JAPANESE POETRY.
The oldest Japanese verses in existence are those contained in the (Kojiki) (vide Cham berlain's translation) and the This work was written in the beginning of the 8th century and contains the history of Japan from the so-called uGod Period° nearly down to the time of writing. Therefore the dates of some of the verses therein contained are very remote, and it is almost impossible to fix the exact date. Since• the 7th and po 8th centuries the study of Chinese has become so common and prevalent that from those periods poems in Chinese have been composed by Japanese throughout all suc ceeding ages. Thus poetry has been of two al together different kinds; namely, in Chinese. and Japanese. The development of the Chinese poetry, too, has been so great as to be almost incomprehensible. To go into more details, at the end of the 8th century there was already a collection of Chinese poems entitled the (kaifuso.' During the Heian era the compo sition of Chinese poems became much more prevalent and collections which were then made were numerous. The writers were _generally men, but women were not wanting. From the JCamaknra eta down to the Ashikaga era, Chi nese poetry declined in the general decay of ail literary pursuits but was not altogether lost. During the last three centuries, together with the general advancement of literary study, Chi nese poetry has made such a striking develop ment as to eclipse that of the Heian era. As, however, the Chinese school of poetry is after all foreign to our real purpose, we must dis pense with a detailed account of it here.
The oldest Japanese verses next to those in the and (Nihongi) are those of the (Manyoshu.) The greater part of these belong to the Nara era, namely, the 8th century, and a portion belongs to the latter part of the 7th century. The most celebrated poet of the period was Hitomaru, who flourished toward the latter part of the 7th century, and the next in degree is Akahito. These two are considered by common consent as the greatest Japanese poets. Next to these we may mention the names of Okura, Yakamochi, and a woman, Odomo Iratsume. (For specimens consult translations by Chamberlain, Aston and Dick ens). During the Heian era poetry flourished between the Chinese study on the one hand and the Japanese literary pursuits on the other.
There are seven or eight collections of poems made to the order of the successive emperors, headed by the famous work (Kokinstm,' besides many private collections. (For examples of some of those in the (Kokinshu) consult the English translations above mentioned). Even after the Heian era the influence of the Japanese poems was still felt and collections by Imperial orders were made from time to time, the total number of such collections made by the Imperial order being altogether 21.
Among the most celebrated poets, men and women, of the Heian era, we may mention Narihira, Komachi (a woman), Sojo Henjo, Tsurayuki, Mitsune and Shunzei; and among those who flourished in the latter part of the period and the Kamakura era, namely, the latter half of the 12th century and the early part of the 13th century, the names of Teika, Karyu, Saigyo and Sanetomo (the third Shogun of Karpakura). From that time down to our own day poetical composition has been main tained unbroken, so that it is impossible to give minute description of it. But from the fact that the presentation of poems to the em peror and the holding of the so-called °poetry meeting," forms one of the court ceremonies at New Year, it may be seen how deeply this poetic desire is connected with Japanese na tional life. When we look over the whole history of Japanese poetry, its golden age must be assigned to the Manyoshu period. This contains all sorts of poetic work, from those by the emperors down to those by the common people of remote regions, those by the court nobles naturally being the chief. All these seem to show how highly the poetic spirit de veloped among the Japanese people at large. Besides, the contains the so-called tlong) poems as well as but since the Heian era (lone poems practically ceased to exist. Moreover, while the of the Manyoshu age had force and energy, with con cise and sharp expression, that of the Heian era developed on the of gracefulness and elegance, losing_the strong points of the Man yoshu poetry. Thus comparing both the strong and the weak features of the Heian era with those of the Manyoshu age, we can decidedly say that Japanese poetry already showed a marked decay, and this decay has continued through all ages down to our own time.