A Study On The Poems

Sugawara Michima is the greatest poet in the age of Heian in Japan, and he is called “The God of learning”. The number of existing poems he wrote is 514, among which the number of the imperially assigned poems reaches up to 114. Based on Kaifuso and three volumes composed by the order of emperor, this study discusses Sugawara Michima’s writing style dominated by the imperially assigned poems, and explores the types and ideas of Sugawara Michima’s imperially assigned poems. In the atmosphere of the officials entertaining, these poems reveal Sugawara Michima’s excellent talents for writing. Solar terms, poems chanting for things and emotions and so on become parts of the imperially assigned poems. Sugawara Michima performs freely, so that the range of subjects and the expression of the imperially assigned poems are expanded. He connects the imperially assigned poems with the other types of poems. From the pen of Sugawara Michima, the content of imperially assigned poems is not limited to showing off, but is added with the poet’s feelings and emotions for things. Therefore, the content of the imperially assigned poems is enriched. Based on this, the s tudy further discusses Sugawara Michima’s artistic achievements and his metrical patterns, antithetical forms and allusions using in imperially assigned poems. And the imperially assigned poems’ acception for Chinese poems is also discussed in this study. Sugawara Michima’s poems represent the highest achievement of Japanese poems in the early stage of Heian Age. His imperially assigned poems not only inherit the creation traditions dominated by the imperially assigned poems in Kaifuso and three volumes composed by the order of emperor, but also change the features of vanity and extravagance of imperially assigned poems. He accepts and innovates C hinese imperially assigned poems and the early Japanese imperially assigned poems, and promotes the imperially assigned poems with plain and natural features to the same level with other poems chanting emotions. Sugawara Michima’s chanting emotions and things in a imperial way inspires Japanese poetry development, and plays a constructive part in defined shape and development of metrical verses in later times. Taking on the basis of mastering and using Chinese records, Sugawara Michima earnestly practices what he advocates and is gradually free from the simple imitation of Chinese poetry. Thereby, he pushes the Japanese poetry forward.