The Ruijū Karin (類聚歌林) was a Japanese waka anthology compiled by Yamanoue no Okura.
Compilation and date
editThe Ruijū Karin was compiled by Yamanoue no Okura.[1] It was likely compiled after Yōrō 5 (721) when Okura become a tutor to the crown prince (later Emperor Shōmu).[1]
Title
editThe work's title has been translated into English as:
- The Grove of Poetry, Arranged by Topic
- Forest of Classified Verse
- Forest of Classified Verses
- The Grove of Poems Classified
- Classified Forest of Poetry
- Classified Forest of Verse
Status and apparent contents
editThe work is now lost.[1]
It apparently survived until around the end of the Heian period.[1] The late-Heian books of poetic criticism Yakumo Mishō[2] and Fukuro-zōshi[3] record that copies of it were in the holdings of Byōdō-in[3] and/or Hōjō-ji[3]), and in addition to these works[4] it was also mentioned in a diary entry from 1015 (永承五年四月二十六日前麗景殿女御延子歌絵合, 正子内親王絵合),[4] Ōgishō (奥義抄),[4] Fujiwara no Shunzei's Korai Fūteishō,[4] Waka Genzaisho Mokuroku (和歌現在書目録),[4] Waka Iroha,[4] but none of these works quote it directly.[4]
Its contents are now known only from nine fragmentary passages[2] quoted in books I, II and IX the Man'yōshū,[3] as a source of information poets and the circumstances of composition of poems,[1] and its full contents are unknown.[1] The number of books which comprised the anthology is unknown,[1] although the Shōsōin supposedly included a Karin Nanakan (歌林七巻)[1] copied by Prince Ichihara[3] which, if it was the same as this work, would mean it consisted of seven books.[1]
The work divided poems into categories based on some sort of criteria[1] and, using resources such as the Nihon Shoki and Fudoki,[1] investigated the circumstances under which its poems were composed.[1] As far as the Man'yōshū tells us, it apparently included poems by emperors[1] and members of the imperial family,[1] as well as court poems such as those commemorating imperial processions to various parts of the country (行幸従駕 gyōkō-jūga).[1] This has led to the theory that it was compiled to be presented to the crown prince.[1]
It may have been modeled on the Chinese work Yiwen Leiju.[3]
References
editCitations
editWorks cited
edit- Endō, Hiroshi (2001). "Ruijū Karin" 類聚歌林. Encyclopedia Nipponica (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
- Ichinose, Masayuki (October 1991). "Ruijū Karin Oboegaki: Hensan-jiki no ron no kentō o chūshin ni" 「類聚歌林」覚え書き―編纂時期の論の検討を中心に― (PDF). Dōhō Kokubun (in Japanese). 1 (23). Doho University Kokubungakkai: 72–96. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
- Imura, Tetsuo (1998). "Ruijū Karin" 類聚歌林. World Encyclopedia (in Japanese). Heibonsha. Retrieved 2018-11-23.