Songs of unknown author - Songs of unknown author

Japanese: 読人不知歌 - よみびとしらずのうた

A term used in waka poetry. Any poem with an unknown author can be called "unknown author," but as a general practice, poems in the "Manyoshu" are called "unknown author poems," and poems from the Heian period are called "unknown author poems." In Fujiwara no Kiyosuke's "Fukuro Soshi," he discusses the use of this term in imperial anthologies of waka poetry, saying that "unknown author" is used when the author is actually unknown, is of low social standing, or causes problems with the lyrics, but there was also the example of Taira Tadanori, whose author's name was not recorded because he was a person who had been punished by the imperial shogun.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

和歌用語。作者不明の歌ならばすべて〈読人知らず〉といえるわけだが，一般の習慣として《万葉集》の歌では〈作者未詳歌〉と呼び，平安時代の歌の場合だと〈読人知らず歌〉と呼んでいる。藤原清輔の《袋草紙（ふくろそうし）》では勅撰和歌集などでのこの語の使用について論じ，作者が実際にわからぬ場合，下賤の者である場合，歌詞に支障ある場合に〈読人知らず〉としてあるというが，勅勘の身であったために作者名が記されなかった平忠度（ただのり）の例もあった。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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