Saigū no Nyōgo Shū

The Saigū no Nyōgo Shū (斎宮女御集), also known as the Saigū-shū (斎宮集) is a Japanese anthology of waka poetry. It is the personal anthology (kashū) of Princess Kishi, who was also known as Saigū no Nyōgo. It is one of the Sanjūroku-nin Shū (三十六人集).

Compiler and date

There are a number of possibilities as to how the Saigū no Nyōgo Shū came about.^[1] The scholar Motoko Morimoto [ja], in her article on the anthology for the Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten, presents the following theory:^[1]

Text 1 was created when the court ladies attached to Princess Kishi collected together her poems after her death in 985.^[1]
The poetic exchanges between the princess and Emperor Murakami that were recorded after the latter's death in 967 were then incorporated into Text 1.^[1] This was Text 2-A.^[1]
Poems the princess exchanged with various individuals were incorporated into Text 1 independently, creating Text 2-B.^[1]
Text 3 was compiled from the above, with the ordering and text of the poems being edited.^[1]

Based on this theory, the 102-poem Shōho-ban Kasen Kashū-bon text (see Textual tradition and modern editions, below) would be Text 1,^[1] while the 163-poem Archives and Mausolea Department text would be Text 2-A.^[1] The fragmentary Kojima-gire would be Text 2-B.,^[1] and the 265-poem Nishihonganji-bon Sanjūroku-nin Shū text would be Text 3.^[1]

The anthology's contents can be divided into two parts: the first including poems generally composed up to the death of Emperor Murakami in 967, the second centring on her second journey to Ise in 975.^[1] The first part is noted for poems addressing the joys and sorrows of the life of a lady in the court of Emperor Murakami, while the second part is known for its poems on reaching Ise and dwelling there.^[1]

The work illustrates the princess's associations with many people in the Heian Capital.^[1]

Textual tradition and modern editions

Two early-twelfth century manuscripts, the Nishihonganji-bon (西本願寺本) and the Kojima-gire (小島切), are extant.^[1] Facsimile editions of both were produced in the mid-1960s.^[1] The Nishihonganji-bon is part of the Nishihonganji-bon Sanjūroku-nin Shū.^[1] There is also a Shōho-ban Kasen Kashū-bon text,^[1] and one in the possession of the Archives and Mausolea Department of the Imperial Household Agency.^[1]

Modern printed editions include the Gunsho Ruijū, Shoku Kokka Taikan (a supplement to the Kokka Taikan) and Kokka Taikei Vol. 12.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u Morimoto 1983, p. 14.

Works cited

Morimoto, Motoko (1983). "Saigū no Nyōgo Shū". Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典 (in Japanese). Vol. 3. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. p. 14. OCLC 11917421.

External links

"和歌データベース". tois.nichibun.ac.jp. Retrieved 2017-11-03.

[FOOTNOTEMorimoto198314-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u Morimoto 1983, p. 14.

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