Although I never knew the ways of letters, Buddhist Novice (Renshō) has carefully insisted that I write the poem cartouches for sliding doors of Saga Chūin. Even though they are awfully unsightly, written half-heartedly, I am sending them away. From the ancient times, a poem from every poet, from Emperor Tenji(1) to Ietaka(2) and Masatsune(3).
− Fujiwara no Teika, Meigetsuki (The Record of the Clear Moon)
Bunryaku 文暦 II (1235), 27th of the Fifth Lunar Month4
Commentary
This passage from Fujiwara no Teika’s 藤原定家 (also read as Sadaie; 1162–1241; Hyakunin Isshu 97) diary, now called Meigetsuki5, has long been and still often is cited as a record of Ogura Hyakunin Isshu 小倉百人一首 (shortened as Hyakunin Isshu 百人一首) compilation, although it most probably relates to the compilation of a very similar but still largely unknown collection called Hyakunin Shūka 百人秀歌 (Superior Poems of a Hundred Poets).
Reasons why this passage should relate to Hyakunin Shūka and not the Hyakunin Isshu are numerous and treating them all here is close to impossible, but we may try to take a brief look regardless.
More than one of the reasons why the above passage is not about the Hyakunin Isshu are related to poems of retired emperors Gotoba (後鳥羽天皇 Gotoba tennō; 1180–1239; Hyakunin Isshu 99) and Juntoku (順徳天皇 Juntoku tennō; 1197–1242; Hyakunin Isshu 100), who at the time the above passage was written were in exile after Gotoba’s failed attempt to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate (鎌倉幕府 Kamakura bakufu) in Jōkyū War (承久の乱 Jōkyū no ran) of 1221.
As the diary notes, the recipient of cartouches written in Teika’s hand was Buddhist Novice Renshō 蓮生, better known as Utsunomiya Yoritsuna 宇都宮頼綱 (1172–1259). He was from a family closely related to Kamakura shogunate, but in the early years of the 13th century he was suspected of disloyalty and therefore had to retire and take Buddhist orders. Could he have received poems of emperors behind the Jōkyū War? Of course, such a thing is not completely out of question, but with Yoritsuna’s personal background, it is not really plausible either. If Yoritsuna was to receive the Hyakunin Isshu poems, he would have received ones of Gotoba and Juntoku as well and would have even had them on display in his villa. On the other hand, if he was to receive the Hyakunin Shūka poems, he would not receive compositions of the retired emperors, because the anthology does not include them. The (non-)inclusion of those two poems is one of the very few differences between Hyakunin Isshu and Hyakunin Shūka.
Another matter related to poems of Gotoba and Juntoku has to do with their titles. If we were to look at the Hyakunin Isshu, we would see those poems included with titles Retired Emperor Gotoba (後鳥羽院 Gotoba-in) and Retired Emperor Juntoku (順徳院 Juntoku-in). Problem is that those titles were only decided after Juntoku’s passing in 1242 and after Teika’s own death a year earlier. Therefore, either someone edited those titles in the Hyakunin Isshu, which seems improbable, because books would be copied as they are and as accurately as possible, or the Hyakunin Isshu was actually written down after Teika’s death.
But how could someone write it down, you may ask? Early Hyakunin Isshu commentaries suggest that poems in the anthology were originally written on cartouches, just like the ones Teika mentions sending out to Yoritsuna, but decorated Teika’s own villa in Saga 嵯峨, near Mount Ogura 小倉. After Teika passed away, someone, most likely his son Fujiwara no Tameie 藤原為家 (1198–1275), who also included the two poems in question to the tenth imperial anthology Shokugosenwakashū 続後撰和歌集 (shortened as Shokugosenshū 続後撰集; Continued Later Collection; 1248), have written the decorative cartouche poems into a single manuscript, a book, a poetry anthology now known as Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. Whether it was actually Tameie who wrote the poems down into an anthology, we cannot tell for sure, but early commentaries also note that the anthology was unknown in Teika’s day – it became known during Tameie’s time, which favours this hypothesis.
And how about Hyakunin Shūka, who wrote it down? As far as I am aware, Teika’s name is not in the surviving manuscripts of the collection, but an afterword very similar in style to Teika’s other writings is, suggesting it was he himself, who wrote the poems down into an anthology. What is more, Hyakunin Shūka records Fujiwara no Ietaka as Ietaka of Senior Third Rank (正三位家隆shō sanmi Ietaka), that is, with a rank he held until the Ninth Lunar Month of 1235 and the rank he is recorded with in the ninth imperial anthology Shinchokusenshū 新勅撰集 (New Imperial Waka Collection), which Teika submitted on the Third Lunar Month of 1235. Meanwhile in the Hyakunin Isshu Ietaka is recorded as Ietaka of Junior Second Rank (従二位家隆 ju‘nii Ietaka) – same way that later imperial collections record him, – thus again suggesting either the unlikely editing of the Hyakunin Isshu manuscript, or completion of the Hyakunin Isshu as an anthology sometime after the Ninth Lunar Month of 1235 and thus after Teika’s diary entry.
Therefore, it is highly unlikely that the passage cited above is directly related to the compilation of Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, which was most likely compiled sometime later. Of course, the debate regarding the Hyakunin Isshu compilation has many more arguments to consider, and this post is by no means meant to be an extensive study on the topic – I simply jotted down a couple of things I am aware of. If you would like to see me dwell deeper into this topic, let me know.
Translation and commentary by the blog author.
Notes
1 Emperor Tenji (天智天皇 Tenji tennō; 626–671; Hyakunin Isshu 1).
2 Fujiwara no Ietaka 藤原家隆 (1158–1237; Hyakunin Isshu 98).
3 Asukai Masatsune 飛鳥井雅経 (also known as Fujiwara no Masatsune 藤原雅経; 1170–1221; Hyakunin Isshu 94).
4 Fifth Lunar Month corresponds to June or July in Solar calendar.
5 Teika himself is known to have called the diary Guki 愚記 (My Foolish Diary).
Illustration
Edited by the blog author, original images from
・Nobunaga kontseruto 信長協奏曲〈コンツェルト〉, dir. Fujikawa Yuusuke 冨士川祐輔, Fuji TV, 2014.
・Chōyaku Hyakunin Isshu: Uta Koi 超訳百人一首 うた恋い, dir. Kasai Ken‘ichi カサヰケンイチ, TYO Animations, 2012.