Tsukushi poetry circles in the Man'yoshu
| Location | City of Tsukushino・City of Onojo・City of Dazaifu・Town of Umi・Town of Kiyama |
|---|---|
| Designation | Undesignated |
| Emblem |  |
Out of 4500 poems included in the Man'yoshu anthology, approximately 320 of them were written in the Tsukushi region (now Fukuoka province). Renowned poets stayed in Dazaifu during the Jinki and Tenpyo years (724-748) of the Nara period, and wrote poems that were included in the Man'yoshu. The poems created at a plum-blossom party hosted at the residence of Otomo no Tabito, the Governor-General of Dazaifu, are especially famous. In those times, plums were still-new novelties brought over from the Tang Dynasty.
Plum Blossom Banquets, the Elegant Banquets of the Man'yoshu
While plums are a common sight now, they were a rare plant native to China during the Nara Period, when the “Western Capital” was created, meaning that the culture of viewing plum blossoms was another one of the advanced forms of culture that came from continental Asia and Nara. The “Plum Blossom Banquet”, which has been gaining attention in the dawn of the new “Reiwa” era in Japan, is a banquet hosted by the Governor-General of Dazaifu, Otomo no Tabito, who would get together with the officials of Dazaifu and Kyushu and its islands to enjoy continental culture.
Dazaifu City Characters/Tabito the Traveler, Otomo no Tabitto, Princess Reiwa
“Baika no en” (The Plum Blossom Banquet) in the Man'yoshu poetry collection served as the source of the name for the new era, “Reiwa”. Since the dawn of the Reiwa era in 2019, people from all over the nation have visited the land of Dazaifu, where Otomo no Tabito once hosted “Baika no en” at his residence.
Dotted with historical sites and landscapes that the poets of the Man'yoshu Tsukushi Poetry Circle would have seen, the city of Dazaifu currently has 29 monuments to Man'yoshu poetry. We recommend touring the area with a pamphlet or the Japan Heritage App in hand.
Chikushino City Characters/Tsukushi-chan
In the land of Dazaifu, were new cultural artifacts entered from the continent, Otomo no Tabito and other officials who had been exposed to advanced forms of culture would gather together to compose poetry, making the city of Chikushino a stage for the Man'yoshu poets. The sorrow at parting with those they loved, the loneliness of thinking on their hometown, and the beauty of nature they spoke of in their poems are ideas that are familiar to us even to this day.。
Access Information
Address
Dazaifu Exhibition Hall：
818-0101 4-6-1 Kanzeon-ji, Dazaifu, Fukuoka
By Train
About 20 min on foot from Nishitetsu Futsukaichi Station
By Car
About 5 min from the Dazaifu IC on the Kyushu Expressway
About the Western Capital
The “Western Capital”, created in Tsukushi 1300 years ago. Cultural assets speaking to the magnificence of this city of international exchange that flourished in East Asia are scattered across the cities of Chikushino, Kasuga, Onojo, Dazaifu, Nakagawa, and Umi in Fukuoka Prefecture as well as the town of Kiyama in Saga Prefecture.