#dandelionsyrup

Hi, yes! Sorry I took so long. I’d gladly do Teika—I remember more about him than I do about Yūgiri anyway!

(Also, I have a slight crush on Ema Saikō, so you’re not alone. By the way I put the mix up on 8tracks! It’s called ‘Gossamer Dreams’ and tagged ‘heian’ and ‘japan’.)

What I like about Teika: His compilation of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (and the fact that he lived in Ogura, which is a lovely area, in the first place); his writing of the definitive manuscript copies of many, many classical texts; his criticism and definition of the ten orthodox poetic styles (which had influence on not only Japanese but also, much later, English and French poetry!); the poem beginning こぬ人を (I like seaweed imagery in Japanese poetry for reasons relating to the twelfth chapter of the Lotus Sutra and a specific shakkyō-ka that was later written about it); so so so much more. Teika richly deserves his reputation as one of the best and most influential poets in Japanese history.

What I dislike about Teika: He was such a good poet and so influential that his ideas were overwhelmingly dominant for centuries and provided almost no space for alternative Japanese poetic traditions to develop. ‘In this art of poetry, those who speak ill of Teika should be denied the protection of the gods and buddhas and condemned to the punishments of Hell‘ is just not a healthy thing to say about somebody.

Favourite moment: His work to finish the poems for the poetry contest that Minamoto no Michichika tried to exclude him from.

Least favourite moment: Getting exiled from the capital. Also, his lackluster work on the Shinchokusen Wakashū (in particular, screwing over his niece).

A situation with Teika that I want to see explored more: See favourite moment. I’d love to read a short story, or even a novel, about that whole sequence of events.

An interesting AU for Teika: Teika living at any other point in Japanese history would be fascinating, but especially if one puts him in the Edo period (especially if he’s still court nobility rather than samurai).

A crossover: Teika v. Goethe: Ultimate Showdown

OTP (or OT3+ etc…. just… favourite ship): Teika/Abutsu-ni.

Other ships? None. I think he should have demonstrated a lot more commitment to Abutsu-ni than he apparently did, actually.

BROTP: Teika+Sarashina! Never mind that they lived centuries apart.

NOTP: Does anybody ship him with Go-Toba? If so, that.