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64-508: In their original appearance in the prefaces of the Kokin wakashū , the six rokkasen are not actually referred to with this term. There are numerous phrases that show the conceptualization of these six as a cohesive group, but the term "Rokkasen" first appeared in an early Kamakura-period commentary on Kokin wakashū , titled Sanryūshō 三流抄. The members of the rokkasen , and their total poems in Kokin wakashū, are as follows: In his prefaces to

128-507: A combination of these. Such usage of Chinese characters to phonetically represent Japanese syllables eventually led to the birth of kana , as they were created from simplified cursive forms ( hiragana ) and fragments ( katakana ) of man'yōgana . Like the majority of surviving Old Japanese literature, the vast majority of the Man'yōshū is written in Western Old Japanese,

192-452: A faded flower that retains its fragrance. Bunrin [Fun'ya no Yasuhide] deals cleverly with topics, but his style approaches vulgarity. His poems are like peddlers tricked out in fancy dress. The language of the Ujiyama monk Kisen is dazzling, but his poems do not flow smoothly. Reading him is like trying to keep the autumn moon in sight when a cloud obscures it before dawn. Ono no Komachi belongs to

256-463: A few possibilities for where Hitomaro was serving at Tenmu's court. Watase presents three principal theories: first under the empress-consort Princess Uno-no-sarara (who later became Empress Jitō); second under Crown Prince Kusakabe ; third in the palace of Prince Osakabe . Hitomaro acted as a court poet during the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu . In the fourth month of 689, Prince Kusakabe died, and Hitomaro composed an elegy commemorating

320-522: A period of roughly a century, with scholars assigning the major poets of the collection to one or another of the four "periods" discussed above. Princess Nukata 's poetry is included in that of the first period (645–672), while the second period (673–701) is represented by the poetry of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro , generally regarded as the greatest of Man'yōshū poets and one of the most important poets in Japanese history. The third period (702–729) includes

384-480: A poet of the "fourth period" who probably had a hand in the final compilation of the collection, held Hitomaro in high regard, praising him as Sanshi no Mon (山柿の門). As discussed above , the death of Hitomaro appears to have already taken on some legendary characteristics. In his Japanese preface to the tenth-century Kokin Wakashū , Ki no Tsurayuki referred to Hitomaro as Uta no Hijiri ("Saint of Poetry"). In

448-509: A preface to the Nihon Gakujutsu Shinkō Kai edition of the Man'yōshū : One "envoy" ( hanka ) to a long poem was translated as early as 1834 by the celebrated German orientalist Heinrich Julius Klaproth (1783–1835). Klaproth, having journeyed to Siberia in pursuit of strange languages, encountered some Japanese castaways, fishermen, hardly ideal mentors for the study of 8th century poetry. Not surprisingly, his translation

512-438: A time of homogeneity, and that by aligning them in his commentary with the six major styles of Han dynasty poetry, Tsurayuki was showing off his knowledge of those sources. Thomas Lammare also believes that Tsurayuki picked these poets to match the six Han styles, and focuses more on how Tsurayuki claimed these styles did not properly align heart ( kokoro 心) and words ( kotoba 言葉). On the other hand, Katagiri Yoichi believes that

576-558: Is based on Saitō's interpretation of kai as referring to a "ravine" (峡). Other scholars take the presence of "shells" as meaning Hitomaro died near the mouth of a river where it meets the sea. (This interpretation would give the translation "Alas! he lies buried, men say, / With the shells of the Stone River.") There is no river named "Ishikawa" near the present Kamoyama; Saitō explained this as "Ishikawa" perhaps being an archaic name for upper part of another river. An unknown member of

640-635: Is best remembered for his elegies for various imperial princes. He also composed well-regarded travel poems. He is ranked as one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals . Ōtomo no Yakamochi , the presumed compiler of the Man'yōshū , and Ki no Tsurayuki , the principal compiler of the Kokin Wakashū , praised Hitomaro as Sanshi no Mon (山柿の門) and Uta no Hijiri (歌の聖) respectively. From the Heian period on, he

704-428: Is deficient in substance. It is no more satisfying to read one of his poems than to fall in love with a woman in a picture. The poetry of Ariwara Narihira tries to express too much content in too few words. It resembles a faded flower with a lingering fragrance. Fun'ya no Yasuhide's language is skillful, but his style is inappropriate to his content. His poems are like peddlers tricked out in fancy costumes. The language of

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768-433: Is one Hitomaro tanka in book 15 said to have been recited in 736 by an envoy sent to Silla . Including these "traditional" Hitomaro poems, that gives 20 chōka and 71 tanka . It is quite possible that a significant number of these poems were incorrectly attributed to Hitomaro by tradition. In addition to Hitomaro's own compositions, there are also many poems said to have been recorded by him in his personal collection ,

832-557: Is probably due to her sex. The style of Ōtomo Kuronushi's poems is crude. They are like a mountain peasant resting under a flowering tree with a load of firewood on his back. Mana preface The Kazan Archbishop [Henjō] masters style, but his flowery language bears little fruit. His poems, like a picture of a beautiful woman, move our hearts without leading to anything. The poetry of the Ariwara Middle Captain [Narihira] tries to express too much content in too few words. It resembles

896-464: Is the better choice for the start of this periodization. Additionally, all but one of the Rokkasen, Ōtomo Kuronushi, appear in the famous collection of poetry, Hyakunin isshū . Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (柿本 人麻呂 or 柿本 人麿; c.  653–655 – c.  707–710 ) was a Japanese waka poet and aristocrat of the late Asuka period . He was the most prominent of

960-518: Is the fact that he contributed chōka to all three categories, and that he composed so many banka . Broken down by topic, the above poems include: From the above it can be said that Hitomaro's poetry was primarily about affairs of the court, but that he also showed a marked preference for poems on travel. In addition to the 85 poems directly attributed to Hitomaro by the Man'yōshū , two chōka and three tanka in books 3 and 9 are said to be traditionally attributed to Hitomaro. Additionally, there

1024-499: The Man'yōshū have a continental tone, earlier poems having Confucian or Taoist themes and later poems reflecting on Buddhist teachings. However, the Man'yōshū is considered singular, even in comparison with later works, in choosing primarily Ancient Japanese themes, extolling Shintō virtues of forthrightness ( 真 , makoto ) and virility ([[[wiktionary:益荒男振り|masuraoburi]]] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 14) ( help ) ). In addition,

1088-545: The Man'yōshū . A mokkan excavated in Kizugawa, Kyoto , contains the first 11 characters of poem 2205 from volume 10, written in Man'yōgana . It is dated between 750 and 780, and its size is 23.4 by 2.4 by 1.2 cm (9.21 by 0.94 by 0.47 in). Inspection with an infrared camera revealed other characters, suggesting that the mokkan was used for writing practice. Another mokkan , excavated in 1997 from

1152-468: The Kakinomoto no Asomi Hitomaro Kashū (柿本朝臣人麿歌集). The Hitomaro Kashū included 333 tanka , 35 sedōka , and two chōka . This adds up to a total figure of close to 500 poems directly associated with Hitomaro. Hitomaro is known for his solemn and mournful elegies of members of the imperial family, whom he described in his courtly poems as "gods" and "children of the sun". He incorporated elements of

1216-604: The Kakinomoto no Ason Hitomaro Kashū were apparently recorded by Hitomaro before 690, and are characteristic of court poetry, leading to the conclusion that he was active at court from the early part of Emperor Tenmu's reign. From this point he was active in recording and composing love poems at court. Watase speculates that Hitomaro came to court in the service of the High Chamberlain  [ ja ] in response to an imperial edict in 673. Based on Hitomaro's poetic activities during Empress Jitō 's reign, there are

1280-764: The Nihon Shoki and, especially, the Kojiki . The Kakinomoto clan were headquartered in either Shinjō, Nara or, perhaps more likely, the Ichinomoto area of Tenri, Nara . The main Wani clan were also based in this area, so the Kakinomoto clan may have had a particularly close relationship with their parent clan. According to the Shinsen Shōjiroku , the clan's name derives from the persimmon ( kaki ) tree that grew on their land during

1344-613: The Heian period the practice of Hitomaru-eigu (人丸影供) also gained currency, showing that Hitomaro had already begun to be apotheosized. Hitomaro's divinity status continued to grow in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods . The Edo period scholars Keichū and Kamo no Mabuchi tended to reject the various legends about Hitomaro. In Akashi , Hyōgo Prefecture there is a Kakinomoto Shrine dedicated to him, commemorating an early Heian belief that Hitomaro's spirit came to rest in Akashi, an area

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1408-476: The Man'yōshū is his Tanabata poem ( Man'yōshū 2033) composed in the ninth year of Emperor Tenmu 's reign (680). The content of this poem reveals an awareness of the mythology that, according to the preface to the Kojiki (completed in 712) had begun to be compiled during Tenmu's reign. Watase also observes that Hitomaro's having composed a Tanabata poem means that he was probably attending Tanabata gatherings during this period. A significant number of poems in

1472-501: The Man'yōshū , including commentaries, the original text, and translations of the prose elements in-between poems. He completed, in order, volumes 15, 5, 14, 20, 17, 18, 1, 19, 2, and 16 before his death in 2022, with volume 10 set to be released posthumously. In premodern Japan, officials used wooden slips or tablets of various sizes, known as mokkan , for recording memoranda, simple correspondence, and official dispatches. Three mokkan that have been excavated contain text from

1536-449: The Nara period . The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in a series of compilers, is today widely believed to be Ōtomo no Yakamochi , although numerous other theories have been proposed. The chronologically last datable poem in the collection is from AD 759 ( No.  4516). It contains many poems from a much earlier period, with

1600-493: The Tajihi clan wrote a response to Yosami in the persona of Hitomaro, very clearly connecting Hitomaro's death to the sea. Hitomaro was a court poet during the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu, with most of his dateable poems coming from the last decade or so of the seventh century. He apparently left a private collection , the so-called Kakinomoto no Ason Hitomaro Kashū , which does not survive as an independent work but

1664-436: The kanji that make up the title Man'yōshū ( 万 — 葉 — 集 ) is "ten thousand — leaves — collection". The principal interpretations of this name, according to the 20th century scholar Sen'ichi Hisamatsu  [ ja ] , are: Of these, supporters of the first interpretation can be further divided into: Furthermore, supporters of the second interpretation of the name can be divided into: The third interpretation of

1728-547: The national mythology seen in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki and historical narrative in his poetry. While he is known for his poems praising the imperial family, his poetry is also filled with human sensitivity and a new, fresh "folkiness". His lament for the Ōmi capital is noted for its vivid, sentimental descriptions of the ruins, while his elegy for Prince Takechi powerfully evokes the Jinshin War . His Yoshino and Samine Island  [ ja ] poems praise splendidly

1792-513: The 31-syllable count of tanka and the latter preserving the 5-7 pattern of syllables in each line. Ian Hideo Levy published the first of what was intended to be a four volume English translation in 1981 for which he received the Japan–U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature . In 2009, Alexander Vovin published the first volume of his English translation of

1856-548: The Emperor, aristocrats, junior officials, Sakimori soldiers ( Sakimori songs), street performers, peasants, and Togoku folk songs (Eastern songs). There are more than 2,100 waka poems by unknown authors. The collection is divided into 20 parts or books; this number was followed in most later collections. The collection contains 265 chōka (long poems), 4,207 tanka (short poems), one an-renga (short connecting poem), one bussokusekika (a poem in

1920-538: The Kakinomoto clan may have had some literary success in the court of Emperor Tenmu. According to the Shoku Nihongi , Saru died in 708, having attained the Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade . There are several theories regarding the relationship of this Kakinomoto no Saru to the poet Hitomaro, including the former being the latter's father, brother, uncle, or them being the same person. The theory that they were

1984-458: The Korean kingdom of Paekche , whose poetry is highly idiosyncratic in both its language and subject matter and has been highly praised in modern times. Yakamochi himself was a poet of the fourth period (730–759), and according to Keene he "dominated" this period. He composed the last dated poem of the anthology in 759. In addition to its artistic merits, the Man'yōshū is significant for using

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2048-478: The Man'yōshū between 1929 and 1963, although this is described by Alexander Vovin as "seriously outdated" due to Pierson having "ignored or misunderstood many facts of Old Japanese grammar and phonology" which had been established in the 20th century. Japanese scholars Honda Heihachiro (1967) and Suga Teruo (1991) both produced complete literary translations into English, with the former using rhymed iambic feet and preserving

2112-619: The Miyamachi archaeological site in Kōka, Shiga , contains poem 3807 in volume 16. It is dated to the middle of the 8th century, and is 2 centimetres (0.79 in) wide by 1 millimetre (0.039 in) thick. Lastly, a mokkan excavated at the Ishigami archaeological site in Asuka, Nara , contains the first 14 characters of poem 1391, in volume 7, written in Man'yōgana . Its size

2176-452: The Ujiyama monk Kisen is veiled, leaving us uncertain about his meaning. Reading him is like trying to keep the autumn moon in sight when a cloud obscures it before dawn. Since not many of his poems are known, we cannot study them as a group in order to evaluate him. Ono no Komachi belongs to the same line as Sotoorihime of old. Her poetry is moving and lacking in strength. It reminds us of a beautiful woman suffering from an illness. Its weakness

2240-442: The anthology Kokin wakashū , Ki no Tsurayuki first praises two poets, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro and Yamabe no Akahito , from the period before the rokkasen and then praises these six poets of the generation preceding his own, but also critiques what he considers to be weaknesses in their personal styles. His criticism in both prefaces is as follows: Kana preface Among well-known recent poets, Archbishop Henjō masters style but

2304-478: The bulk of the collection representing the period between AD 600 and 759. The precise significance of the title is not known with certainty. The Man'yōshū comprises more than 4,500 waka poems in 20 volumes, and is broadly divided into three genres: Zoka , songs at banquets and trips; Somonka , songs about love between men and women; and Banka , songs to mourn the death of people. These songs were written by people of various statuses, such as

2368-727: The collection contains the appeal of an art at its pristine source with a romantic sense of venerable age and therefore of an ideal order since lost. The compilation of the Man'yōshū also preserves the names of earlier Japanese poetic compilations, these being the Ruijū Karin ( 類聚歌林 , Forest of Classified Verses) , several texts called the Kokashū ( 古歌集 , Collections of Antique Poems) , as well as at least four family or individual anthologies known as kashū ( 家集 ) belonging to Kakimoto no Hitomaro, Kasa no Kanamura, Takahashi no Mushimaro and Tanabe no Sakimaro. The literal translation of

2432-567: The creation of an ancient lyricism that expressed both human sentiment and sincere emotions across both his poems of praise and mourning. There is evidence that Hitomaro exerted direct influence on the poetry composed during his own time. For example, poems 171 through 193 of Book 1 of the Man'yōshū bear similarities to his work. It is generally accepted that the court poets of the following generation (the so-called "third period" of Man'yō poetry), including Yamabe no Akahito , were influenced by Hitomaro's courtly poems. Ōtomo no Yakamochi ,

2496-400: The creation of similar lists based on this pattern, such as the "Thirty-Six Court Lady Immortals of Poetry," and the "Thirty-Six Heian-period Immortals of Poetry." Many Japanese scholars of the twentieth century conceptualized the history of waka poetry in the ninth century as a time when it was overshadowed by Chinese poetry in the first part of the century and then returned to prominence by

2560-593: The dialect of the capital region around Kyoto and Nara . However, specific parts of the collection, particularly volumes 14 and 20, are also highly valued by historical linguists for the information they provide on other Old Japanese dialects , as these volumes collectively contain over 300 poems from the Azuma provinces of eastern Japan—what is now the regions of Chūbu , Kanto , and southern Tōhoku . Julius Klaproth produced some early, severely flawed translations of Man'yōshū poetry. Donald Keene explained in

2624-542: The earliest Japanese writing system, the cumbersome man'yōgana . Though it was by no means the first use of this writing system—which was used to compose the Kojiki (712), —it was influential enough to give the writing system its modern name, as man'yōgana means "the kana of the Man'yō[shū] ". This system uses Chinese characters in a variety of functions: logographically to represent Japanese words, phonetically to represent Japanese sounds, and frequently in

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2688-636: The end of the century. These narratives held that this time was a transitional period between the waka anthologies Man'yōshū and Kokin wakashū . When discussing the waka poetry of this period, some scholars have referred to it as the Rokkasen Period (六歌仙時代 rokkasen jidai ), although there has been disagreement on when this period starts. Most of the scholars agree that it ends with the reign of Emperor Kōkō , but disagree on whether it begins with Emperor Ninmyō or Emperor Montoku . Both Hidehito Nishiyama and Ryōji Shimada conclude that they believe Ninmyō

2752-611: The form 5-7-5-7-7-7; named for the poems inscribed on the Buddha's footprints at Yakushi-ji in Nara ), four kanshi (Chinese poems), and 22 Chinese prose passages. Unlike later collections, such as the Kokin Wakashū , there is no preface. The Man'yōshū is widely regarded as being a particularly unique Japanese work, though its poems and passages did not differ starkly from its contemporaneous (for Yakamochi's time) scholarly standard of Chinese literature and poetics; many entries of

2816-558: The historical Hitomaro probably visited multiple times. Hitomaro is today ranked, along with Fujiwara no Teika , Sōgi and Bashō , as one of the four greatest poets in Japanese history. Man%27y%C5%8Dsh%C5%AB The Man'yōshū ( 万葉集 , pronounced [maɰ̃joꜜːɕɯː] ; literally "Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves") is the oldest extant collection of Japanese waka (poetry in Old Japanese or Classical Japanese ), compiled sometime after AD 759 during

2880-841: The imperial family. The ordering of poems, and their headnotes, in volume 2 of the Man'yōshū , implies that Hitomaro died shortly before the moving of the capital to Nara in 710. He would have been in Iwami Province, at the Sixth Rank or lower. The date, site and manner of his death are a matter of scholarly debate, due to some contradictory details that are gleaned from poems attributed to Hitomaro and his wife Yosami no Otome|Yosami ( 依羅娘子 , Yosami no Otome ) . Taking Watase's rough dates, he would have been in his mid-fifties in 709, when Watase speculates he died. Mokichi Saitō postulated that Hitomaro died in an epidemic that swept Iwami and Izumo provinces in 707. Hitomaro's final poem gives

2944-518: The inclusion of such an obscure figure as Priest Kisen, represented by a single poem, shows that Tsurayuki did not choose the six himself, but received them by some tradition. The concept of the rokkasen had a lasting legacy on poetic scholarship both in the pre-modern and modern periods. In 1009–1011, Fujiwara no Kintō compiled an expanded list known as the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry , which came to supplant this list of six. This led to

3008-419: The language of many entries of the Man'yōshū exerts a powerful sentimental appeal to readers: [T]his early collection has something of the freshness of dawn [...] There are irregularities not tolerated later, such as hypometric lines; there are evocative place names and makurakotoba ; and there are evocative exclamations such as kamo , whose appeal is genuine even if incommunicable. In other words,

3072-503: The last great chōka poets, who recorded a number of Japanese legends such as that of Ura no Shimako ; and Kasa no Kanamura , a high-ranking courtier who also composed chōka but not as well as Hitomaro or Mushimaro. But the most prominent and important poets of the third period were Ōtomo no Tabito , Yakamochi's father and the head of a poetic circle in the Dazaifu , and Tabito's friend Yamanoue no Okura , possibly an immigrant from

3136-474: The name - that it refers to a poetry collection that uses a large quantity of paper - was proposed by Yūkichi Takeda in his Man'yōshū Shinkai jō ( 萬葉集新解上 ) , but Takeda also accepted the second interpretation; his theory that the title refers to the large volume of paper used in the collection has not gained much traction among other scholars. The collection is customarily divided into four periods. The earliest dates to prehistoric or legendary pasts, from

3200-447: The natural scenery and the divinity of the Japanese islands, and his Iwami exchange vividly describes the powerful emotions of being separated from the woman he loved. His romantic poems convey honest emotions, and his travel poems exquisitely describe the mood of the courtiers on these trips. He shed tears for the deaths of even random commoners on country paths and court women whose names he did not even know. Watase credits him with

3264-496: The north, Kii Province in the south, Shikoku , Kyūshū and the Seto Inland Sea in the west, as well as Iwami Province in the northwest. Susumu Nakanishi remarks that the fact that he did not apparently compose elegies for emperors themselves, and that most of his poems centre around princes and princesses, indicates that he was probably a writer affiliated with the literary circles that formed around these junior members of

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3328-416: The poems of Takechi no Kurohito , whom Donald Keene called "[t]he only new poet of importance" of the early part of this period, when Fujiwara no Fuhito promoted the composition of kanshi (poetry in classical Chinese ). Other "third period" poets include: Yamabe no Akahito , a poet who was once paired with Hitomaro but whose reputation has suffered in modern times; Takahashi no Mushimaro , one of

3392-626: The poets included in the Man'yōshū , the oldest waka anthology, but apart from what can be gleaned from hints in the Man'yōshū , the details of his life are largely uncertain. He was born to the Kakinomoto clan , based in Yamato Province , probably in the 650s, and likely died in Iwami Province around 709. He served as court poet to Empress Jitō , creating many works praising the imperial family, and

3456-689: The prince. He also composed an elegy for Princess Asuka , who died in the fourth month of 700, and a poem commemorating an imperial visit to Kii Province . His poetic composition flourished during the period in which Empress Jitō was active (both during her reign and after her retirement). He composed poetry for numerous members of the imperial family, including the empress, Prince Kusakabe, Prince Karu , Prince Takechi , Prince Osakabe, Prince Naga , Prince Yuge , Prince Toneri , Prince Niitabe  [ ja ] , Princess Hatsusebe and Princess Asuka . He apparently composed poetry in Yamato Province (his home), Yamashiro Province and Ōmi Province in

3520-491: The reign of Emperor Bidatsu . The Kakinomoto clan had their hereditary title promoted from Omi to Ason in the eleventh month (see Japanese calendar ) of 684. According to the Nihon Shoki , Kakinomoto no Saru , the probable head of the clan, had been among ten people appointed shōkinge  [ ja ] , equivalent to Junior Fifth Rank , in the twelfth month of 681. These facts lead Watase to conjecture that

3584-548: The same like as Sotoorihime of old. Her poetry is beautiful but weak, like an ailing woman wearing cosmetics. Ōtomo Kuronushi's poems belong to the line of Sarumaru of old. Although his poetry has a certain light, witty interest, the style is extremely crude, as though a peasant were resting in front of a flowering tree. There are varying theories on both why Tsurayuki chose these six poets and why he chose to criticize them in this manner. Helen McCullough claims that they were selected because they all had distinctive personal styles in

3648-688: The same person has been advanced by Takeshi Umehara , but has little supporting evidence. While the other theories cannot be confirmed, it is certain that they were members of the same clan (probably close relatives), and were active at the same time. It is likely that their mutual activity at court had a significant effect on each other. The year in which he was born is not known, nor can much be said with certainty about any aspects of his life beyond his poetic activities. Watase tentatively takes Hitomaro as being 21 years old (by Japanese reckoning ) between 673 and 675, which would put his birth between 653 and 655. The earliest dated work attributed to him in

3712-489: The strong impression that he met his death in the mountains. Saitō was convinced he had located the site of the Kamoyama of the above poem and erected a monument there, but two poems by Yosami that immediately follow the above in the Man'yōshū suggest otherwise, as they mention "shells" (貝 kai ) and a "Stone River" (石川 Ishikawa ), neither of which seem likely in the context of Saitō's Kamoyama. The above-quoted translation

3776-563: The time of Emperor Yūryaku ( r.   c.  456  – c.  479 ) to those of the little documented Emperor Yōmei (r. 585–587), Saimei (r. 594–661), and finally Tenji (r. 668–671) during the Taika Reforms and the time of Fujiwara no Kamatari (614–669). The second period covers the end of the 7th century, coinciding with the popularity of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro , one of Japan's greatest poets. The third period spans 700 – c.  730 and covers

3840-418: The works of such poets as Yamabe no Akahito , Ōtomo no Tabito and Yamanoue no Okura . The fourth period spans 730–760 and includes the work of the last great poet of this collection, the compiler Ōtomo no Yakamochi himself, who not only wrote many original poems but also edited, updated and refashioned an unknown number of ancient poems. The vast majority of the poems of the Man'yōshū were composed over

3904-588: Was anything but accurate. In 1940, Columbia University Press published a translation created by a committee of Japanese scholars and revised by the English poet, Ralph Hodgson . This translation was accepted in the Japanese Translation Series of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Dutch scholar Jan L. Pierson completed an English translation of

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3968-471: Was born into the Kakinomoto clan , an offshoot of the ancient Wani clan . Centred in the northeastern part of the Nara Basin , the Wani clan had furnished many imperial consorts in the fourth through sixth centuries, and extended their influence from Yamato Province to Yamashiro , Ōmi , Tanba and Harima provinces. Many of their clan traditions (including genealogies, songs, and tales) are preserved in

4032-481: Was cited extensively by the compilers of the Man'yōshū . 18 chōka and 67 tanka (of which 36 are envoys to his long poems) are directly attributed to him in the Man'yōshū . All are located in the first four books of the collection. Of these, six chōka and 29 tanka are classified as zōka (miscellaneous poems), three chōka and 13 tanka as sōmon (mutual exchanges of love poetry), and nine chōka and 25 tanka as banka ( elegies ). Of note

4096-426: Was often called Hito-maru (人丸). He has come to be revered as a god of poetry and scholarship, and is considered one of the four greatest poets in Japanese history, along with Fujiwara no Teika , Sōgi and Bashō . The sole early source for the life of the poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro is the Man'yōshū . His name does not appear in any of the official court documents, perhaps on account of his low rank. Hitomaro

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