This is our second collection of translated and annotated kanshi 漢詩 (poems in literary Sinitic) from the Nara and Heian periods (710–1185), following on from our previous book, Dance of the Butterflies: Chinese Poetry from the Japanese Court Tradition, published in the Cornell East Asia Series in 2005. Seeking to illuminate both the public and the private spheres within the Nara-Heian kanshi tradition, we have provided translations, notes, and commentaries for a further 225 poems, together with the original verse texts and biographical sketches for each poet. While intending this book primarily for scholars in premodern Japanese and Chinese studies, we have endeavored to make it also accessible to general readers, who may not have any prior familiarity with Japanese court poetry or culture. For scholars working in the field, some of the information in our notes and commentaries will be common knowledge; to these individuals we apologize in advance for any superfluity.

In the present volume sixty-nine poets are represented, these including members of the nobility across the aristocratic spectrum, from emperors and princes down to lesser courtiers and Academy students, along with a scattering of Buddhist priests, royal ladies, and a foreign diplomat. The verse comes from thirteen major anthologies, all compiled during the Heian period except Kaifūsō 懐風藻 (Poetic Gems Cherishing the Styles of Old), which appeared in AD 751. Most of these works contain pieces by multiple poets: sixty-four in the case of Kaifūsō and thirty in Honchō mudaishi 本朝無題詩 (Poems from Our Court Without Allusive Titles, 1162–64), for example. Several are private anthologies that preserve the kanshi legacies of single individuals: Shimada no Tadaomi 島田忠臣 (828–92?), Ki no Haseo 紀長谷雄 (845–912), Fujiwara no Tadamichi 藤原忠通 (1097–1164), and, most notably, Sugawara no Michizane 菅原道眞 (845–903), whose two works collectively constitute the largest extant kanshi corpus of any Heian poet.

In selecting verse for this work, particular attention has been paid to informal and private poetry, comparatively little of which has ever been translated. These poems tend to have more lyrical and human interest than the formal court kanshi, offering significant insights into the personal lives and aesthetic sensibilities of courtiers. At the same time, our goal has been to provide a balanced sample of the kanshi genre throughout this period, one not limited to masterpieces and curiosities but containing representative and typical pieces as well. Besides works by iconic figures like Michizane, we include many by lesser-known literati whose poetry also merits recognition, in the spirit of the eighteenth-century anthology Tangshi sanbai shou 唐詩三百首, thanks to which a number of minor Chinese poets are remembered to this day. Among our selections are many unusual gems, some of them idiosyncratic and unlike anything we are familiar with in the continental verse tradition: these include the bamboo-mat poems by Ōe no Mochitoki 大江以言 and Prince Tomohira 具平親王; Fujiwara no Tadamichi’s obsessive pieces on crickets; the maritime travel poems of Priest Renzen 釋蓮禪; and the nightlong revels preserved in Chūyūki burui shihai kanshishū 中右記部類紙背漢詩集 (A Collection of Kanshi Written on the Reverse Side of the Classified Edition of Chūyūki, twelfth century).

The Introduction has been written with both the specialist and the general reader in mind, starting with the question of how Sinitic verse forms, and literary Sinitic itself, came to be adopted by the Japanese elite. We provide cultural and historical background to assist in contextualizing verse practice, endeavoring to highlight generic developments and characteristics of formal and informal styles of kanshi against, where possible, the backdrop of history. Further, we have supplemented the more detailed descriptions of individual anthologies situated in the poetry section with a roughly chronological overview of each work, emphasizing the foundational period of the eighth and ninth centuries. Also included are notes on several lesser-known collections. Throughout we have tried to convey a sense of the waxing and waning dynamic of Sinitic verse activity over time, especially as this relates to the half centuries on either side of the Saga anthologies; these periods have received relatively little notice in treatments of kanshi history, mainly because anthologies were either not produced during those years or have not survived. In the latter part of the Introduction we provide a short account of allusion and appropriation and some salient technical features of social poetic practice, including the topic-line verse (kudaishi 句題詩), an important and popular Heian subgenre. Finally, we have added some observations concerning nature poetry in literary Sinitic, which occupies a central place in both formal and informal verse contexts.

Our hope is that the present work will make a contribution toward elevating kanshi to greater prominence in Heian literary scholarship and heighten understanding of the poetics of this period, as well as the cultural milieu within which this verse came into being. It goes without saying that this book owes a considerable debt to many others in Japanese and Chinese studies, both those who preceded us and also a more recent generation of talented and productive scholars, especially those working in the Nara and Heian historico-literary field, whose contributions are already immeasurable. If readers of our volume, including those who have not yet had the opportunity to explore this genre or who cannot read literary Sinitic, manage to enjoy these poems and come away with a broader sense of the scope of this tradition, in all its richness, depth, and variety, this in itself will be sufficient reward.

We offer thanks to our colleagues at The University of Montana and our wonderful friends and family for their abiding interest in this project over the past decade. Judith wishes to express her deep gratitude to Professor Edwin A. Cranston of Harvard University for his encouragement over many years. We also appreciate the generous support and steadfast assistance of the editors at Brill in the preparation of this manuscript and extend our warmest thanks to the two anonymous readers whose valuable suggestions and corrections were gratefully received. Any errors or omissions that remain are ours alone. Without the ongoing support of The University of Montana Foundation and the Karashima endowment much of the research travel required to complete this project would not have been feasible, and we are most grateful for the generosity of Karashima Tsukasa of Kumamoto, Japan. Finally, we would like to express our appreciation to the superb librarians at The University of Montana’s Mansfield Library, who helped us to obtain many of the materials needed to complete this study. Without their timely assistance over the years, this project could not have been brought to a conclusion.