Kokin-wakashu

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Kokin-wakashu

Kokin-Wakashū ( Japanese 古今和歌集 also: 古今集 Kokin shū , German , collection of ancient and modern poems' ) is a Waka - anthology of the early Heian period of Japan . It was commissioned by Emperor Uda (ruled 887–897) and reorganized in 905 by his son, Emperor Daigo (ruled 897–930) . Its final form dates from around 920 , although according to several historical sources the last poem was added as early as 914 . The compilers of the anthology were four court poets led by Ki no Tsurayuki . There were also Ki no Tomonori (who died before completion), Ōshikōchi Mitsune and Mibu no Tadamine .

Overview

The Kokinshū is the earliest of the nijūichidaishū ( 二十 一 大 集 ), the 21 collections of Japanese poetry compiled under imperial orders. It was the most influential implementation of the ideas about poetry of the time and dictated the form of Japanese poetry until the late 19th century.

The primacy of poetry over the seasons, introduced in Kokinshū , continues today in the haiku tradition. The Japanese foreword to Ki no Tsurayuki (the second foreword to Ki no Tomonori is written in Chinese) can also be seen as the beginning of Japanese literary criticism in contrast to the Chinese poetry, which was much more widespread in literary circles at the time.

The idea of ​​including both old and new poems was another significant innovation that was often adopted in later compilations of prose and poetry.

The Kokinshu's poems were arranged in a chronological order. The love poems were z. B. - although written by many different poets in different epochs - arranged in such a way that the reader would like to understand them as describing the progress and the ups and downs of a courtly love affair. This association of one poem to the next marks the anthology as the ancestor of the Renga and Haikai traditions.

The exact number of poems in the collection is disputed. The online edition contains 1111 poems. The collection is divided into 20 parts and thus refers to older models such as the Man'yōshū and various Chinese anthologies. The organization of the themes, however, differs from that of all previous models and has been retained in all later official collections, although some, such as kin'yōshū and shikashū, limited the structure to 10 parts. The parts of the Kokinshu are arranged as follows:

  1. and 2. about spring ( 春 哥 haru no uta ),
  3. over the summer ( 夏哥 natsu no uta ),
  4. until 5th autumn ( 秋 哥 aki no uta ),
  6. Winter ( 冬 哥 fuyu no uta ),
  7. Congratulations ( 賀 哥 ga no uta ),
  8. Farewell ( 離 列 哥 wakare no uta ),
  9. Travel ( 羈旅 哥 tabi no uta ),
  10. Names ( 物 名 mono no na ),
  11. until 15.Love ( 恋 哥koi no uta ),
  13. Complaints ( 哀傷 哥 aishō no uta ),
  14. and 18.Miscellaneous ( 雑 哥 kusagusa no uta ),
  16. Miscellaneous ( 雑 体 哥 zattai no uta ) and
  17. mainly traditional and ritual poems from the office of poetry ( 大哥 所 御 哥 ōutadokoro no on'uta ).

The compilers give the name of the poet of each poem and the subject ( 題 dai ) or, if known, the inspiration for the poem. Important poets of kokinshū are Ariwara no Narihira , Ono no Komachi , Henjō and Fujiwara no Okikaze as well as the editors themselves.

Inclusion in an imperial collection, but especially in the kokinshū , was a great honor.

example

The example below is from Ono no Komachi ( Kokinshu No. 113, Spring Poems section). The poem was included in the Hyakunin Isshu .

Japanese transcription translation

花 の 色 は
移 り に け り な
い た づ ら に
わ が 身世 に ふ る
な が め せ し ま に

Hana no iro wa
utsuri ni kerina
itazura ni
waga miyo ni furu
nagame seshi ma ni

The colors of the flowers
have long since faded, while I was lost in
thought
and
walked lightly through life looking into the endless rain .

literature

  • E. Miner, H. Odagiri, RE Morell: The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature . Princeton University Press, 1985, ISBN 0-691-06599-3 , pp. 186/187.
  • Alexander Chanoch : The Old Japanese Seasonal Poetry from the Kokinshū . In: Asia Major , Volume 4, 1927. pp. 240–376, ihp.sinica.edu.tw (PDF) Publications of the Seminar for Language and Culture of Japan at the Hamburg University, No. 2
  • Horst Arnold-Kanamori: Classical Japanese IV / Kokinwakashû; Old and New Japanese Songs - A Selection . Ulmer Sprachstudien, Volume 9. Verlag Dr. Kovac, Hamburg 2006

Web links

Commons : Kokin Wakashū  - collection of images, videos and audio files

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ If there were no cherry blossoms. Tanka from 1300 years . translated and ed. by Yukitsuna Sasaki, Eduard Klopfenstein and Masami Ono-Feller. Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-15-010698-3 , p. 33