The Reizei Family Documents

Abstract

O N 4 April 1980, the major Japanese newspapers headlined the announcement that the venerable Reizei '#-% family of Kyoto, direct descendants of one of the most ancient lines of Heian court nobles and hereditary experts in waka, or classical poetry, had decided to make available to the public the incalculably valuable collection of poetic and other manuscripts and documents privately and 'secretly' handed down through the family for nearly 800 years.' Housed primarily in two of five kura, or storehouses, in the grounds of the family residence on Imadegawa-dori adjacent to Doshisha University, the collection now demands the most careful treatment and preservation that modern technology can provide. In making the first announcement, Mr Reizei (formerly Nishiyotsutsuji) Tameto &A (ziEg?) fI (age 67) and his wife Fumiko litF (age 62) gave as their principal reason for this momentous step their conviction that such an act would best contribute to the glory of their ancestors and serve the interests of the entire nation, and that, in short, the time had come to share their precious heritage with their compatriots. Even shorn of the journalistic sensationalism surrounding this first announcement and a series of subsequent newspaper 'revelations' over the ensuing days and weeks, the sober facts were enough to stun the scholarly community. The prospect of public (i.e., scholarly) access being at last given to this unique collection of literary and historical materials offers potentially some of the most exciting discoveries and breakthroughs in modern times for the study of Japanese classical poetry and the cultural and political history of the late Heian and Kamakura periods. Although unknown to the public at large, the Reizei documentary treasures have been the object of envy and curiosity for as many centuries as they have existed, and among scholars of Heian and Kamakura literature and culture,