The model life of an eccentric poet: Noin Hoshi and 'Noin shu' (Japan)

The Heian poet-priest Noin (also called Tachibana no Nagayasu; 988--c.1052) was a wanderer who inspired many of his contemporaries and successors in his pursuit of the Way of Poetry (kado). In this dissertation I present a study and translation of his entire extant poetic oeuvre, focusing especially on his personal anthology (shikashu ), Noin shu (also called Noin hoshi shu; c. 1046). My study situates Noin's life and poetry in the context of the literary and social movements of his age, paying special attention to the politics, poetics, and potential of the shikashu genre.; This study begins by arguing that Noin's exploration of new possibilities for the shikashu genre has been obscured by an oppositional poetics which privileges the established imperial waka anthologies (chokusenwakashu). Clearing this bias allows a reconsideration of the milieu and motives for Noin's creative goals and methods.; In Part One of this dissertation I consider the various contexts in which we encounter Noin and his work. In the first chapter I approach Noin as a member of a particular social class, the zuryo, a sub-elite who produced much of the literary culture that has survived from the Heian era. Following the model of his life presented in Noin shu, I examine three of his relationships with fellow zuryo poets and consider the significance of informal poetry groups outside the imperial court. In the second and third chapters I introduce Noin as a poet and critic through his later poetry and two short prose pieces. In the fourth and fifth chapters I address the core topic of my study: how to read Noin shu as an independent literary work and model for Noin's patrons and his disciples. Chapter V offers an extended reading of the last fifth of the Noin shu , detailing the operation of coherent and extended narrative in a work that appears at first to consist of multiple independent lyric poems.; Part Two then presents a complete translation of Noin shu from the Matsudaira MS, with textual commentary and annotation, allowing the reader to encounter Noin's story of his own life as he designed it to be read.; I conclude by suggesting that Noin was not alone in innovating around the personal poetry collection form, and that a great deal of fundamental literary, rather than historical, analysis of the shikashu corpus is still needed before we can hope to understand the variety and potential of Heian and later waka poetry.