''Eiga Ittei'' (詠歌一体, also read ''Eiga no Ittei'' or ''Eiga Ittai'') is a book of poetic theory written by the Japanese '' waka'' poet

Fujiwara no Tameie was a Japanese poet and compiler of Imperial anthologies of poems. Tameie was the second son of poet Fujiwara no Teika, Teika and married Abutsu-ni. He was the central figure in a circle of Japanese poets after the Jōkyū War in 1221. His three ...

in the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

. It falls within the '' karon'' genre. It has a large number of alternate titles, including ''Waka Ittei'', ''Kadō no Sho'', ''Waka Hishō'', ''Sanken Hiketsu'' and ''Yakumo Kuden''. It provides advice to its readers, presumed to be beginner students of ''waka'' composition, in eight sections, and bears similarities to other poetic theory works by Tameie's father,

Fujiwara no Teika was a Japanese anthologist, calligrapher, literary critic,"The high quality of poetic theory (''karon'') in this age depends chiefly upon the poetic writings of Fujiwara Shunzei and his son Teika. The other theorists of ''tanka'' writing, st ...

, and grandfather,

Fujiwara no Shunzei was a Japanese poet, courtier, and Buddhist monk of the late Heian period. He was also and when younger (1123–67) as . He was noted for his innovations in the waka poetic form and compiling the '' Senzai Wakashū'' ("''Collection of a Thou ...

Authorship and date

''Eiga Ittei'' was written by the poet

. The work's date of composition, if one believes the postscript attached to the '' rufubon'' (popular) text, is the

Kōchō was a after '' Bun'ō'' and before ''Bun'ei.'' This period spanned the years from February 1261 to February 1264. The reigning emperor was .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du Japon'', pp. 255-261; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). ''Ji ...

period (1261-1264), although it has also been dated by scholars to 1275.

Title

The work is normally known by the title ''Eiga Ittei'', but it has a large number of alternate titles, including: *''Waka Ittei'' (和歌一体) *''Kadō no Sho'' (歌道之書) *''Waka Hishō'' (和歌秘抄) *''Sanken Hiketsu'' (三賢秘決) *''Yakumo Kuden'' (八雲口伝) The common name can also be read as ''Eiga Ittai'' or ''Eiga no Ittei''.

The ''kōbon'' (広本) text begins with a preface that advises the reader on the value of practice (稽古) over natural ability and knowledge (才学). The text then goes on to give its reader an introduction to eight topics relating to ''waka'' composition: * it advises readers to thoroughly familiarize themselves with the ''dai'' (topic) of the poem to be composed (題詠論); * it addresses the difference between composing poetry in different contexts; * '' fūtei'' (風体); * '' engo'' (縁語); * '' ji-amari'' (字余り); * ''jōgo'' (畳語, literally "

reduplication In linguistics, reduplication is a Morphology (linguistics), morphological process in which the Root (linguistics), root or Stem (linguistics), stem of a word, part of that, or the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change. The cla ...

"); * '' nushi-aru kotoba'' (主ある詞); and * '' honka-dori'' (本歌取り). In terms of its general advice to its readers, it is heavily dependent on the earlier works of

(Tameie's grandfather),

(Tameie's father) and Fujiwara no Kiyosuke, but it is independently noteworthy for its emphasis on practice, which reflects a more medieval ''

dō Dō may refer to: * Dō (architecture) * Dō (armour) * Dō (martial arts) * Dō (philosophy) The Tao or Dao is the natural way of the universe, primarily as conceived in East Asian philosophy and East Asian religions, religion. This seeing ...

''.

Textual tradition

There are two principal textual lines: the Reizei text and the Nijō text. The latter bears a postscript by Fujiwara no Tameuji, and is the '' rufubon'' (popular) text. The postscript for the former was written by and . The Reizei text was only copied in the pre-modern period in manuscript form, with copies in the possession of

Akita University is a Japanese national university in Akita, Akita, Akita City, Japan. Established in 1949, it comprises four graduate schools and four undergraduate faculties. History Akita University was established in 1949 by the merger of Akita Normal Scho ...

, , the , the

Tokugawa Art Museum The is a private art museum, located on the former '' Ōzone Shimoyashiki'' compound in Nagoya, central Japan. Its collection contains more than 12,000 items, including swords, armor, Noh costumes and masks, lacquer furniture, Chinese and Japane ...

, the and others. Manuscripts of the Nijō text survive in the possession of

Tenri Central Library Tenri Central Library (天理大学附属天理図書館 ''Tenri Daigaku Fuzoku Tenri Toshokan'') is the library of Tenri University. It has notably extensive collections of antiquarian material, including original manuscripts from 13th-century J ...

, the and others, and the text was also printed in 1696 and entered circulation in several compilations of books ''waka'' theory.

Notes

References

Works cited

* * * {{cite book , last = Satō , first = Tsuneo , author-link = Tsuneo Satō , chapter = Eiga Ittei , pages = 330 , title =

Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten (Japanese: 日本古典文学大辞典) is a reference work about Japanese literature published by Iwanami Shoten circa 1983-1985. References External links * CiNii CiNii () is a bibliographic database service for ...