Principles of Poem Arrangement in the Gosen wakashū

Authors

  • J. Christopher Kern Auburn University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jll.2026.400

Keywords:

Waka, tanka, Japanese poetry

Abstract

The Gosen wakashū is the second Imperially sponsored collection of waka poetry, compiled some time in the 950s. Research on the collection has been hampered excessive comparisons to its predecessor the Kokinshu, causing it to be viewed as a disorganized, unfinished collection that contains poor poetry. In this article, I show that if we are willing to accept the Gosenshū on its own merits rather than simply comparing it to other anthologies, it is possible to tease out an internal structure of the poem organization that is not chaotic. My analysis in the paper is focused on the three volumes of spring poems, showing that the organization depends on principles other than simply sorting the poems by their dominant seasonal image. I hope that my analysis will encourage others to examine the Imperial collections of waka poetry as literary works in their own right, rather than simply as historical documents.

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Published

2026-04-27

Issue

Vol. 60 No. 1 (2026): Japanese Language and Literature

Section

LITERATURE ARTICLES

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Chris Kern

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