Rhetorical Devices of the Kokinshū: A Structrual Analysis of Japanese Waka Poetry

Abstract

This monography deals with the rhetorical device of Japanese waka poetry through an axhaustive analysis of the first and most important of the Japanese imperial anthologies, the Kohinshu (complied 905 AD). The chapters are organised around the poetic devices, including Kakekotoba (conventionalized puns, usually translated as pivot words), Makurkotoba (set phrases or epigrams, usually translated as pillow words). The analysis presented here uses descriptive model which defines and classifies these rhetorical devices as structural elements in the poetry.