Today's post is actually from a paper I wrote in graduate school about the Kin'yo wakashu and Minamoto Toshiyori.  I've included the introduction and the first three spring poems (the first three poems of the anthology).

Compiled by Minamoto Toshiyori (源俊頼) at the behest of Retired Emperor Shirakawa, the Kin'yô wakashû is designed to be an intentional departure from the typical imperial anthology, varying in both structure and aesthetics. As Toshiyori is one of the few non-Fujiwara editors of the chokusenshuû, it is clear that Shirakawa chose him as much for politcal reason (to help break the hold on power that the Fujiwara had) as for poetic reasons. Comprised not of the typical twenty-two books, but of ten, the compilation includes the following books: spring, summer, autumn, winter, congratulatory poems, poems of separation, two books of love poetry, a book of miscellaneous poetry, and a book of both miscellaneous and travel poetry. One of the major difficulties in studying this collection, however, is the three textual lines: Toshiyori submitted three different drafts before Shirakawa accepted one, but it is the second, not the third, that is generally recognized as the definitive Kin'yô wakashû.¹ In any case, the Kin'yô wakashû is the shortest of all imperial anthologies.

As Donald Keene mentioned in Seeds in the Heart, this collection is interesting in the editor's approach to both poetics and the compilation of the Kin'yô wakashû. Minamoto Toshiyori was considered a radical in his time, and his radicalism can be seen in the selection of poetry for the anthology. The most striking aspects are Toshiyori's emphasis on contemporary poets and his appreciation for rustic and natural imagery over more emotional poetry. However, as Keene also points out, Toshiyori was also original in his use of waka to express “grievances”, going so far as to include a headnote indicating his bitterness over “not having obtained office until the age of seventy”.

As the collection does not contain a preface, it is difficult to guess what, exactly, Toshiyori's intentions were in the compilation process. However, as poems by Toshiyori himself are the greatest in number (thirty-seven poems out of about six-hundred fifty total), and as Toshiyori was the sole compiler, we can assume that his poetic vision and aesthetics were the primary factor, despite requiring Retired Emperor Shirakawa's final decision for approval.

Minamoto Toshiyori (sometimes read as Shunrai), despite maintaining a low standing in terms of court rank, was somewhat of a revolutionary in terms of poetics. He had no problem with poems dealing with “vulgar” topics, going so far as to include poems riff with 'vulgarities' in a collection submitted to Emperor Horikawa², included below:

Is it because

To be love's coolie has become

A habit I am stuck with

That even on a journey it wells up,

This day's-end clatter banging in my breast?

This poem was obviously startling for a courtly audience, where elegence was the rule, as it deals so directly and coarsely with “relations”.

However, Toshiyori was not limited to vulgarities, or he surely would not have been selected to compile the collection by Retired Emperor Shirakawa. Looking at his own poems he chose to include in the selection, we can see a powerful ability to provoke emotion with concrete images. Turning to poem 51 of the Kin'yô wakashû, we can see an elegent demonstration of Toshiyori's descriptive abilities:

Even though the wind blows in the treetops, it can't be seen; the lucious

beauty of sakura flowers: the wind has become clear

In this poem, Toshiyori creates a unique spring poem—while it is a common trope to mistake sakura flowers for other things, such as clouds, here he's taken that trope and inverted it, by using sakura as an illuminating image. Though we cannot “see” the sakura, their scent allows us to detect the wind with our other senses. In a way, this poem is creating a new way of looking at the world—while our eyes may fail us, if we use our various senses thoughtfully, we can find a way to approach things difficult to “see”.

Despite being the shortest imperial anthology, the Kin'yô wakashû is of great importance, as Toshiyori's asthetic vision has a great influential power on what eventually becomes the dominate vision of Japanese poetics in the the following eras. While Retired Emperor Shirakawa was not himself an complete advocate of Toshiyori's renegade style, he was lucky in his selection of Toshiyori, as his name is now forever associated with one of the most influential anthologies of Japanese poetry.

1Keene, pg 307

2Brower and Miner, pg 244

初春の心をよめる 吉野山峰の白雪いつ消えてけさは霞の立ち替わるらん yoshino yama mine no shirayuki itsu kiete kesa ha kasumi no tachikawaruran 源重之 Composed on the appearance of the first day of spring The white snow of the summit of Mount Yoshino—when will it vanish? and when will the first spring morning mist swell with magic? Minamoto no Shigeyuki (????-1000)

堀川院御時、百首の歌召しけるに、元日の心をつかうまつれる うちなびき1春は来にけり山川の岩間の氷けふや解くらん uchi nabiki haru ha kinikeri yamakawa no iha ma no tsurara kefu ya tokuran 修理大夫顕季 Composed on the heart of moved by New Years day, upon reading the Hundred Poem collection from the reign of Retired Emperor Horikawa The plants' branches have grown long, spring has come; the mountain rivers are yet frozen between the rocks, but will they, perhaps, thaw today Official In Charge of Palace Repairs Fujiwara no Akisue (1055-1113)

天徳四年内裏の歌合によめる 倉橋2の山の****より春霞年を積みてや立ち渡るらん kurahashi no yama no kahi yori haru kasumi toshi wo tsumite ya tachi waruran 中納言朝忠 Composed at the Emperor's palace at the poetry meet of the fourth year of Tentoku From within the narrows of Yamato's mountains, the spring mists seem to accumulate the years, swell, and spill out over the land Middle Counsellor Fujiwara no Asatada (910-966)

ふろさとは春めきにけりみ吉野の御垣の原も霞こめたり furusato ha haru mekinikeri miyoshino no mikaki no hara mo kasumi kometari 平兼盛 Same as previous poem Since the ancient times treasured Yoshino that seemed like spring even the Imperial villa filled with mist Taira no Kanemori (????-990)

あさみどり3霞めるそらのけしきにや常盤の山は春を知るらん asa midori kasameru sora no keshiki ni ya tokiha no yama ha haru wo shiruran 少将公教母 Same as previous poem From the hue of the pale green of the misty sky about the mountains, who live eternally, cannot one see that spring draws nigh? Major General Kinnori's mother4 (????-????)

年毎に変らぬものは春霞立田の山のけしきなりけり toshigoto ni kaharanu mono ha harugasumi tatsuta no yama no keshikinarikeri 藤原顕輔朝臣 Same as previous poem Each and every year, completely without fail, the spring mists do swell, seeming to have risen up around Tatsuta Mountain Courtier Fujiwara no Akisuke (1090-1155)

正月朔に雪の降り侍りけるを見て遣はしける あらたまの年の初めに降り敷けば初雪とこそいふべかるらん aratama no toshi no hajime ni furishikeba hatsu yuki to koso ifu bekaruran 修理大夫顕季 On honorably watching the snow fall in the first month of the year As it is falling all about at the beginning of the new year is it not right for us to call it the “the first snow”? Official In Charge of Palace Repairs Fujiwara no Akisue (1055-1113)

返し 朝戸開けて春の梢の雪見れば初花ともやいふべかるらん asa to akete haru no kozue no yuki mireba hatsu hana tomo ya ifu bekaruran 春宮大夫公実 Reply Upon opening the door in the morning and seeing spring treetops covered in snow could not one say, “Indeed! The first flowers!” Steward to the Crown Prince Fujiwara Kinzane (1043-1107)

1A makurakotoba for spring

2A makurakotoba for the first state of Japan (Yamato)

3A makurakotoba for mist

4The Kin'yô wakashû is the only anthology to contain her work