Kokin Wakashu (by Fujiwara no Teika)

The Original Karoku Manuscript of the Kokinshu

The Kokin Wakashu (by Fujiwara no Teika) (古今和歌集〈藤原定家筆〉) is the manuscript of the Kokin Wakashu copied by Fujiwara no Teika in 1226, owned by the Reizei Family Shiguretei Library in Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto City, which in 1983 was designated a National Treasure.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records one bound volume, 22.9 by 14.6 centimetres with 157 leaves, owned by the Reizei Family Shiguretei Library.

According to the Agency, it is the original of the so-called Karoku manuscript, which greatly influenced study of the Kokinshu from the medieval period on.

Colophons and Annotations

According to the Agency, a colophon at the end records that Teika copied it in 1226 at the age of 65, followed by another in which his son Tameie passed it to his own son Tamesuke.

The text is densely annotated in Teika's own hand with added poems, collation notes, notes on people and places, and red marks, preserving the traces of his study of the Kokinshu.

What to Look For

The Agency notes that the associated documents are letters of thanks from three Muromachi emperors who borrowed the manuscript from the Reizei family, attesting to its transmission there.

It has been kept for nearly eight centuries by the Reizei family, descendants of Teika.

Visiting the Kokin Wakashu (by Fujiwara no Teika)

The manuscript is owned by the Reizei Family Shiguretei Library and is not on regular display; watch for exhibition announcements.