Kokinshu
- Other Names: 古今和歌集 (kokin wakashuu)
- Japanese: 古今集 (kokinshuu)
The Kokinshû or Kokin wakashû ("Collection of Waka of Past and Present") is an Imperially-commissioned collection of waka poems compiled in 905 by Ki no Tsurayuki at the request of Emperor Daigo. It is traditionally divided into 20 volumes, containing a total of 1,111 poems. The Kokinshû is among the most famous works of Japanese literature, and along with the Man'yôshû, Hyakunin isshu, and Tale of Genji is easily among the most quoted and referenced sources of poetry down through the entire Japanese poetic tradition.
It was followed by twenty other chokusen-shû, Imperially selected compilations of the best poems of the age.[1]
Scholars surmise that hundreds or perhaps even thousands of manuscript copies circulated in the late Heian and Kamakura periods. The collection was first published as woodblock-printed volumes in the 17th century.
References
- John Carpenter, "By Brush or Block Printing: Transmitting Cultural Heritage in Pre-Modern Japan," Orientations 38:8 (2007), 58.
- ↑ Eiko Ikegami, Bonds of Civility, Cambridge University Press (2005), 83.
