The Shikawakashū (or Shikashū) ‘The Collection of Verbal Flowers (of Japanese Poetry)’ was the sixth of the imperial anthologies (chokusenshū) and the shortest. It was commissioned in 1144 by Emperor Sutoku (1119-1164; r. 1123-1141) and completed in 1151. The seven years of labour by the compiler, Fujiwara no Akisuke (1090-1155) produced a collection in ten books, consisting of only 416 poems. The anthology contains poems by only a small number of named poets, with Sone no Yoshitada and Izumi Shikibu heavily represented.
The Shikashū contains the following books:
| Book I Book II Book III Book IV Book V Book VI Book VII Book VIII Book IX Book X | Spring Summer Autumn Winter Felicitations Partings Love I Love II Miscellaneous I Miscellaneous II |
The principal poets of the collection (those with 5 or more poems included) are: Sone no Yoshitada (17), Izumi Shikibu (16), Ôe no Masafusa (14), Minamoto no Toshiyori (Shunrai) (11), Emperor Kazan (9), The Monk Dōmyō (9), Akazome Emon (8), Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu (8), Fujiwara no Tadamichi (7), Taira no Kanemori (6), Kiyowara no Motosuke (6), Minamoto no Michinari (6), The Monk Ryôzen (6), Fujiwara no Akisuke (6) and Ōe no Yoshikoto (5).
Book I:
| SKS I: 1 SKS I: 2 SKS I: 3 SKS I: 4 SKS I: 5 SKS I: 6 SKS I: 7 SKS I: 8 SKS I: 9 SKS I: 10 SKS I: 11 SKS I: 12 SKS I: 13 SKS I: 14 SKS I: 15 SKS I: 16 SKS I: 17 | SKS I: 18 SKS I: 19 SKS I: 20 SKS I: 21 SKS I: 22 SKS I: 23 SKS I: 24 SKS I: 25 SKS I: 26 SKS I: 27 SKS I: 28 SKS I: 29 SKS I: 30 SKS I: 31 SKS I: 32 SKS I: 33 SKS I: 34 | SKS I: 35 SKS I: 36 SKS I: 37 SKS I: 38 SKS I: 39 SKS I: 40 SKS I: 41 SKS I: 42 SKS I: 43 SKS I: 44 SKS I: 45 SKS I: 46 SKS I: 47 SKS I: 48 SKS I: 49 SKS I: 50 |
Book II:
Book III:
| SKS III: 82 SKS III: 108 SKS III: 109 SKS III: 110 | SKS III: 113 SKS III: 118 SKS III: 127 SKS III: 129 | SKS III: 133 |
Book IV:
Book V:
Book VI:
Book VII:
| SKS VII: 187 SKS VII: 188 SKS VII: 190 SKS VII: 191 SKS VII: 198 SKS VII: 201 | SKS VII: 202 SKS VII: 207 SKS VII: 211 SKS VII: 218 SKS VII: 225 | SKS VII: 229 SKS VII: 230 |
Book VIII:
| SKS VIII: 240 SKS VIII: 247 SKS VIII: 249 | SKS VIII: 250 SKS VIII: 254 SKS VIII: 265 | SKS VIII: 269 SKS VIII: 270 |
Book IX:
| SKS IX: 272 SKS IX: 273 SKS IX: 274 SKS IX: 275 SKS IX: 276 SKS IX: 277 SKS IX: 278 SKS IX: 279 SKS IX: 280 SKS IX: 281 SKS IX: 282 SKS IX: 283 SKS IX: 284 SKS IX: 285 SKS IX: 286 SKS IX: 287 SKS IX: 288 SKS IX: 289 SKS IX: 290 SKS IX: 291 | SKS IX: 292 SKS IX: 293 SKS IX: 294 SKS IX: 295 SKS IX: 296 SKS IX: 297 SKS IX: 298 SKS IX: 299 SKS IX: 300 SKS IX: 301 SKS IX: 302 SKS IX: 303 SKS IX: 304 SKS IX: 305 SKS IX: 306 SKS IX: 307 SKS IX: 308 SKS IX: 309 SKS IX: 310 SKS IX: 311 | SKS IX: 312 SKS IX: 313 SKS IX: 314 SKS IX: 315 SKS IX: 316 SKS IX: 317 SKS IX: 318 SKS IX: 319 SKS IX: 320 SKS IX: 321 SKS IX: 322 SKS IX: 323 SKS IX: 324 SKS IX: 325 SKS IX: 326 SKS IX: 327 SKS IX: 328 SKS IX: 329 SKS IX: 330 SKS IX: 331 | SKS IX: 332 SKS IX: 333 SKS IX: 334 SKS IX: 335 SKS IX: 336 SKS IX: 337 SKS IX: 338 SKS IX: 339 SKS IX: 340 SKS IX: 341 SKS IX: 342 SKS IX: 343 SKS IX: 344 SKS IX: 345 SKS IX: 346 SKS IX: 347 |