Thematic poem - Daiei

A method of composing waka poetry based on a predetermined theme. Poems based on a theme began to be written around the time of Otomo no Yakamochi at the end of the Nara period, but in the Heian period, poems were first written on the same theme along with Chinese poetry, and as poetry contests and folding screen poems became popular, poems based on a theme with seasonal scenery as the theme became the norm. Particularly in the late Heian period, when themes were subdivided and combinations of themes (group themes) were decided in units of 100 poems across the four seasons, love, and miscellaneous, poetry came to be composed exclusively on a theme. Since then, the true path of poetry has been interpreted as how to grasp the true meaning of the theme and how to skillfully incorporate it into a poem, and various books on theories and references on poetry have been written.

[Fumio Hashimoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

あらかじめ決められた歌題によって詠む和歌の創作方法。奈良時代末の大伴家持(おおとものやかもち)のころから題詠が詠まれたが、平安時代に入り、初めは漢詩とともに同題で詠まれるようになり、歌合(うたあわせ)、屏風歌(びょうぶうた)などが盛んになると四季の景物を歌題とした題詠が普通となった。とくに平安後期になり、歌題が細分化され、四季、恋、雑にわたり100首単位などで歌題の組合せ（組題(くみだい)）が決められるようになると、詠歌はもっぱら題詠によることになった。それ以降は、どのように歌題の本意をとらえて、いかにそれをじょうずに一首に詠み込むかが、詠歌の本道と解釈され、さまざまの歌論書、参考書が著述されている。

［橋本不美男］

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