Wakan rōeishū

Wakan rōeishū
Poems from the Wakan rōeishū.

Wakan rōeishū

The Wakan rōeishū (和漢朗詠集, Collection of Japanese and Chinese Poems for Singing) is a compilation of Chinese and Japanese poetry.

This piece was solely edited by Fujiwara no Kintō,1 containing 216 Japanese poems and 587 Chinese couplets,23 compiled around 1013.2

The book was seperated into two books, one centered around poems on the four season, the other on miscellanous themes. Each book was further subdivided by topic, with Chinese couplets alternating with Japanese tanka.

Poems written in chinese were made by some 30 Chinese poets and 50 japanese poets. Chinese members include Bo Juyi, Yuan Shen, Xu Hun with Japanese members including Sugawara no Fumitoki, Sugawara no Michizane, Ōe no Asatsuna, Minamoto no Shitagō and Ki no Haseo.

80 poets, including Ki no Tsurayuki, Ōshikōchi no Mitsune and Kakinomoto no Hitomaro contributed 216 japanese tanka poems.2

Ono no Takamura is also in the compilation.1

Footnotes

1. MacMillan, P. (2018) ”One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Treasury of Classical Japanese Verse”. St. Ives: Penguin Classics.
2. Kodansha. (1993) ”Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia”. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.
3. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.

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