The pursuit of harmony : poetry and power in early Heian Japan
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The pursuit of harmony : poetry and power in early Heian Japan
(Cornell East Asia series, 139)
East Asia Program, Cornell University, c2008
- : hbk
- : pbk
Available at / 9 libraries
-
No Libraries matched.
- Remove all filters.
Search this Book/Journal
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 393-411) and index
Based on author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 2000
Text primarily in English with poems in romanized Japanese and English
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The Heian court of the late ninth and early tenth centuries represents one of the most innovative and influential periods in the history of Japanese poetry. It witnessed the creation of entirely new forms of verse in poetry matches, screen poems, and officially sponsored anthologies, none of which had a precedent in earlier times. At the apex of these phenomena lay compilation of the Kokin wakashu (Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern), whose status as the first imperial anthology of native poetry would make it integral to Japanese court culture for centuries afterward. Despite the enormous historical significance of these new forms of poetry and the marked interest displayed by powerful individuals in patronizing them, however, little sustained attention has been paid to the ties between the practices of producing and performing verse and processes of economic, ideological, political, and social change in this period. This book is intended to address such issues through an investigation of the ways in which different members of the court community deployed poems in the pursuit of power.
by "Nielsen BookData"