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'In the Way of Poetry, I Bow to No Emperor' — Teika's Clash with Go-Toba

Over the compilation of the Shin Kokin Wakashu, Fujiwara no Teika clashed with retired Emperor Go-Toba, who altered Teika's selections and demanded obedience. Teika refused to bend his aesthetics, writing in his diary Meigetsuki that in the way of poetry he would not submit even to the emperor.

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Over the compilation of the Shin Kokin Wakashu (1205), Fujiwara no Teika clashed with retired Emperor Go-Toba, who altered the compilers’ selections and demanded obedience even in poetry. Teika held to his aesthetic of ushin (deep feeling), writing in his diary Meigetsuki: ‘In public affairs I obey the emperor, but not in the way of poetry.’ After Go-Toba’s defeat and exile in 1221, Teika became the unrivaled master of the poetic world.

Court culture — Teika and Go-Toba clashed fiercely over the selection of poems for the Shin Kokin Wakashu

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Jokyu War — Go-Toba was defeated and exiled to Oki in 1221. After his departure, Teika became the unrivaled master of the poetic world

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

A poet of the Hyakunin Isshu — Teika, who held to his artistic convictions, later selected the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, transmitting the classics of waka to posterity

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

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Key Figures

Fujiwara no Teika

Compiler of Shinkokin Wakashū and Hyakunin Isshu

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Retired Emperor Go-Toba

Instigator of the Jokyu War

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