About the Hyakunin Isshu

What is the Hyakunin Isshu?

    The Hyakunin Isshu （百人一首）is an anthology of 100 waka poems by 100 Japanese poets. Waka （和歌）literally means "Japanese poem", and though in the past there were many types such as tanka (短歌),and chouka 長歌, after the Heian period tanka became the predominant form of poetry. Tanka poems have 5 lines, typically consisting of a syllable pattern of 5-7-5-7-7. 

Fujiwara no Teika

    The poet who compiled this anthology was Fujiwara no Teika (藤原定家) (1162-1241), a Japanese poet active in the late Heian through early Kamakura period. Fujiwara no Teika was not only a well respected poet, but also made many contributions to Japanese culture and literature at the time as a calligrapher, critic, anthologist, novelist, scribe and scholar. 

    Perhaps one of his most enduring works is the Hyakunin Isshu, which started out as a commission from his son's father in law, Utsunomiya Renshou (宇都宮蓮生).  Utsunomiya Renshou wanted to decorate the screen doors at his residence at Mt. Ogura in Kyoto, and asked that Fujiwara produce calligraphy sheets with poetry on them as decoration. The poems he chose to decorate these screens became the basis of the poetry anthology, which is also frequently referred to as the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. 

    Fujiwara Teika chose poems which he thought were particularly beautiful, and he tended to prefer poems which expressed honest feelings over poems which were just well-written from a literature stand-point. The Hyakunin Isshu contains poems from some of the most renowned Japanese poets authored across almost 600 years of Japanese history from the early Heian through the Kamakura Periods. Some of the most famous poets include 25 poets from a group of poets known collectively as the "Thirty-Six Poetic Geniuses" or "Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry". These 36 poets were expanded from a list of "6 poetry immortals" or Rokkasen chosen in the Heian period. The Hyakunin Isshu includes poems from 5 of these 6 poetic legends. 
     

    The themes of the poems in the Hyakunin Isshu vary from vivid expressions of the beauty of nature, to love, longing and loneliness, though there are some themes which emerge as especially common. The most prevalent theme is that of love,  with at least 43 poems in the anthology having this theme. This is perhaps unsurprising given it became a tradition in the Heian period for courting lovers to send poems back and forth, which would lead to a rise in the overall number of waka poems about love. Some 33 poems in the anthology reference specific seasons, with the most referenced season being autumn, perhaps revealing a preference of the compiler himself for the season. 

    This anthology of poetry has stood the test of time; having been compiled in the year 1235, it is still studied and heralded as a superior example of traditional Japanese poetry. In Japan, students study these poems in school as part of the standard curriculum on Japanese literature. The poems themselves are currently seeing a boost in popularity both domestically and overseas, thanks in no small part to the popular manga and anime, "Chihayafuru". The protagonist of this story plays Kyogi Karuta, a card game and sport that is based on the 100 poems of the Hyakunin Isshu. Since the publication of this manga started, the Karuta world has seen a "boom" of new Karuta players interested in trying out the sport.

    But how did a traditional poetry anthology become the foundation for a new kind of sport? Find out more in my post on the history of Kyogi Karuta!