WAme ni mo makezu is a famous poem written by Kenji Miyazawa, a poet from the northern prefecture of Iwate in Japan who lived from 1896 to 1933. It was written in a notebook with a pencil in 1931 when he was fighting illness in Hanamaki, unknown even to his family when it was published. Because it was written “11.3.” at the top of the opening page with bule pencil, this was presumed to write in November 3. Kenji always carried his notebook and pencil with him, noting that he had emerged. There are as many as 15 notebooks, but only the notebook with Ame ni mo makezu is so important that it cannot be compared with other notebooks, because this notebook contained in his inner heart, the thoughts of his sickbed, his religious beliefs, and the important events of his life, so it can be said that Ame ni mo makezu is special.
WAriwara no Narihira was a Japanese courtier and waka poet of the early Heian period. He was named one of both the Six Poetic Geniuses and the Thirty-Six Poetic Geniuses, and one of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu collection. He is also known as Zai Go-Chūjō, Zai Go, Zai Chūjō or Mukashi-Otoko.
WThe Black Ships was the name given to Western vessels arriving in Japan in the 16th and 19th centuries.
WDōin was a Japanese waka poet of the late-Heian period. One of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, and forty-one of his poems were included in imperial collections.
WEgyō was a Japanese waka poet of the mid-Heian period. One of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. He produced a private collection, the Egyō-hōshi-shū, and was listed as one of the Late Classical Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry.
WFujiwara no Sadaie (藤原定家), better-known as Fujiwara no Teika, was a Japanese anthologist, calligrapher, literary critic, novelist, poet, and scribe of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. His influence was enormous, and he is counted as among the greatest of Japanese poets, and perhaps the greatest master of the waka form – an ancient poetic form consisting of five lines with a total of 31 syllables.
WFujiwara no Yoshitaka was a Japanese waka poet of the mid-Heian period. One of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. He produced a private waka collection, the Yoshitaka-shū.
WFujiwara no Michinobu was a Japanese waka poet of the mid-Heian period. One of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. He produced a private waka collection, the Michinobu-shū.
WFujiwara no Sanekata was a Japanese waka poet of the mid-Heian period. One of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. He left a private waka collection, the Sanekata-shū.
WGyōson , also known as the Abbot of Byōdō-in , was a Japanese Tendai monk and waka poet of the late-Heian period. He became chief prelate of the Enryaku-ji temple in Kyoto, and one of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. Almost fifty of his poems were included in imperial anthologies, and he produced a private collection of poetry.
WHaiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a kireji, or "cutting word", 17 on in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a kigo, or seasonal reference. Similar poems that do not adhere to these rules are generally classified as senryū.
W"Kimigayo" is the national anthem of Japan. The lyrics of "Kimigayo" are probably the oldest among the world's national anthems, and with a length of 32 characters, they are also the world's shortest. The lyrics are from a waka poem written by an unnamed author in the Heian period (794–1185), and the current melody was chosen in 1880, replacing an unpopular melody composed by John William Fenton eleven years earlier. Its length of 11 measures is currently among the world's shortest. While the title "Kimigayo" is usually translated as "His Imperial Majesty's Reign", no official translation of the title or lyrics has been established in law.
WKyōka is a popular, parodic subgenre of the tanka form of Japanese poetry with a metre of 5-7-5-7-7. The form flourished during the Edo period and reached its zenith during the Tenmei era (1781–89).
WMatsuo Bashō, born Matsuo Kinsaku, then Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa, was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest master of haiku. He is also well known for his travel essays beginning with “Records of a Weather-Exposed Skeleton” (1684), written after his journey west to Kyoto and Nara. Matsuo Bashō's poetry is internationally renowned, and, in Japan, many of his poems are reproduced on monuments and traditional sites. Although Bashō is famous in the West for his hokku, he himself believed his best work lay in leading and participating in renku. He is quoted as saying, "Many of my followers can write hokku as well as I can. Where I show who I really am is in linking haikai verses."
WMinamoto no Hitoshi was a Japanese waka poet of the mid-Heian period. One of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
WHyakunin Isshu (百人一首) is a classical Japanese anthology of one hundred Japanese waka by one hundred poets. Hyakunin isshu can be translated to "one hundred people, one poem [each]"; it can also refer to the card game of uta-garuta, which uses a deck composed of cards based on the Hyakunin Isshu.
WOku no Hosomichi, translated alternately as The Narrow Road to the Deep North and The Narrow Road to the Interior, is a major work of haibun by the Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, considered one of the major texts of Japanese literature of the Edo period. The first edition was published posthumously in 1702.
WRyōzen was a Japanese waka poet of the mid-Heian period. One of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, and thirty-one of his poems were included in imperial anthologies from the Goshūi Wakashū on.
WShigin is a performance of reciting a Japanese poem or a Chinese poem read in Japanese, each poem usually chanted by an individual or in a group. Reciting can be done loudly before a large audience, softly to a few friends, or quietly to the reciter themselves.
WShun'e , also known as Tayū no Kimi (大夫公), was a Japanese waka poet of the late-Heian period. One of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. He produced a private collection, the Rin'yō Wakashū, and was listed as one of the Late Classical Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry.
WSugawara no Michizane , also known as Kan Shōjō (菅丞相) or Kanke (菅家), was a scholar, poet, and politician of the Heian Period of Japan. He is regarded as an excellent poet, particularly in Kanshi poetry, and is today revered in Shinto as the god of learning, Tenman-Tenjin .
WSuō no Naishi was a Japanese waka poet of the late-Heian period. One of her poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, and thirty-five in imperial collections. She also produced a private waka collection, the Suō no Naishi-shū.
WTakashina no Takako , also known as the mother of the Honorary Grand Minister or as Kō no Naishi (高内侍), was a Japanese waka poet of the mid-Heian period. One of her poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
WUkon (右近) was a Japanese poet of the Heian period. She was also a lady-in-waiting of Lady Onshi, consort of Emperor Daigo.
WWaka is a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature. Although waka in modern Japanese is written as 和歌, in the past it was also written as 倭歌, and a variant name is yamato-uta (大和歌).
WWinter Days is a 2003 Japanese anime film directed by Kihachirō Kawamoto. It is based on one of the renku in the 1684 collection of the same name by the 17th-century Japanese poet Bashō.