The Popularization of the Hundred Poets in Edo-Period Japan
Speaker: JOSHUA S. MOSTOW, Professor of Pre-Modern Japanese Literature and Art, University of British Columbia
Moderator: DAVID C. ATHERTON, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
This talk will explore how knowledge of the Hyakunin isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each) collection spread among the commoner class in Japan’s early modern Edo period (1603-1868), becoming the foundation of popular literary literacy through the booming print culture, especially by means of illustrated commentaries in books and popular prints. A distinctly vernacular interpretative tradition will be revealed, which even influenced the earliest English translations of these poems.
Please note that this is an in-person only event.
Reischauer Institute Japan Forum
