王権の正当性を誇示する事業としての『最勝四天王院障子和歌』

Abstract

The Saishô Shi-Tennô-in residence was built for Retired Emperor Gotoba in 1207. The purpose of this paper is to understand the symbolic and political aspects of this exceptional undertaking, which combined architecture, religion, painting and poetry. First of all it is important to note how certain elements of the construction, such as the location and name of the building and its chapels, suggest this residence was conceived in order to affirm the legitimacy of the Emperor's power over the whole Japanese nation in a period when the Kamakura Bakufu was ruling the eastern provinces, and to obtain the intercession of Buddhas and kami in recovering and reasserting that power. Next, I analyse the poems produced for display on the sliding doors of the residence. In fact, one of the most striking characteristics of this residence is that it was adorned by sliding doors representing forty-six Japanese famous places (meisho), with one poem on each. Ten major poets, including Retired Emperor Gotoba, composed forty-six poems each, that is to say a total of 460 waka, of which, 46 were selected by Gotoba to be actually written on the sliding doors. Three meisho — Minasegawa, Shikama-no-ichi and Oshioyama have given rise to a particularly high number of poems celebrating the emperor. I focus on these poems in order to analyse the image of the emperor, and how the relation between the monarch and his subjects was portrayed. Lastly, I analyse the poems written on the meisho Ôigawa, which seems to have been particularly important to Gotoba.