Speaking historically, the word “medieval” is usually associated with the middle ages of Europe, where things were thought to be primitive. However, there was a medieval period in Japan as well. Europe and Japan are separated by two countries, so it is not surprising to see that their respective medieval worlds occurred at different times. For Japan a lot of it occurred during its Heian and Kamakura periods, where the power split from the Imperial Court and was shared with the Shogunate. Between the Heian Era and the Kamakura Era, there were changes of whom the powered was controlled and the religion of Buddhism, although significant in both eras, was starting to surface as a stronger power, itself. But during this period in Japan, the elegant literature was changing, going almost hand in hand with the changes that were happening.
In the Heian Era, literature was popular in the court, for both the men and the ladies. They took part in reading and writing literary prose, and waka was especially popular. Waka was used for not only pastime but to be exchanged between men and women as love letters are. An important and popular collection of waka proves to be an example of what the Heian period was about. The Kokinwakashu was an Imperial collection, focusing on things that were considered to be elegant, such as seasons, love, and grief. The, what can be referred to as, theme of the collection was miyabi, a metaphorical and less brash way of saying things. This miyabi was an elegance that was almost treated like a rule of waka.
Things slowly changed when time shifted to the Kamakura period. Three centuries after the compilation of the Kokinwakashu, a Shinkokinshu, or the New Kokin(waka)shu, was compiled. It tried to keep elements f...
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...owed behind the time, but played a huge and important role during the medieval period.
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“Feudalism was a political and economical system in Europe from the 9th to about the 15th century.” Japan also had time periods that can be called feudal age including: Heian, Kamakura and Tokugawa. Medieval Japan shared a lot of similarities with medieval Europe, however, there are also many differences. One of the differences is their warriors who played vital roles fighting for their country in both Europe and Japan. In medieval Europe they had knights, and in medieval Japan they had samurais. European knights and Japanese Samurais were different in training, armor, weaponry, true values and codes.
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In his preface of the Kokinshū poet Ki no Tsurayaki wrote that poetry conveyed the “true heart” of people. And because poetry declares the true heart of people, poetry in the minds of the poets of the past believed that it also moved the hearts of the gods. It can be seen that in the ancient past that poetry had a great importance to the people of the time or at least to the poets of the past. In this paper I will describe two of some of the most important works in Japanese poetry the anthologies of the Man’yōshū and the Kokinshū. Both equally important as said by some scholars of Japanese literature, and both works contributing greatly to the culture of those who live in the land of the rising sun.
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