Kin’yōwakashū 金葉和歌集

The fifth imperial poetry anthology, the Kin’yōwakashū (or Kin’yōshū) the ‘Collection of Golden Leaves of Japanese Poetry’. It was ordered by Emperor Shirakawa (1053-1129; r.1072-1086) and compiled by Minamoto no Toshinari (or, more usually, Shunrai) (?1055-?1129). Shunrai was a gifted poet and critic, championing more ‘modern’ trends in poetry, as opposed to conservatives such as Fujiwara no Mototoshi (?-1142/3). Consequently, he was regarded as eccentric by his peers (he did produce some odd poetry) and Shirakawa required two rewrites of the anthology before he was satisfied with it.

The Kinyôshû follows the Kokinshū pattern, though in only ten books and 716 poems, making it the shortest of the imperial anthologies; it also lacks a preface.

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 10 or more poems included) are: Minamoto no Toshiyori (or Shunrai) (31), Minamoto no Tsunenobu (26), Fujiwara no Kinzane (23), Fujiwara no Akisue (20), Fujiwara no Tadamichi (15(, Fujiwara no Asasuke (14), Fujiwara no Nagazane (14), the Monk Eien (or Yôen) (13), the Monk Gyōson (10), Minamoto no Asanaka (10), and Minamoto no Masamitsu (or Masateru) (10).