The Shinkokinshū, the ‘New Collection of Ancient and Modern (Japanese Poetry)’, is the eighth imperial anthology, and generally reckoned to be the second in terms of quality after the Kokinshū. It was commissioned by Emperor Gotoba (1180-1239; r. 1183-1198), and compiled by a team of poets, of whom Fujiwara no Teika is the most renowned. Gotoba took a considerable interest in the compilation process, having a number of disagreements with Teika over it, and even going so far as to produce his own version of the collection later.
As its name suggests, the Shinkokinshū was envisaged as a successor to the Kokinshū, and follows its 20 book pattern, but also includes a substantial representation of older poets among the new. The anthology is the pinnacle of techniques of association and integration that had been developing in waka for some time, with each individual poem leading on to the next and integrated into increasingly larger sequences of poems, with the longest sequence, of course, being the entire collection. I will endeavour to present some sequences on WakaPoetry.net, but the full effect can only be seen in Laurel Rodd’s complete translation of the entire work.
| Book I Book II Book III Book IV Book V Book VI Book VII Book VIII Book IX Book X Book XI Book XII Book XIII Book XIV Book XV Book XVI Book XVII Book XVIII Book XIX Book XX | Spring I Spring II Summer Autumn I Autumn II Winter Felicitations Laments Parting Travel Love I Love II Love III Love IV Love V Miscellaneous I Miscellaneous II Miscellaneous III Shintô Buddhism |
The principal poets of the collection (those with 10 poems or more included) are: The Monk Saigyō (94), Jien (92), Fujiwara no Yoshitsune (78), Fujiwara no Toshinari (Shunzei) (75), Princess Shokushi (49), Fujiwara no Sada’ie (Teika) (46), Fujiwara no Ietaka (42), The Monk Jakuren (35), Emperor Gotoba (35), Ki no Tsurayuki (33), The Daughter of Fujiwara no Toshinari (29), Izumi Shikibu (25), Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (23), Fujiwara no Masatsune (22), Minamoto no Tsunenobu (19), Fujiwara no Ari’ie (19), Minamoto no Michitomo (17), Fujiwara no Hideyoshi (Hidetô) (17), Sugawara no Michizane (15), Sone no Yoshitada (16), Fujiwara no Sanesada (16), Sanuki (16), Ise (15), Kunaikyō (15), Murasaki Shikibu (14), Ôe no Masafusa (14), The Monk Jakuzen (14), Minamoto no Michiteru (14), Ariwara no Narihira (12), Kishi (12), Fujiwara no Sanekata (12), Fujiwara no Kiyosuke (12), Fujiwara no Shun’e (12), Ōtomo no Yakamochi (12), Sagami (11), The Monk Gyōson (11), Minamoto no Toshiyori (Shunrai) (11), Fujiwara no Kanezane (11), Ōshikōchi no Mitsune (12), Emperor Murakami (10), Ônakatomi no Yoshinobu (11), Akazome Emon (11), The Monk Nôin (10), Tayu (10), Kamo no Chômei (10) and Fujiwara no Kintsune (10).
The following poems from Shinkokinshū are on WakaPoetry.net:
Book I: Spring 1
| SKKS I: 1 SKKS I: 2 SKKS I: 3 SKKS I: 4 SKKS I: 5 SKKS I: 6 SKKS I: 7 SKKS I: 8 SKKS I: 9 SKKS I: 10 SKKS I: 11 SKKS I: 12 SKKS I: 13 SKKS I: 14 SKKS I: 15 SKKS I: 16 SKKS I: 17 SKKS I: 18 SKKS I: 19 SKKS I: 20 SKKS I: 21 SKKS I: 22 SKKS I: 23 SKKS I: 24 SKKS I: 25 | SKKS I: 26 SKKS I: 27 SKKS I: 28 SKKS I: 29 SKKS I: 30 SKKS I: 31 SKKS I: 32 SKKS I: 33 SKKS I: 34 SKKS I: 35 SKKS I: 36 SKKS I: 37 SKKS I: 38 SKKS I: 39 SKKS I: 40 SKKS I: 41 SKKS I: 42 SKKS I: 43 SKKS I: 44 SKKS I: 45 SKKS I: 46 SKKS I: 47 SKKS I: 48 SKKS I: 49 SKKS I: 50 | SKKS I: 51 SKKS I: 52 SKKS I: 53 SKKS I: 54 SKKS I: 55 SKKS I: 56 SKKS I: 57 SKKS I: 58 SKKS I: 59 SKKS I: 60 SKKS I: 61 SKKS I: 62 SKKS I: 63 SKKS I: 64 SKKS I: 65 SKKS I: 66 SKKS I: 67 SKKS I: 68 SKKS I: 69 SKKS I: 70 SKKS I: 71 SKKS I: 72 SKKS I: 73 SKKS I: 74 SKKS I: 75 | SKKS I: 76 SKKS I: 77 SKKS I: 78 SKKS I: 79 SKKS I: 80 SKKS I: 81 SKKS I: 82 SKKS I: 83 SKKS I: 84 SKKS I: 85 SKKS I: 86 SKKS I: 87 SKKS I: 88 SKKS I: 89 SKKS I: 90 SKKS I: 91 SKKS I: 92 SKKS I: 93 SKKS I: 94 SKKS I: 95 SKKS I: 96 SKKS I: 97 SKKS I: 98 |
Book II: Spring 2
| SKKS II: 99 SKKS II: 100 SKKS II: 101 SKKS II: 102 SKKS II: 103 SKKS II: 104 SKKS II: 105 SKKS II: 106 SKKS II: 107 SKKS II: 108 SKKS II: 109 SKKS II: 110 SKKS II: 111 SKKS II: 112 SKKS II: 113 SKKS II: 114 SKKS II: 115 SKKS II: 116 SKKS II: 117 SKKS II: 118 SKKS II: 119 SKKS II: 120 SKKS II: 121 SKKS II: 122 SKKS II: 123 SKKS II: 124 | SKKS II: 125 SKKS II 126 SKKS II: 127 SKKS II: 128 SKKS II: 129 SKKS II: 130 SKKS II: 131 SKKS II: 132 SKKS II: 133 SKKS II: 134 SKKS II: 135 SKKS II: 136 SKKS II: 137 SKKS II: 138 SKKS II: 139 SKKS II: 140 SKKS II: 141 SKKS II: 142 SKKS II: 143 SKKS II: 144 SKKS II: 145 SKKS II: 146 SKKS II: 147 SKKS II: 148 SKKS II: 149 | SKKS II: 150 SKKS II: 151 SKKS II: 152 SKKS II: 153 SKKS II: 154 SKKS II: 155 SKKS II: 156 SKKS II: 157 SKKS II: 158 SKKS II: 159 SKKS II: 160 SKKS II: 161 SKKS II: 162 SKKS II: 163 SKKS II: 164 SKKS II: 165 SKKS II: 166 SKKS II: 167 SKKS II: 168 SKKS II: 169 SKKS II: 170 SKKS II: 171 SKKS II: 172 SKKS II: 173 SKKS II: 174 |
Book III: Summer
Book IV: Autumn 1
| SKKS IV: 325 SKKS IV: 326 SKKS IV: 343 SKKS IV: 358 SKKS IV: 359 SKKS IV: 360 SKKS IV: 361 SKKS IV: 362 SKKS IV: 363 SKKS IV: 371 | SKKS IV: 420 SKKS IV: 422 SKKS IV: 423 |
Book V: Autumn 2
| SKKS V: 459 SKKS V: 472 SKKS V: 491 SKKS V: 495 SKKS V: 507 SKKS V: 522 SKKS V: 529 SKKS V: 532 SKKS V: 534 | SKKS V: 535 SKKS V: 543 |