects. At a time when poetic authority was divided and contested among Teika's descendants, and the imperial line had diverged into two competing lineages, the possession of teachings by Teika would have helped one faction establish itself over another. The Maigetsushō and new discoveries about its origins thus illuminate the medieval environment for literary forgeries and the enduring appeal of such texts.