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Secondary sourceBook1205

Shin Kokin Wakashū

Fujiwara no Yoshitsune · 1205

An influential 1205 imperial poetry anthology that included Murasaki Shikibu's work, reflecting her lasting standing among court poets.

Included Murasaki's poems and shows how central The Tale of Genji had become to the poetic culture that admired her.

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A painted and calligraphed handscroll page on pale beige paper. Three deer are painted in ink and muted brown wash on the right, with vertical Japanese calligraphy columns beside them and additional calligraphy on the left side.
Calligraphy page from the Shin Kokin Wakashū, 1205.

About this source

What it is

The Shin Kokin Wakashū is the eighth imperial anthology of waka poetry, commissioned in 1201 by the retired emperor Go-Toba and completed in 1205. It was compiled by a team of court poets led by Fujiwara no Yoshitsune, with Fujiwara no Teika among the chief editors.

Why it matters

The anthology is considered one of the three most influential poetry collections in Japanese history. Its compilers, including Teika's circle, admired Murasaki Shikibu's writing so much that one editor remarked a poet who had not read her novel The Tale of Genji was to be regretted, showing how central her work had become to poetic culture.

Look closer

  • What does it tell us that poets judged each other partly on whether they had read Murasaki's novel?
  • Why might compilers link poems together into a flowing sequence rather than list them separately?
  • What parts of a poet's life or personality can an anthology like this not show us?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Murasaki Shikibu on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Fragment of a decorated handscroll page with black calligraphic Japanese script running in vertical columns on gold-flecked paper with dark green and gold scattered patches and faint grass-like brushstrokes. A printed caption in the lower right reads in Japanese.Book

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The Tale of Genji

Murasaki Shikibu · c. 1010

Open double-page spread of a Japanese manuscript with gold and silver flecks scattered on brown-orange and dark mauve paper. Black cursive kana calligraphy runs in vertical columns on both pages.Book

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Kokin Wakashū

Ki no Tsurayuki and compilers · c. 905-920

Diary entry

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The Diary of Lady Murasaki

Murasaki Shikibu · c. 1008–1010

Scan of a page of handwritten Japanese cursive calligraphy in brown ink on pale paper, written in vertical columns. This is the final part of the Tosa Nikki diary, copied by Fujiwara no Teika in the 13th century.Diary entry

Primary source

Tosa Nikki

Ki no Tsurayuki · 935 (copy 13th century)

Photograph of the front cover of a Japanese book bound in pale green-grey paper. A vertical cream label on the cover bears brush-written Japanese characters and a small seal-like stamp appears at lower left. A color calibration chart and a metric ruler are along the edges of the image.Book

Secondary source

Eiri Genji Monogatari

Yamamoto Shunshō · 1650

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