Aesthetics No.15 (2011)

The Japanese Society for Aesthetics / 61

The Methodological Development of Honka-dori in Medieval
Waka, and the Formation of a Quotation Database
TSUCHIDA Kosuke
Osaka University, Osaka

Introduction
In reviewing modern literary theory, it seems evident that a belief in ‘originality’ hasalready been lost. Since language helps convey the essence of shared experiences, imprints ofthe past are certainly engraved, in some way, on whatever is written. For this reason, the act ofintentionally quoting something written in the past tends to be evaluated positively. On theother hand, when one tries to create a work by, in part, quoting something, there is in theprocess a constant worry or apprehension as to why this new work is being created.
However, in the traditional Japanese poetry of waka, such quotations were both generally
and actively used. A piece of waka poetry comprises only 31 syllables, divided across five linesof text containing five, seven, five, seven and seven syllables; within those lines, groups ofwords are often quoted from older works, unaltered. The quoted old waka poems are calledhonka, and the act of deliberately quoting the words is called honka-dori or ‘taking the honka’.
These two factors—namely, quoting the excellent works of old poets and creating value in one’s
own work—converge in the conscious act of taking honka.
The style of honka-dori came to the fore during the Shin kokin period, between the late
12th and early 13th centuries. The central figure to establish this style was Sadaie FUJIWARA,
who was known as Teika (1162–1241). Concrete and practical references to honka-dori arefound in his theory book of waka, which penetrated the world of medieval waka via many
manuscripts. In studies of Japanese literature, it is often said that honka-dori both began andfinished with Teika.
Certainly, it was Teika who recognised honka-dori’s potential and began to use this styleactively. However, its style did not always align with Teika’s personal rules and ideals, and so
there was the potential for him to expand upon honka-dori and create new varieties thereof.
Theory from Tameie FUJIWARA (1198–1275), Teika’s firstborn son, with regards to honkadori is noteworthy, because his theory also had great influence on the creation of medieval
waka. On the surface, Tameie seems to follow Teika’s lead; however, he came to generate aform of honka-dori that was distinct from that of Teika. This paper, by making reference to thearguments of both representative leaders and the honka-dori wakas related to them, will
clarify the aspects of each style.
Following the Shin kokin period, taking honka became commonplace in the compositionof waka. This situation suggests that a quotation ‘database’, used as a foundation in thecomposition of waka, had been created. Developments in the methods used by Teika andTameie correspond to qualitative changes in the elements comprising the database. Finally,

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this paper looks to understand the creativity generated by accessing and using this database, by
examining changes to that database’s various aspects. As such, this study will lead to a renewed
appreciation of the medieval waka, which fell out of vogue following the Shin kokin period [1].

1. Teika’s Method: Renewing the Kokoro of Old Poems
The ways in which honka-dori progressed or remained unchanged in the Shin kokin
period can be inferred from Teika’s writings. His cognizance of taking honka arises from his
opinions concerning good waka. His attitude toward waka was consistent: according to Kindai
shuka, one of his theory books, the use of waka marks a yearning for the old words and aseeking-out of new kokoro [2]. In Eiga no taigai, he says in greater detail:As for kokoro, the newness should supersede all else (compose the waka with content thathas never been formed) and the old words should be used. (Words other than those usedby the old poets in Sandai shu should not be used. However, the old words in Shin kokin
shu may be used.) [3]
In Japanese, kokoro usually means ‘mind’ or ‘heart’, and this word is used frequently in the
waka world. This study makes use of the commonly held definition of kokoro as the fullcontent of a waka, which includes both what it describes and what it expresses. Thus, Teika’s
primary aim was to compose wakas with new kokoro that had never before been formulated,by inheriting and using the words that the old poets had used in theirs.
In Kindai shuka, Teika says that the waka poems from the period in which Sandai shu(Kokin waka-shu, Gosen waka-shu, Shui waka-shu) was compiled are excellent; he argues
that simply by imitating these works, one could naturally compose good poems. In Eiga no
taigai, he similarly points to Sandai shu as a work to emulate and reference, saying that:
You should imitate the styles of old and superior poets. (You should imitate the good styles
of wakas of all ages and places.) [4]In Maigetsu sho, Teika states that good wakas are naturally made only if one does not fail in
performing keiko, a term that refers to the careful reading and study of old works. Thesearguments do not conflict with the fact that Teika’s books of waka theory have always
contained selected anthologies. In view of these facts, we can reach the tautological conclusionthat for Teika, ‘good’ wakas are the ‘good’ ones that the old poets had composed. Therefore, thevery large number of words used and built up in the old-world waka canon were to be used asmaterials of composition, as they were; moreover, ‘good’ wakas could be composed only if theyused those words in ways similar to how they had previously been used. Teika held such a viewof good waka, and he felt it was natural that the active consciousness of taking honka would
emerge as evidenced in Kindai shuka. As a result, he states that:
Regarding the longing for old wakas, ‘make it honka’ is about taking the words that were

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used in old wakas and using them, as they were, in one’s own work [5].
Honka-dori progressed on the paradoxical idea of inheriting words used in the past andusing them to compose wakas with new kokoro that had never previously been formed. Teika
and his contemporaries were confident in the ability to compose new kokoro while relying on
previously used words. What, then, are implications of creating new kokoro with old words,
and how is it possible to do so? Let us refer to Gumon kenchu, which cites Teika’s honka-dori
as one of the best examples obtained by this method.
Gumon kenchu was published in 1363. Tonna (1289–1372), one of the leaders of waka atthat time, wrote with Yoshimoto NIJO (1320-88), who held political power and also protectedmany kinds of arts. This book was written in a question-and-answer format, with Yoshimoto
providing the former and Tonna the latter. In this work of waka theory, Tonna lists fivedifferent ways in which one can compose honka-dori wakas; Teika’s wakas are considered
examples of the following category [6]:Wakas that have new kokoro; the poet relives the kokoro of the honka, but does not
submit to it blindly [7].
Only in this category is there a reference to new kokoro; Teika’s wakas are not provided as
examples in any of the other four categories. This classification of honka-dori in Gumon
kenchu is reconstituted by arranging the original typology of Seia sho, another book by Tonna.
In Seia sho, the original category that most closely resembles it is as follows:
The waka that has an exquisite kokoro, written by a poet who relives the kokoro of thehonka without becoming immersed in it. Such can always be found in Shui guso [8].
Shui guso is Teika’s waka collection. Thus, in creating this category, Tonna must be bearing in
mind Teika’s honka-dori wakas, regarding them as those that have new or exquisite kokoro.
The word ‘new’ here, complemented by ‘exquisite’, expresses an investment of great value; itsuggests that Tonna sympathises with Teika’s aim of seeking out a new kokoro by honka-dori.
A close analysis of the examples provided in this category, therefore, makes Teika’s aim ofcreating ‘new’ kokoro clear.
In both Gumon kenchu and Seia sho, the following two pairs are taken as examples [9]:A.
The honka-dori waka:
Ozora wa / Ume no nioi ni / Kasumi-tsutsu / Kumori mo hate-nu / Haru no yo no tsuki(Teika FUJIWARA: 1162–1241)(大空は 梅の匂ひに 霞みつつ 曇りもはてぬ 春の夜の月)(藤原定家)
Translation: The sky being misty with the scent of Japanese plum, the spring night’s moon iscloudy.

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Its honka:
Teri mo se-zu / Kumori mo hate-nu / Haru no yo no / Oboro-zukiyo ni / Shiku mono zo
naki(Chisato OE: a poet from the early 10th century)(照りもせず 曇りもはてぬ 春の夜の 朧月夜に しくものぞなき)(大江千里)
Translation: Nothing can be compared to a spring night with the hazy moon being not bright,
but cloudy.
B.
The honka-dori waka:
Koma tome-te / Sode uchi-harau / Kage mo nashi / Sano no watari no / Yuki no yugure(Teika FUJIWARA)(駒とめて 袖うちはらふ かげもなし 佐野の渡りの 雪の夕暮)(藤原定家)
Translation: There is no shade to stop my horse and shake the snow from my sleeves, in thesnowy evening at Sano crossing.
Its honka:
Kurushiku-mo / Furi kuru ame ka / Miwa no saki / Sano no watari ni / Ie mo ara-nakuni(Okimaro NAGA: This waka was in Man-yo shu—the oldest
extant anthology, which was made in the late 8th century.)(苦しくも 振りくる雨か 三輪の崎 佐野の渡りに 家もあらなくに)(長意吉麻呂)Translation: I’m in trouble, not being able to take refuge from the rain at cape Miwa. I wish
there were a house at Sano crossing.
In example A, Teika takes three words from the honka and arranges them into ‘kumori mohate-nu haru no yo no tsuki’. These words bring to mind the whole of the honka, because it iswell known—that is to say, the 11 syllables serve as the core of the work, pulling together all 31
syllables of the honka. This means that these 11 syllables express the kokoro of the honka,
which is the admiration for a dreamy spring night. Then, Teika expresses a different kind of
beauty from a fantastic scene, by transplanting the setting of the honka into an original scene,with the sky being misty with the scent of Japanese plum.
In this waka, what is ‘new’ is not the kokoro—which Teika had created by himself—but the
mixture of originality and the kokoro of the honka: the fantastic scene denotes a very new
kokoro that appears to overlap with the honka scene and move delicately from there.
In example B, there is only one borrowed phrase in Teika’s waka: ‘Sano no watari’. Thisphrase, a place name, alerts the reader to the setting of the honka: a lonely trip where there is
no shelter from the rain, which falls without mercy. In Teika’s honka-dori, the setting ischanged from the fuzzy image captured in the phrase ‘Sano crossing’, to a crisp new scene: ableak winter evening where there is no shade in which to stop the horse and shake the snow
from his sleeves.
The ‘new’ kokoro in this waka cannot be formed without referencing the old kokoro that isbrought to mind by the phrase ‘Sano no watari’. In line with the scene in the old waka at Sanocrossing, the snowbound gray scene in twilight rouses much more loneliness than if it had been

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in some different location—that is to say, by using a different phrase.
As stated above, a ‘new’ kokoro does not appear until it is mixed with the kokoro of thehonka and they influence each other. In those works of Teika that achieve such ‘newness’, thekokoro of honka is, so to speak, ‘renewed’ by reusing it and mixing original words with old ones.
Let us now examine the rules of honka-dori, as provided by Teika. There is always the riskthat the raison d’être of one’s work is disturbed when it is used in honka-dori. To mitigate thisrisk, Teika provides various rules from a practical viewpoint. Among them, a rule concerning
the relationship between the kokoro of a honka and the waka that takes it is especially
noteworthy. In Maigetsu sho, Teika says that:
There must be an expert way of composing a waka about a flower by taking honka about aflower, or a waka about the moon by taking honka about the moon. You should compose afall or winter waka by taking from a spring waka, or one of miscellaneous items or aseason by taking from one of love. Furthermore, you should compose in such a way as tomake it possible for listeners to recognize the honka easily [10].
However, Teika breaks his own rule about variation: the previous example was a spring wakataken from a spring one, and a travel waka taken from a travel one. On the honka-dori of
renewing old kokoro, it is imperative for the writer to try to stay within the work’s original
realm and to compose his or her own waka while expressing the old work’s kokoro. In fact,
among the wakas in Teika’s own self-chosen collection, most are composed in such an ‘expertway’—that is, in the way of renewing old kokoro. More than 100 years following Teika’s death,
Tonna grasped precisely Teika’s sentiments in his own formulation of new kokoro; as such, herecognized Teika’s work as being of the highest value. Teika’s method is considered
representative of taking honka in medieval waka.

2. Tameie’s Method: Enriching Words and Reusing the ‘Mould’ of Old Poems
Tameie was Teika’s firstborn son; he succeeded Teika and realised the prosperity of theHouse of FUJIWARA as a leader of waka. Following his death, the house split into threeschools—namely, NIJO, KYOGOKU and REIZEI—with each competing to become the orthodox
leader of waka. Tameie was no less worshipped as one of the House fathers than Teika, so like
Teika’s work, Eiga ittei—that is, Tameie’s book of waka theory—also gave rise to many
manuscripts and was distributed widely in the medieval waka world.
Tameie should have been closest to Teika and under his waka guidance, but Tameie’s
arguments concerning honka-dori focus on points other than those found in Teika’s theory.
Therefore, in this section, by referring to Eiga ittei, we will examine another form of honkadori in medieval waka [11].
In Eiga ittei, Tameie takes the following three pairs as examples of ideal honka-dori.
C.
The honka-dori waka:

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Na mo shirushi / Mine no arashi mo / yuki to furu / Yamasakura-to no / Akebono no sora
(Teika FUJIWARA)(名もしるし 峰の嵐も雪とふる 山桜戸の あけぼのの空)(藤原定家)
Translation: It is worthy of the name of yamasakura-to. In the storm around the mountain,
cherry blossoms are falling like snow. Like opening a door, here is the dawning sky.
Its honka:
Ashibiki no / Yamasakura-to wo / ake oki-te / Waga matsu kimi wo / Tare ka todomuru(Author unknown: this waka was in Man-yo shu)
(あしびきの 山桜戸を あけをきて わがまつ君を たれかとどむる)(作者表記無)Translation: Opening the door made from mountain cherry wood, I’m waiting for my lover,
but who causes him to tarry?
D.
The honka-dori waka:
Chiru hana no / Wasure-gatami no / Mine no kumo / So wo dani nokose / Haru no
yamakaze(Yoshihira KUJO: 1184–1240)(散る花の 忘れ形見の 峰の雲 そをだに残せ 春の山風)(九条良平)
Translation: The cloud on the peaks is like the memento of the falling flowers. Leave that atleast, spring mountain wind.
Its honka:
Aka-de koso / Omowa-m naka wa / Hanare-name / So wo dani nochi no / Wasure-gatami ni(Author unknown: this waka was in Kokin waka-shu, the firstanthology compiled by imperial order in the early 10th century)(飽かでこそ 思はむ中は 離れなめ そをだに後の 忘れ形見に)(よみ人知らず)Translation: While we love each other without becoming bored, I hope to leave you with atleast this as a memento.
E.
The honka-dori waka:
Sakurabana / Yume ka utsutsu ka / Shirakumo no / Tae-te tsune-naki / Mine no harukaze(Ietaka FUJIWARA: 1158–1237)(桜花 夢かうつつか 白雲の たえてつねなき 峰の春風)(藤原家隆)
Translation: Are those cherry blossoms in a dream or a reality? I do not know. The whiteclouds have disappeared and the transient spring wind blows around the mountain.
Its honka:
Kaze fuke-ba / Mine ni wakaruru / Shirakumo no / Tae-te tsure-naki / Kimi ga kokoro ka(Tadamine MIBU: a poet of the 9th and 10th
centuries; this waka was in Kokin waka-shu)(風吹けば 峰に別るる 白雲の たえてつれなき 君が心か)(壬生忠岑)

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67

Translation: As the wind blows, the white clouds become distant from the mountain anddisappear. Your heart has become distant from me, in the same way.
All honka-dori examples are wakas of spring, composed by borrowing words from lovewakas as honka; example C is Teika’s. The fact that Tameie dares to select this waka as an
ideal example among the innumerable honka-dori wakas of Teika’s seems to show thedirection in which he seeks to take honka. The implication is that he does not look to follow
faithfully the rules provided by Teika, so much as try to find the potential to achieve a valuable
new poem by making a kokoro that has no relationship with the kokoro of a honka, even as hetakes words from it. Then again, the honka-dori wakas of examples D and E were compiled in
Shin kokin waka-shu—like Teika’s works mentioned in the first section—and so it can be
simply confirmed that they were generally regarded as excellent.
In what aspects of such honka-dori does he recognize value? It is suggestive that the word
‘mezurashi’ (‘unusual’) is frequently found in Eiga ittei. Concerning Ietaka’s honka-dori inexample E, he says that:In this waka, the phrase taken from the honka is put in the same place as in the honka,
but there is no problem with doing so, because it is unusual to compose by changing a lovewaka into a spring one [12].
Thus, Tameie estimates well the choice of honka and the ‘unusualness’ of taking words from it;that is to say, Tameie considers a waka with kokoro that is not fully related to that of what isbeing composed to be more appropriate for a honka.
He also says the following:
On composition, you should make your works absolutely original, by utilizing your kokoro
and contemplating. However, because a new kokoro is rarely born—even if the newly
formed kokoro is the same as the old one—you should try to compose a waka with an
unusual ring to it when arranging the words [13].
Thus, even when using the same kokoro as those found in old poems, Tameie tries to substitute‘unusualness’ for the ‘newness’ of kokoro, the latter of which his father Teika emphasised.
Therefore, on honka-dori, Tameie thinks that poets should alter the kokoro of a honka andarrange the words so that they sound unusual. We can see this ‘unusualness’ by examining his
examples as extensions of these arguments.
In Teika’s waka in example C, two words—namely, ‘yamasakura-to’ and ‘ake’—are taken;
nonetheless, it is difficult to specify the honka merely by examining these two words, because
this old waka was not well known at that time. Before this, the word ‘yamasakura-to’ had
never been used in wakas compiled in the imperially ordered anthologies. Certainly, this word
can be found in Man-yo shu, but compared to ‘Sano no watari’—a word widely known at thattime because it was an ‘Utamakura’ and poets thought about where it was—its renown as aword used in waka would necessarily be smaller. Using such a word is against Teika’s own rule,68

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which states that ‘you should compose in such a way as to make it possible for listeners torecognize the honka easily’. Thus, it is thought that this waka was composed with no attemptwhatsoever to renew the kokoro of the honka; indeed, he had no cognizance of taking honka.
In this waka, however, it is important that the connection between ‘yamasakura-to’ and‘akebono’ be made evident. The word ‘yamasakura-to’ is naturally what is opened in thehonka; however, in Teika’s work, it becomes what is opened at dawn, because the word ‘ake’
can mean ‘dawn’. Moreover, by adding the traditional idea that falling cherry blossoms
resemble falling snow, Teika produces ‘yamazakura’, as ‘cherry blossoms’, from the word
‘yamasakura-to’, which just described ‘the door made from mountain cherry wood’. Thus, byusing old words bereft of the context of the old kokoro, the same words acquire new attributes
and meanings. This is one aspect of Tameie’s ‘unusualness’.
In example D, the words taken by Yoshihira are ‘so wo dani’ and ‘wasure-gatami’. It ismuch easier in this example than in example C to specify the honka via the two words used,because this honka was very famous. In Yoshihira’s work, however, the two words do not
express the full kokoro of the honka—namely, the feeling of love for each other.
In comparing Yoshihira’s kokoro with the old one, that which ‘wasure-gatami’ and ‘so wodani’ interactively describe do not change, although they do have different contexts. In both
wakas, something is the memento of something, and someone hopes to do something about it
at least. It means that when these two phrases emerge together, a ‘mould’ is set for themeanings of the words that come into play. He composes by filling the ‘mould’ with a typicalvariation on a spring waka—that is, a feeling of regret at the falling cherry blossoms—and witha typical metaphor involving cherry blossoms and white clouds. By applying the ‘mould’
previously used in the love waka to a spring one, the spring kokoro assumes a certain‘unusualness’.
In example E, the arrangement of the words ‘yume ka utsutsu ka shirakumo’ is of primary
importance. There is no reference in Eiga ittei, but these words are thought to be taken fromthe following waka.
F.
Yo-no-naka wa / Yume ka utsutsu ka / Utsutsu tomo / Yume tomo shira-zu / Ari-te
nakere-ba(Author unknown: this waka was in Kokin waka-shu)(世の中は 夢かうつつか うつつとも 夢とも知らず ありてなければ)(よみ人知らず)Translation: Is the world a dream or a reality? I do not know whether it is a reality or a
dream. The world exists, while not existing [14].
In this old waka, the ‘mould’ has been produced by the words ‘yume ka utsutsu ka shira-zu’,
which mean ‘I do not know whether something is a dream or a reality’. Ietaka uses the ‘mould’
as the base idea of his composition, and fills it with cherry blossoms that fall soon after theirfull bloom. Then, he connects ‘shira-zu’ (‘I do not know’) to ‘shirakumo’ (‘white clouds’), thelatter of which is a metaphor for cherry blossoms. After ‘shirakumo’ draws the word of thehonka, he delicately alters ‘tae-te tsure-naki’, making it into ‘tsune-naki’; he also produces‘mine no harukaze’ (‘spring winds around the mountain’) as that which is transient [15]. Thus,

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when the ‘moulds’ are composed, the common subject of spring can be seen in the new work,from a new angle.
As seen previously—especially with regards to honka-dori making different kokoro fromhonka—words can acquire new attributes and meanings, and there is a ‘mould’ by which
combinations of word-forms themselves can be reused within a different context. As a result,the kokoro can acquire new aspects, even if it has already been used time and again. Tameie
considers such honka-dori ideal, as they offer the writer the possibility of deriving value fromtheir elements. This is another form of medieval honka-dori.

3. The Formation of a Quotation Database, in the Methodological Development of Honkadori
In the first and second sections, we confirmed two representative methods of taking honka,
both of which were established in the medieval world of waka. It can be said that honka-doribecame complicated as soon as it started to progress, given the examples obtained throughTameie’s method and followed by Teika’s contemporaries. Whether or not a waka expresses
the kokoro of the honka that takes the words in it is a clear standard by which to classify them.
Both of them hold in common an appreciation for achieving some measure of ‘newness’. Whena poet dares to stay in old kokoro, ‘newness’ is derived by mixing in original words and making
the work change organically. Meanwhile, when one tries to formulate different kokoro from an
old waka, value is recognized in the application of words from an old waka to an area of the
kokoro that bears a different context; doing so brings a certain measure of ‘unusualness’ tootherwise customary kokoro.
The former was considered by Teika ‘the expert way’ of composing. After he died, it wasseen by Tonna as the supreme honka-dori. This section, however, will examine the firstcategory of the honka-dori typology of the Gumon kenchu. That work states that:As the usual honka-dori, the words of honka are taken into a context different from what
they had been put into, and they are distributed to upper and lower parts of waka [16].
This category should cover examples obtained through Tameie’s method of reusing old
words in a context different from that of the old kokoro. In fact, the example within is the same
as example C in Eiga ittei—that is, Yoshihira’s waka and its honka. The fact that Tameie’s
method is cited first as ‘the usual honka-dori’ suggests that in the post-Teika world of waka,
Tameie’s method brought the essence of Teika’s method into the mainstream. This would meanthat Teika’s method did not coexist with Tameie’s, but that the latter did develop from theformer. From this viewpoint, the method of renewing old kokoro can almost be considered a
bit of gold that had sunk to the bottom of the stream after Teika’s death, but which was
retrieved by the work of Tonna.
As mentioned previously, Tameie’s method nowhere violates Teika’s rules. It seems selfevident that Tameie’s method came to represent ‘the usual honka-dori’; however, Tameie madeno reference to Teika vis-à-vis the renewal of old kokoro as being better, and did not adopt it.

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With regards to this fact, there is an important issue that should not be overlooked whengenerally reviewing words in medieval waka: what are the implications of the methodologicaldevelopment of composition, between Teika and Tameie?
In almost all the wakas of the Shin kokin period, we can find some influence from oldworks; it can also be said that this is a trend not seen prior to this period. Moreover, of the
wakas chosen by Shin kokin poets as representative works and compiled in their collections,more than half were composed by honka-dori. These factors indicate that in the Shin kokin
period, it was not so much that honka-dori was adopted as a compositional method; rather, theact of quoting classics had become a commonplace part of the composition act, and the vector
of consciousness in composition always seemed to come to a point in the past. As a result, thepoets who ‘longed for old wakas’ were no longer able to stop reviewing and searching throughthe ‘good works’ of the past. In parallel, a large number of old works accumulated and came tobe seen as a ‘database’ for composition; this occurrence corresponds exactly with the fact that
Teika and Tameie considered keiko—that is, referring usually to good wakas—as more
important than any other compositional practice [17]. Indeed, Since Korai Futei Sho, which
was a book of waka theory written by Toshinari FUJIWARA, who was known as Shunzei (11141204) and Teika’s father, a theory book had tended to come to have a selected anthology forreuse in some ways. Moreover, in this time, many anthologies of old wakas were compiled by
Teika or his contemporaries [18]. These events, taken together, make it possible to consider
Teika’s and Tameie’s methods as ways to access the ‘quotation database’. From this viewpoint,
we will attempt to compare these two methods.
Teika’s method looks to achieve ‘newness’ by renewing old kokoro; how does he access the
database? Referring to the examples quoted in the first section, we can discuss it by making
inferences about the compositional process.
Ozora wa / Ume no nioi ni / Kasumi-tsutsu / Kumori mo hate-nu / Haru no yo no tsuki(Teri mo se-zu / Kumori mo hate-nu / Haru no yo no / Oboro-zukiyo ni / Shiku mono zonaki)
It is reasonable to infer that Teika decided to compose the waka of the hazy moon on aspring night, because he had chosen the subject of ‘spring’ prior to initiating his composition.
He would have searched old wakas and found a famous one that expressed admiration for the
beauty of a night with a hazy moon—that is, ‘Teri mo se-zu’. It shows that in his compositional
process, he would have searched the old waka, giving primary attention to the kokoro
associated with his chosen theme; after that, he would have drawn the words from this waka
and arranged them in a way that made it ‘possible for listeners to recognize the honka easily’.
Koma tome-te / Sode uchi-harau / Kage mo nashi / Sano no watari no / Yuki no yugure(Kurushiku-mo / Furi kuru ame ka / Miwa no saki / Sano no watari ni / Ie mo ara-nakuni)

The Methodological Development of Honka-dori in Medieval Waka,and the Formation of a Quotation Database

71

Prior to composition, it was decided that this waka would have the subject of ‘winter’. The
scope of ‘winter’ would impose too large a database search on the author, and the word ‘Sano
no watari’ has no relationship to winter in the honka. Therefore, it is thought that Teika had
thought of formulating the kokoro of ‘winter travel’ first, whereupon he would have searched
old works and found the work ‘Koma tome-te’.
For both honka-dori, what was searched in the compositional process was the kokoro ofold wakas that correspond to the primary theme. Following that search for kokoro, theselection and arrangement of words took place. It is reasonable, as Tonna explains with respect
to these honka-dori wakas, that ‘the poet relives the kokoro of the honka’. Before transforming
an idea into words, an old kokoro has already served as the compositional foundation—
superseding even the poet himself. When composition is initiated within this context, it ismethodologically natural to conclude that he will attempt to relive the kokoro that the oldpoem expresses.
Let us now turn to Tameie’s method.
Na mo shirushi / Mine no arashi mo / yuki to furu / Yamasakura-to no / Akebono no sora(Ashibiki no / Yamasakura-to wo / ake oki-te / Waga matsu kimi wo / Tare ka todomuru)
As mentioned in the second section, in this waka, Teika is not cognizant of renewing theold kokoro. The selection of words relates closely to the subject chosen before composition was
initiated—that is, ‘sankyo no haru no akebono’, or ‘dawn on a spring day in a mountain hut’.
He finds the word ‘yamasakura-to’ in the process of transforming ‘sankyo’ into a word of
waka. Upon finding this word, he likely found it straightforward to connect it to the ‘akebono’of the subject by using the relationship between ‘to’ and ‘ake’ (‘door’ and ‘open’) and making‘ake’ mean ‘dawn’. Clearly, what is searched by taking this compositional method is not kokoro,
but the words themselves.
Chiru hana no / Wasure-gatami no / Mine no kumo / So wo dani nokose / Haru no
yamakaze(Aka-de koso / Omowa-m naka wa / Hanare-name / So wo dani nochi no / Wasure-gatamini)
In this waka, what is searched first is also old words, because it is difficult to consider how
the theme of ‘spring’ would lead the poet directly to the love waka ‘Aka-de koso’. The word
‘wasure-gatai’ (‘memento’) is found from his first idea, which is a typical variation of a springwaka—that is, the feeling of regret at the falling of cherry blossoms—and a customary
metaphor drawing together cherry blossoms and white clouds (as ‘wasure-gatami’) functions
to draw in the word ‘so wo dani’, based on the renown of the honka.
Sakurabana / Yume ka utsutsu ka / Shirakumo no / Tae-te tsune-naki / Mine no harukaze

72

TSUCHIDA Kosuke(Kaze fuke-ba / Mine ni wakaruru / Shirakumo no / Tae-te tsure-naki / Kimi ga kokoroka)(Yo-no-naka wa / Yume ka utsutsu ka / Utsutsu tomo / Yume tomo shira-zu / Ari-te
nakere-ba)
The way by which one accesses the database is the same as in the aforementioned
examples. To express the transience of fallen cherry blossoms, Ietaka found words that acted asa ‘mould’—namely, ‘yume ka utsutsu ka shira-zu’, from the old waka, ‘Yo no naka ha’. When
the word ‘shirazu’ connects with ‘shirakumo’, the word that can be connected to ‘shirakumo’ issearched again; almost automatically, the word ‘tae-te tsune naki’ can be found in the old waka.
As discussed, the two methods differ completely in terms of what is searched in the
database. This implies that in the methodological development vis-à-vis the composition of
honka-dori, the quality of the database elements would necessarily change. It was kokoro thatan old waka would first express, but it, so to speak, would ‘fall apart’ and become a collectionof individual words.
What, then, are the aspects of each database? The database in which old kokoro that form
one waka are searched as data seems to take an orderly form, such as in an anthology.
However, it is naturally difficult to derive feedback on renewed kokoro from the database; thisis because the feedback there refers to old kokoro that have been renewed and stored as
information that can be searched, reused and renewed again.
This is theoretically possible, but the renewal of kokoro must be continuous, and therenewed form must be based on the kokoro of the old waka. In order to achieve suchcontinuous renewal, one needs to simultaneously use words from both the old waka and thecorresponding honka-dori waka, within the formal parameter of 31 syllables; as a result, thereis scarcely any room for the poet’s own words. In anthologies following Shin kokin waka-shu,there is few wakas taking a honka-dori waka in the Shin kokin period as honka and renewing
old kokoro. It can be said that the aspects of the database comprising old kokoro are static, andthat it cannot change its state in the Shin kokin period.
Meanwhile, it can be assumed that a database consisting of individual words would nottake the form of an anthology, but of a dictionary. In a database, the words of old wakas always‘float’ as if in a dictionary, waiting to be applied to a new context. Once words are reused in a
new context, they acquire new attributes that are later added to the database. A ‘mould’
comprising a combination of old words is also applicable to any context, depending on the idea
at hand; the result of the application can also become part of the database. By repeating thiscycle, the new connections among and attributes of words can be continuously reused; such a
database, as per Tameie’s method, possesses an organic construction that constantly expands.
It is clear, which database can function efficiently when a writer’s compositional process
involves an incessant ‘looking back’ at the past. Since the body of old wakas had been regarded
as a compositional ‘database’, the consequences of the methodological changes between Teika
and Tameie could not be reversed [19].

The Methodological Development of Honka-dori in Medieval Waka,and the Formation of a Quotation Database73

Conclusion
This paper examined two methods of composing honka-dori, a form of quotation in
medieval waka. They are best found in the arguments of Teika and Tameie; both of thesewriters understood how to achieve new value in their work and what conditions were integral
to doing so. Moreover, by examining both writers’ methods from the viewpoint of qualitativechanges in the database that inevitably forms whenever the quoting of classics becomes thenorm, one makes a discovery: Tameie’s method does not so much compete with that of Teika.
Rather, the latter naturally evolved from the former.
Even in the contemporary study of Japanese literature, it is often said that following theShin kokin period—of which Teika is a representative—the artistic esteem of medieval waka
quickly diminished [20]. This ‘fall from grace’ is thought to be related closely to changes in theelements of the lexical database. In this database containing individual old words, theconnections among those words become clearer as they are more frequently accessed, andthose connections themselves can draw new words into use. In this sense, such a databaseappears to be a self-organising system. The waka genre contains few elements of what modern
thinkers consider ‘originality’, at least at first glance. Acts of composition by individual poets
are equal in their ability to confer upon words new attributes, which then become part of, andoverwrite portions of, the common database to which they belong. It is thought that thecompositional subject changes from a single poet into a group of them. However, it can by nomeans be said that compositional creativity was or has been lost.
In a self-organising lexical database, networks form amongst words; those networks tend
to be both close-knit and flexible and are based on a very large number of examples. A poet
who accesses such a database can find that, when searching for words to express a kokoro,
there are many lexical connections, many of which are unexpected. In terms of composition,
poets do not create new arrangements of words; rather, they discover them by tracing networksof old words in the database. Therefore, the reuse of a previously expressed kokoro can help apoet create an idea that surpasses anything his personal limits of original thinking could haveproduced. By creating a quotation database that arose out of a ‘longing for old wakas’,
individual expression achieved the potentiality of becoming constantly ‘new’. This was themethod selected by the medieval waka world, following the Shin kokin period [21].

Notes
[1]

There are many preceeding analyses about honka-dori in medival waka. The books and articles
which I principally refered to in this paper are the following: Yumiko WATANABE, Shin kokin
Jidai no Hyogen Hoho, Tokyo: Kasama Syoin, 2010; Miyoko IWASA, FUJIWARA no Tameie
Chokusen-shu-ei, Eiga ittei Shinchu, Tokyo: Seikansha, 2010; Yasushi YORITA, FUJIWARA no
Sadaie: Koten Shosha to Honka-dori, Tokyo: Kasama Syoin, 2006; Kazuko BUNYA, Honka-dori
he no Ichi Kosatsu: Teika iko no Karon ni okeru, in Rikkyo Daigaku Nihon Bungaku, vol. 29,
pp.38-51, 1972; Jun KUBOTA, Honka-dori no Imi to Kino, in Nihon no Bigaku, vol. 12, pp.26-40,
Tokyo: Perikan Sha, 1988; and Junko KOYAMA, FUJIWARA no Yoshitsune no Honka-dori
Gyoshuku Hyogen ni tsuite: Gokyogokudono Gojikaawase wo Chushin ni, in Kokugo Kokubun,

74

[2]

[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]

[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]

[16]
[17]
[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

TSUCHIDA Kosuke

vol. 70-5, pp.15-34, Kyoto: Shibundo, 2001. It can be thought that these studies have the common
viewpoint to regard honka-dori as one of the ways to compose waka. Meanwhile, this paper willconsider honka-dori as the representation of the expressional consciousness which is common in
the whole of the medieval waka world.
To examine the text of Teika’s books—such as that from Kindai shuka, Eiga no taigai and
Maigetsu sho—I referred to the following two compilations: Shinpen Nihon Koten Bungaku
Zenshu, vol. 87, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2001 (abbreviated to Zenshu), and Nihon Kagaku Taikei, vol.
3, Tokyo: Kazama Shobo, 1973 (abbreviated to Taikei). All translations are my own.
Eiga no taigai, in: Zenshu, p.473, Taikei, p.339.
Ibid.
Kindai shuka, in: Zenshu, p.451, Taikei, p.332.
To examine the text of Gumon kenchu and Seia sho, which is another book by Tonna, I referred to
Karon Kagaku Shusei vol. 11, Tokyo: Miyai Shoten, 1999 (abbreviated to Shusei). All translations
are my own.
Gumon kenchu, in: Shusei, p.157.
Seia sho, in: Shusei, p.232.
Notes regarding poets or poems are my own.
Maigetsu sho, in: Zenshu, p.502, Taikei,p.350.
To examine the text of Eiga ittei, I referred to Taikei, and IWASA, op.cit. All translations andnotes are my own.
Eiga ittei, in: Taikei,p.400.
Ibid. pp.400-401.
Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei, vol. 5, Tokyo: Iwanami Syoten, 1989; Shinpan Kokin wakasyu, Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 2009. The translation and note are my own.
In both Mini shu and Hyakuban jika-awase, which are Ietaka’s collections, the fourth phrase inthis waka is ‘Tae-te tsure-naki’, which is the same as that of the honka; however, it can be said
that connecting it to the last phrase, ‘Mine no harukaze’, is not problematic.
Gumon kenchu, in: Shusei, pp.156-157.
In Eiga ittei, Tameie says, ‘Some people say composition does not always depend on knowledge
and waka is born from heart, but one cannot be seen as an expert without keiko’ (Taikei, p.388).
For example, Hyakunin Issyu, compiled by Teika was a representative anthology. It also can beseen as a ‘quotation database’, because we can find many honka-dori wakas which take the waka
in it as honka not only among Teika’s works but also the works of his contemporaries andfollowers.
Moreover, in accessing this database, Teika’s method is not excluded. The searched words canproperly express the kokoro of the old waka to which they belong. It should be said that becauseof the qualitative changes made to the database, the old kokoro expressed and exemplified bywords in the old wakas came to be treated as an attribute of individual words that constituted the
database.
IWASA says that although there exist today many ‘representative’ wakas from the Shin kokin
period, few people can immediately bring to mind representative wakas of Tameie (IWASA,
op.cit., p.357). If this is the case with Tameie, surely it is also the case with other poets.
Regarding the situation from the 14th century onward, I simply indicate that Yoshimoto NIJO, aleader in developing renga, said the following in Kinrai futei, his own book of waka theory: ‘It is
customary to take words of honka and make the fuzei differ from it, and then to place them on theupper and lower parts. Such a way is good’ (Shusei, pp.188-187, the translation is my own).
Yoshimoto’s classification of honka-dori is thought to follow Tonna’s, as found in Gumon kenchu;
however, it differs from that of Tonna, in that Yoshimoto ascribes the word ‘good’ only to honkadori that changes old kokoro and holds it in high esteem. Moreover, in Yoshimoto’s work, we findThe Methodological Development of Honka-dori in Medieval Waka,and the Formation of a Quotation Database75

an argument not found in Tonna’s work: by stating that ‘taking only words is also customary’(Ibid., p.188), Yoshimoto certainly aims to compose in such a way that honka words are severedfrom their original contexts. With renga, it is a compositional foundation rather than a rule that
one attaches a phrase expressing a kokoro that differs from the preceding phrase and thus
generates ideas that derive from those words. When deferring to this foundation, poets look tofind words that connect their words with the preceding ones; in fulfilling this task, the database of
waka words mentioned in this paper is highly functional. The adaptation of Tameie’s method by
Yoshimoto—who was apparently a questioner in Gumon kenchu—clearly proves that the artistic
status of renga had been raised on account of inheriting the database of waka words.