Sanjūrokkasen

Sanjūrokkasen 三十六歌仙      
FSC-GR- 780.162
Commentary by Tomoko Sakomura  
Posted January 27, 2018  

This book features the most familiar icons of Japanese poetry, the “Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals” (Sanjūrokkasen 三十六歌仙), and it begins with seven pages of introductory text explaining their history. Unusual for a work on this theme, the first portrait illustrates the courtier Fujiwara no Kintō(966–1041), the scholar-poet responsible for selecting what he considered the best thirty-six poets of all time and their best poems for his anthology Sanjūrokuninsen 三十六人撰 (Selection of thirty-six poets; ca. 1109–1112). Kintō sits at a writing table upon which is a blank roll of paper; he holds a brush with an oval ink stone to the side. The inscription reads “Compiler of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets / Portrait of Major Counselor Lord Kintō”(Sanjūrokkasen senja Dainaigon Kintō kyō no zō 三十六歌仙撰者 / 大内言公任卿之像).

The idea of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals was conceived as a contest of eighteen rounds between the two teams of Left and Right. Adouble-page opening is dedicated to each of the thirty-six poets. The right page shows the designation of Right/Left, the poet’s name, and verse; the poet’s portrait appears on the left. The portrayal of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals began as posthumous imaginary portraits, with the earliest extant examples dating to the thirteenth century. Their iconography is highly conventionalized: the poets are depicted against a blank ground, seated and contemplative, rendered in specific postures and garments that denote rank. (See Sanjūrokkasen gashō FSC-GR-780.86 in the Pulverer Collection for an example of conventional portrait iconography.)

By the late eighteenth century, when this book was produced, creative interpretations and variations in the depiction of the poets were emerging. This work reflects this trend in the illustration of select poets in diverse poses: looking directly at the reader, standing, facing away from the reader, fixing their hair, or by introducing a narrative element, such as dancing and singing with a fan in hand. The result is a greater sense of movement and engagement with the reader.

Several elements in this work suggest that this is a highbrow project. For example, the inscription style varies from poet to poet, evoking a practice in which noted calligraphers are asked to contribute to a single project. As such, the book expects the reader to possess knowledge of inscription conventions as well as the poem in order to navigate the text correctly. (A brush mark appears on the page of Minamoto Muneyuki 源宗于, pp. 56–57 on the website,also hinting that a previous reader may have used the book as a calligraphy model.) This volume is given gravitas in harking back to centuries-old courtly practices. Another illustration of the highbrow aspect is the single-page postscript by the print designer Katsukawa Shunshō 勝川春章 (p. 84, listed as Katsu Shunshō; 1726­­–1792). The calligraphy is in the mode known as the “Teika-style” (Teikayō 定家様), which is distinguished by squat characters and accentuated horizontal strokesthatmimic the calligraphy of the revered poet-scholar Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241).

The printing of the color portraits in this copy is crisp and very delicate. Interestingly, this book includes an unusual mis-binding (i.e., the blank folios, pp. 29–30).

Copies in other collections:

Saikū Rekishi Hakubutsukan, Takegawa, Mie Prefecture

Tōyō Bunko, Tokyo