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:
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: 303 SKS IX: 310 SKS IX: 311 SKS IX: 312 | SKS IX: 316 SKS IX: 318 SKS IX: 320 SKS IX: 324 | SKS IX: 326 SKS IX: 333 SKS IX: 335 SKS IX: 337 |