Reflections on the Man’yōshū EraFujiwara no Shunzei
Translated by Malgorzata Karolina Citko and Kei Umeda

Abstract

To date, six texts of Man’yōshū jidaikō are known, none of which has been annotated. The earliest extant text, a scroll (kansusō 巻子装) from the Shiguretei Bunko, is believed to have been copied in the mid-Kamakura period by Reizei Tamesuke 冷泉為相 (1263–1328), a son of Fujiwara no Tameie 藤原為家 (1198–1275), based on a copy determined by Tamesuke to have been made by Kujō Motoie 九条基家 (1203–1280), one of the younger sons of Kujō Yoshitsune. The present translation is based on this Reizei-ke Shiguretei Bunkozō-bon 冷泉家時雨亭文庫蔵本. Two more Reizei-ke texts exist in the form of booklets (sasshi 冊子). The remaining three texts are Motoori Norinaga Kinenkanzō-bon 本居宣長記念館蔵本 from the Museum of Motoori Norinaga in Matsusaka 松阪, Mie Prefecture; Miyagi-ken Shiogama Jinja-bon 宮城県塩釜神社本 from the Shiogama 塩釜 Shrine, Miyagi Prefecture; and Zoku gunsho ruijūbon 続群書類従本, a modern printed edition based on a copy from the archives of the Kunaichō Shoryōbu 宮内庁書陵部 (Imperial Household Agency Bureau of Imperial Records). All three date from the Edo period and are probably derived from the Reizei-ke Shiguretei Bunkozō-bon. See Takeshita, “Kaidai,” p. 34. Throughout the footnotes and translation, we have used McCullough and McCullough, Tale of Flowering Fortunes, for translations of titles and ranks.