Eiga Ittei (詠歌一体, also read Eiga no Ittei or Eiga Ittai) is a book of poetic theory written by the Japanese "waka" poet Fujiwara no Tameie in the Kamakura period. It falls within the "karon" genre. It has a large number of alternate titles, including Waka Ittei, Kadō no Sho, Waka Hishō, Sanken Hiketsu and Yakumo Kuden.
It provides advice to its readers, presumed to be beginner students of "waka" composition, in eight sections, and bears similarities to other poetic theory works by Tameie's father, Fujiwara no Teika, and grandfather, Fujiwara no Shunzei.
Authorship and date.
"Eiga Ittei" was written by the poet Fujiwara no Tameie.
The work's date of composition, if one believes the postscript attached to the "rufubon" (popular) text, is the Kōchō period (1261-1264), although it has also been dated by scholars to 1275.
Title.
The work is normally known by the title "Eiga Ittei", but it has a large number of alternate titles, including:
The common name can also be read as "Eiga Ittai" or "Eiga no Ittei".
Contents.
The "kōbon" (広本) text begins with a preface that advises the reader on the value of practice (稽古) over natural ability and knowledge (才学).
The text then goes on to give its reader an introduction to eight topics relating to "waka" composition:
In terms of its general advice to its readers, it is heavily dependent on the earlier works of Fujiwara no Shunzei (Tameie's grandfather), Fujiwara no Teika (Tameie's father) and Fujiwara no Kiyosuke, but it is independently noteworthy for its emphasis on practice, which reflects a more medieval "dō".
Textual tradition.
There are two principal textual lines: the Reizei text and the Nijō text. The latter bears a postscript by Fujiwara no Tameuji, and is the "rufubon" (popular) text. The postscript for the former was written by Reizei Tamesuke and Reizei Tamehide.
The Reizei text was only copied in the pre-modern period in manuscript form, with copies in the possession of Akita University, Kono Art Museum, the National Diet Archives, the Tokugawa Art Museum, the Yōmei Archives and others.
Manuscripts of the Nijō text survive in the possession of Tenri Central Library, the Sonkei-kaku Archives and others, and the text was also printed in 1696 and entered circulation in several compilations of books "waka" theory.
Notes.
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References.
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