Relation of Medieval Waka to Buddhism: A Cross-Disciplinary Study

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370218
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese literature
• Research Institution: Nara Women's University
• Principal Investigator: OKAZAKI Makiko 奈良女子大学, 人文科学系, 准教授 (30515408)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 和歌 / 仏教

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examines the relation of certain waka (type of Japanese poems) to Buddhism. In medieval Japan, various types of literature came into existence, including setsuwa-shu (collections of stories), classical commentaries (books discussing classical literary works), Shinto-sho (books on the doctrines of Shinto), and jikidan-sho (records of discourses on doctrines as found in Buddhist scriptures). In this study, we focused on the waka recorded in these literary works and in collections of waka. Thus, the state of language in medieval Japan when waka and Buddhism were profoundly linked was clarified from a cross-disciplinary perspective.

Free Research Field

中世文学