The Editor's Intention of Compiling the Ritual Songs in Shin-goshūi-waka-shū

Abstract

Shin-goshūi-waka-shū is often said to be more complicatedly compiled than any other collection of ritual poems. It can be roughly divided into two parts; in the first half of the collection the arrangement is irregular because the prayers for eternal peace are sometimes interrupted by the religio-philosophical poems on the separation of Shintoism from Buddhism. In the latter half of it, however, the general tone obviously changes due to the editorial intention of one of the compilers, Nijō-Tameshige. Although most of them are about Sumiyoshi Shrine, there are less religious poems but more lyrical ones, dedicated to muses rather than to gods.