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Catalog note / 解説

The Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, or “One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets for the Ogura District Residence,” was compiled by Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241) in the thirteenth century. He was requested to make the poetry anthology by his son, Fujiwara no Tame’ie, who may also have been involved in its completion. Composed by members of the imperial family and high ranking courtiers from the seventh through the thirteenth centuries, the poems are waka, literally “Japanese songs,” a form of court poetry consisting of thirty-one syllables arranged in five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7, 7 syllables each. Waka was the dominant form of court poetry in Japan at the time, a position it held until the advent of haiku…