Sankashū

{{nihongo3||山家集|Sankashū|"Collection of a Mountain Home"}} is a collection of poems by Saigyō, most probably made by the poet himself, and issued {{circa|1180}}.

Dating

Because the collection contains no poems from the last decade of Saigyō's life, 1180–90, he is thought to have closed it c.1180, and circulated it thereafter.W R Lafleur, Awesome Nightfall (2003) p. 69

Divisions

The collection contains 1552 poems,Shuichi Kato, A History of Japanese Literature (2013) p. 94 and falls into three parts. The first (1-572) is divided into four sections containing poems of the four seasons; the second (573-1041) into two sections - Love and Miscellaneous; and the third (1042-1152) again into two sections - Miscellaneous Songs and One Hundred Songs.H H Honda trans, The Sanka Shu: The Mountain Hermitage (Hokuseido Press 1971) p. vii

Quality

Where much court poetry of the time was convoluted, the Sankashū is known for its directness of utterance.Shuichi Kato, A History of Japanese Literature (2013) p. 94 His early translator, Hei-Hachuro Honda, valorised Saigyō's poems of solitude over those that were involved in more communal activities. Later critics, however, have paid more attention to how his poetry was rooted both in his private life and the public life of his society.W R Lafleur, Awesome Nightfall (2003) p. xi and p. 1-2

References

External links

[http://www.heliam.net/One_Hundred_Poems/86_Saigyo.html The monk Saigyo]
[http://carlsensei.com/classical/index.php/author/view/19 Classical Japanese Database] - has some poems by Saigyō in translations and in the original Japanese

Classic

Category:Late Old Japanese texts

Category:Heian period in literature

Category:12th-century poetry