Issues at Stake in Poetic Commentary in Medieval Japan

Overview & Synopsis

In order to understand the issues at stake in poetic commentary in medieval Japan, this article examines one of the oldest commentaries in the Japanese tradition, the Kenchū mikkan or “Secret investigations of Kenshō’s commentary [on Kokin waka shū ]”, a commentary on the first anthology of Japanese poetry compiled by imperial order, around 905. The Kenchū mikkan dates from 1221. It is a double commentary by two poets, among the most important in the Japanese tradition, who belonged to two rival poetic schools. The first, Kenshō (1130?–1209), belonged to the Rokujō school, while the second, Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241), was head of the Mikohidari school. Around 1183, Kenshō wrote a commentary entitled Kokin hichū shō “Notes on the secret commentaries of the Kokin [waka shū ]”, in which he comments on 410 of the 1111 poems of the imperial anthology. In 1221, Teika added his own commentaries to Kenshō’s text: Kenchū mikkan is the title given to this double commentary. In the article we examine the entire section dedicated to the Laments, that is to say, 12 poems and their commentaries. Reading this section will enable us to understand the specific points of the two poets’ commentaries, and therefore what they considered to be the essential information to be conveyed.