¹ The 5- and 7-syllable line did not become fixed in Japanese prosody until the 7th century, and the number of syllables per line in the most primitive verse varies considerably. The envoy (which may have been pronounced henka in the period of the Man'yōshū) was an innovation of Chinese inspiration that began to come into vogue in the mid-7th century. It was identical in form with the tanka. See Harukichi, Morimoto, “Man'yōshū,” Nihon bungakushi: jōdai [History of Japanese Literature: Ancient Period], ed. Sen'ichi, Hisamatsu (Tokyo, 1955), pp. 291–292Google Scholar. Much of the best Man'yōshū poetry is translated in The Manyōshū: One Thousand Poems, published for the Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai (Tokyo, 1940), hereafter abbreviated as NGS. For a convenient list of the 21 Imperial anthologies, compiled between ?905 and 1439, see Reischauer, Edwin O. and Yamagiwa, Joseph K., Translations from Early Japanese Literature (Cambridge, 1951), pp. 131–135.Google Scholar

² Formal means of deriving nouns from verbs or adjectives are found in such a morpheme as -sa in the Man'yōshū. Some, but not all, of the nouns so formed are abstractions: kanashi “sad,” and kanashisa “sadness.” See SirSansom, George, An Historical Grammar of Japanese (London, 1928), pp. 293–295Google Scholar. An example of a metaphorical abstraction might be koi “love.” However, while abstractions exist in classical Japanese, they are much more rare, and cover much more limited areas of experience than in Western European languages.

³ For example, Aston, W. G., Japanese Literature (London, 1899), Ch. ii, especially pp. 24–34.Google Scholar

⁴ Differing methods of analysis will yield different numbers of inflectional categories. The figures given here are based upon Yokoyama, Masako, The Inflections of 8th Century Japanese, Language, XXVI (Jul.-Sept., 1950), Supplement, 25–45Google Scholar. Verbs of the tenth century, if analyzed in accordance with this same method, would show a decrease of two or three in the number of moods.

⁵ This and other poems quoted in this article which appear in the chronicles, the Man'yōshū and the Imperial anthologies are identified by the numbers assigned to them in Kokka taikan [Compendium of Japanese Classical Poetry] (6th ed., Tokyo, 1925, 2 vols.). The name of the anthology or other source is first given, followed by the number of the poem in sequence within the anthology. The present poem is Shinkokinshū 59, the Shinkokinshū being the 8th Imperial anthology, first completed in 1206. All translations are by the present writers unless otherwise indicated. This and other translations of poems from the Shinkokinshū are indebted to the exegeses in Kubota Utsubo, Shinkokinwakashū hyōshaku [A Critical Commentary on the Shinkokinshū] (8th ed., Tokyo, 1946–47, 2 vols.).

⁶ SirDenham, John, “Cooper's Hill,” The Poetical Works of Sir John Denham, ed. Banks, Theodore Howard Jr. (New Haven, 1928), p. 77, lines 191–192.Google Scholar

⁷ Kokinshū 861. The translations of this and other poems from the Kokinshū reflect the exegeses in Genshin, Kaneko, Kokinwakashū hyōshaku [A Critical Commentary on the Kokinshu] (12th ed., Tokyo, 1940)Google Scholar. Tradition holds that the present poem was composed during the poet's last illness. It also appears in the final “episode” of the Ise monogatari, a 9th- or 10th-century collection of poems with prose contexts attributed to Narihira. See the Kōchū Nihon bungaku taikei [Annotated Collection of Japanese Literary Texts], II (Tokyo, 1937), 92.

⁸ Yukichi, Takeda, Jōdai kokubungaku no kenkyū [Studies in Ancient Japanese Literature] (Tokyo, 1921), pp. 71–72Google Scholar; Yukichi, Takeda, Man'yōshū zenchūshaku: sōsetsu [Complete Commentary on the Man'yōshū: Introductory Volume] (Tokyo, 1951), pp. 93–94;Google ScholarTatsuyuki, Takano, Nihon kayoshi [History of Japanese Songs and Ballads] (rev. ed., Tokyo, 1938), p. 21Google Scholar; Jun, Tsugita, Kokubungakushi shinkō [New Interpretations of the History of Japanese Literature] (Tokyo, 1932), I, 50.Google Scholar

⁹ See, for example, the detailed analyses of the formal structure of Hitomaro's chōkain Mokichi, Saitō, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, II (Tokyo, 1937), esp. pp. 385–419.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Sen'ichi, Hisamatsu, Nihon bungaku hydrōnshi: kodai, chūsei hen [History of Japanese Literary Criticism: Ancient and Medieval Periods] (Tokyo, 1949), pp. 46–56.Google Scholar

¹¹ For this, and earlier versions of the same poem, see Taizō, Ehara, Shinkō Bashō haiku zenshū [Complete Collection of the Haiku of Bashō, Newly Collated] (Tokyo, 1947), p. 122Google Scholar. A haiku is, as this example illustrates, a poem in 17 syllables, on the pattern 5, 7, 5.

¹² For a description of the technique and practice of the renga, see Keene, Donald, Japanese Literature: An Introduction for Western Readers (London, 1953), pp. 31–37.Google Scholar

¹³ The “pivot-word” is defined and illustrated in the present essay. The “pillow-word,” which we also discuss, is a kind of fixed epithet, usually of 5 syllables. It is related to a following word or phrase through sound or sense association, frequently at several removes. The jo, or “preface,” is similar to the makura-kotoba in function, but is considerably longer and more free. Most, but not all, jo are metaphorical. The engo, or “verbal association,” is a variety of word play in which a second, latent meaning of a word is brought out through the use in another part of the poem of a term which evokes this second meaning through association. The honka-dori, or “allusive variation,” is a neo-classical technique of adapting an identifiable part of an older poem to a new context.

¹⁴ Kokinshū 9.

¹⁵ The prevalence of kake-kotoba and engo, and a decrease in the use of makura-kotoba and jo, are marked features of the poetry of the 9th and 10th centuries, when the chōka was already a dead letter. See Tsugita, I, 157.

¹⁶ See, for example, NGS, pp. xxi-xxii; and the criticisms by the modern poet Itō Sachio (1864–1913) of Hitomaro's use of the technique, reported in Saitō, II, 444.

¹⁷ Jin'ichi, Konishi, Nihon bungakushi [History of Japanese Literature] (Tokyo, 1953), p. 22.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Shinchokusenshū 1170. The pillow-word is momoshiki, more commonly used before ōmiya “great palace.” The usual explanation is that it means “innumerable blocks of stone built up.” This poem was written by Teika fairly late in life, and represents a departure from a more ornate poetical style which he practiced when he was younger. See Alrio, Yasuda, “Waka” [“Native Poetry”], Nihon bungakushi: chūsei [History of Japanese Literature: Medieval Period], ed. Sen'ichi, Hisamatsu (Tokyo, 1955), pp. 38–39.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Kaneko, p. 51. For a complete translation of the Japanese Preface to the Kokinshū, see Bonneau, Georges, Le monument poétique de Heian: le Kokinshū, I: Préface de Ki no Tsurayuki (Paris, 1933).Google Scholar

²⁰ Shinkokinshū 201. Hototogisu means “cuckoo,” but we have used the Japanese here both for its mellifluous quality and to avoid possible unpleasant associations.

²¹ See, for example, the exchange between the Lady of Akashi and her daughter in Arthur Waley's Tale of Genji (1-vol. ed., London, 1935), pp. 468–469. The Tale of Genji, or Genji monogatari, is the great novel of court life believed to have been written in the early 11th century by Murasaki Shikibu. The custom of including prose contexts with poems to specify the occasions which inspired them is already established in the Man'yōshū and continues through the Imperial anthologies.

²² Senzaishū 258. The Senzaishū is the 7th Imperial anthology, compiled by Shunzei and probably completed in 1188. Shunzei's fondness for this poem is reported by Eamo no Chōmei (?–1216) in his poetical treatise and collection of anecdotes, the Mumyōshō, or Nameless Selection. See Yasuda, p. 21.

²³ The poem is Man'yōshū 30, the first of two envoys accompanying the chōka, “On Passing the Ruined Capital of Ōmi.” For a translation, see NGS, p. 27. The critical difference among the commentators is represented by Keichū (1640–1701) and Kada Azumamaro (1669–1736), Azumamaro holding for synecdoche. They are quoted in Saitō, II, 5–6.

²⁴ The classification of poems according to such categories was standard practice, established in the Kokinshū and followed in subsequent Imperial anthologies.

²⁵ Thus, the passionate lyricism of 9th-century poets such as Ariwara no Narihira and Ono no Komachi (a woman; fl. c. 850) led to a greater discipline and balance in the poetry of the Kokinshū age in the early 10th century. The Kokinshū style was further refined and embellished to the point of diminishing returns in the 10th and early 11th centuries. A similar cycle may be traced in the development from the over-personalism of primitive poetry, to a balance in the age of Hitomaro in the 7th century, to an over-conventionality in the poetry of Ōtomo no Yakamochi (718–85) and his contemporaries in the mid-8th century. In the later Heian period, a third cycle is foreshadowed in an unsuccessful attempt by Fujiwara no Kintō (966–1041) to bring a fresh personalism and simplicity to poetry. The effort was continued by the innovators Minamoto no Tsunenobu (1016–97) and his son Shunrai (or Toshiyori, ?–1129). The balance was achieved by such poets as Fujiwara no Shunzei and his son Teika in the 12th and 13th centuries, and the succeeding age was again characterized by a decadent conventionality.

²⁶ The lines occur in a poem in Yoshitada's personal anthology, the Sotanshū. See the Kōchū kokka taikei [Annotated Compendium of Japanese Poetry], XIII (Tokyo, 1929), 36.Google Scholar

²⁷ The authorship of the highly complex chōka (Man'yōshū 50) which bears the heading, “Composed by a Workman at the Fujiwara Palace,” was already suspected by the commentator Motoori Norinaga (1730–1801), who attributed the poem to Hitomaro. This seems quite likely, although it has been suggested that Hitomaro may have “helped” the workman write it. See Saitō, II, 888–891, 912–916. For examples of Yakamochi's poems in the “frontier guard” genre, see Man'yōshū 4398–4400 and 4408–4412 (translated in NGS, pp. 175–178).

²⁸ For some of the traditional comments, see NGS, pp. xiii-xiv.

²⁹ Hitomaro's poem, which is quoted in part below, is a chōka followed by two envoys (Man'yōshū 220–222). Saigyō, whose lay name was Satō no Norikiyo, abandoned a promising military career and entered the Buddhist priesthood at the age of twenty-two. He maintained close ties with many of the prominent poets of his day, but spent much of his life in retirement and in travel. Throughout the feudal period he was held in semi-religious veneration as the prototype of the itinerant poet.

³⁰ The quotation from Teika appears in the entry for the 9th moon of 1180 in his diary, the Meigetsuki. See Yasuda, p. 33. Concerning the development of the concept of poetry as michi, or a “way of life,” see Jin'ichi, Konishi, “Chūsei ni okeru hyōgensha to kyōjusha” [“Artist and Audience in the Medieval Period”], Bungaku, XXI (May 1953), 471.Google Scholar

³¹ Hitomaro's “overtures” are said to have been influenced by the norito, or Shintō liturgies. See, for example, Nobutsuna, Sasaki, Jōdai bungakushi [History of Ancient Japanese Literature], II (Tokyo, 1936), 282–283, 532, 536Google Scholar. On the other hand, a possible relationship between the lofty tone and rhetorical techniques of the norito and the Chinese fu, or prose poem, which flourished during the Han dynasty (208 B.C.-A.D. 220) has been suggested. See Konishi, Bungakushi, pp. 29–30. Tabito's group of 13 tanka in praise of wine (Man'yōshū 338–350) and Okura's chōka and envoy on poverty (Man'yōshū 892–893) are translated in NGS, pp. 117–118 and 205–207.

³² Man'yōshū 16. The translation is from NGS, pp. 10–11. The chōka form had not yet become standardized when this poem was written: it contains an even number of lines, of which the last three are of 7 syllables. See Takeda, , Chūshaku, I (Tokyo, 1948), 114Google Scholar. Princess Nukada is placed in the latter part of the 7th century, although her dates are unknown.

³³ Konishi, Bungaktishi, pp. 25–26; Kanda Hideo, “Kan bungaku” [“Chinese Literature”], Jōdai, ed. Hisamatsu, pp. 506–535.

³⁴ Konishi, Bungakushi, pp. 32–33.

³⁵ The Six Poetical Geniuses (Rokkasen) were traditionally so designated because they are the 9th-century poets mentioned by name in Tsurayuki's Preface to the Kokinshū: Narihira, Komachi, Bishop Henjō (?816–90), Priest Kisen (fl. c.820), Bun'ya no Yasuhide (fl. c. 870), and Ōtomo no Kurbnushi (fl. c. 880). The first three are the most important.

³⁶ Jin'ichi, Konishi, “Chūseibi no hi-Nihon-teki seikaku; [“The Non-Japanese Character of the Medieval Esthetic”], Bungaku, XXI (Sept. 1953), 917–933.Google Scholar

³⁷ Kaneko, pp. 8–24.

³⁸ Jin'ichi, Konishi, “Kokinshū-teki hyōgen no seiritsu” [“The Formation of the Kokinshu Style”], Nippon Gakushiin kiyō, VII (Nov. 1949), pp. 163–198Google Scholar. The Chinese term here rendered “idiosyncratic” is i-p'ang, lit., “leaning to one side.”

³⁹ The poetry of Po Chü-j (772–846), especially that of his later years, appears to have influenced Fujiwara no Kintō in his attempt to bring greater simplicity to Japanese poetry, and this Chinese poet's relative freedom from conventional restrictions is said to have influenced Sone no Yoshitada's unconventional style. The continuing importance of Po Chü-i and of later T'ang poetry is seen in the theory and practice of the Shinkokinshū poets. In the third cycle, the influence appears to have been more indirect, and to have been connected with the revival of Tendai Buddhism in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. See Konishi, Bungakushi, pp. 42–45, 54–59; and Konishi, “Shunzei no yūgentai to shikan” [“Shunzei's Style of ‘Mystery and Depth’ and the Tendai Concept of ‘Quiet Contemplation’”], Bungaku, XX (Feb. 1952) 108–116.

⁴⁰ Konishi, “Chūseibi,” p. 932.

⁴¹ We call the second period “experimental” because of the wide range of themes and modes which characterize the poetry of this age. Experimentation of course went on in later periods, but within much more restricted limits. See also n. 25.

⁴² Kojiki 3. The last 3 lines, and possibly also the preceding 2, are a formula chanted by the reciter, and not properly part of the poem. See B. H. Chamberlain, Ko-ji-ki (2nd ed., Kobe, 1932), pp. 92–93.

⁴³ Man'yōshū 148. Here we follow Takeda (Chūshaku, II [Tokyo, 1949], 153), who explains the flags as having been set up for a religious service on the Emperor's behalf, and rejects the interpretation of kohata as a place name. For a different interpretation, see NGS, p. 7.

⁴⁴ The Kakinomoto no Asomi no Hitomaro no kashū, or “Hitomaro Collection,” appears to have been lost early in the Heian period, but many poems in the Man'yōshū were credited by the compilers to such a collection. A number of these poems have certain primitive characteristics which have led scholars to assign them to Hitomaro's early period, and the collection is also believed to have contained poems by the poet's family and friends. See Saitō, III (Tokyo, 1939), 3–26.

⁴⁵ Man'yōshū 220, lines 31–45. The translation is from NGS, pp. 46–47.

⁴⁶ See, for example, the gallant exchanges between Yakamochi and various ladies of his acquaintance (Man'yōshū 714–720, 727–755, 762–785, 1448–1452, 1460–1464). Some of these poems are translated in NGS, pp. 134–138, 181.

⁴⁷ Man'yōshū 804–805. A translation of the chōka and a different version of the envoy may be found in NGS, pp. 201–202.

⁴⁸ Man'yōshū 1068. For a different translation, see NGS, p. 52.

⁴⁹ Kokinshū 747. The poem also appears in the 3rd episode of the Ise monogatari (Bungaku taikei, II, 38).

⁵⁰ Kokinshū 84.

⁵¹ This was the opinion of the poet-priest Shun'e (fl. c. 1160–80), according to his disciple Kamo no Chōmei, who reports the master's views in the Mumyōshō. See Konishi, “Shunzei,” p. 13.

⁵² Shinkokinshū 38.

⁵³ Shinkokinshū 648.