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{{Short description|Rhetorical concept in Japanese poetry}}
{{About|the poetic concept|the print set|Utamakura (Utamaro)}}
{{Italic title}}
{{nihongo3|"poem pillow"|歌枕|'''Utamakura'''}} is a [[rhetoric]]al concept in [[Japanese poetry]].

==Definition==

{{transliteration|ja|Utamakura}} is a category of poetic words, often involving place names, that allow for greater [[allusion]]s and [[intertextuality]] across Japanese poems.

{{transliteration|ja|Utamakura}} enables poets to express ideas and themes concisely—thus allowing them to stay in the confines of strict {{transliteration|ja|[[waka (poetry)|waka]]}} structures.
 
Some scholars{{who|date=May 2022}} see the use of geographical allusion as the evidence for a restricted scope of poetry writing. Although the poets' "true" meaning was true because the essence was initially pre-established, the poems were written within fixed topics ({{transliteration|ja|dai}}). The poet could inhabit a subjective position or persona and write about the topic, but not necessarily about their personal feelings; therefore, {{transliteration|ja|utamakura}} could have restrained the scope of topics a poet could write about.

{{transliteration|ja|Utamakura}} include locations familiar to the court of ancient Japan, such as:
* particularly sacred [[Shinto]] and [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] sites,
* places where historic events occurred, and
* places that trigger a separate mental association through a pun.

==Aesthetic function==

{{transliteration|ja|Utamakura}} serve as a significant tool to achieve {{transliteration|ja|[[Japanese_aesthetics#Yūgen|yugen]]}} (mystery and depth) in Japanese poetry by adding profound and indirect beauty in poems. It can be used as a source for identifying significant figures and places in ancient Japan.

==History==

The history of {{transliteration|ja|utamakura}} is found in documents on the study of poetry such as the {{transliteration|ja|Utamakura}} ''of [[Noin]]'', by the poet and monk of the late Heian period, and lists of places in the {{transliteration|ja|Utamakura Nayose}} (Utamakura reference book).

{{transliteration|ja|Utamakura}} were first used by traveling priests.{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}} They collected stories from the towns they traveled to. Since they saw many places, it was easier to remember the details of a story by using a single, consistent reference point for each recurring event in their tales. Over time, the people across the Japan came to identify {{transliteration|ja|utamakura}} place names by the psychological feelings associated with the references made by the wandering priests.

After {{transliteration|ja|utamakura}} place names and people had become well established, eager {{transliteration|ja|waka}} poets went sightseeing to the sites of {{transliteration|ja|utamakura}}. Beyond becoming familiar with the scenery of the poems, entering the locale of a poem or story deepened one's understanding of it.

{{transliteration|ja|Utamakura}} was also used in {{transliteration|ja|[[renga]]}}, a form of Japanese [[collaborative poetry]] that is the ancestor of {{transliteration|ja|[[renku]]}} and [[haiku]] poetry.

==Examples==

There are numerous instances of {{transliteration|ja|utamakura}} in Japanese literature, one of which is the {{transliteration|ja|[[Kokin Wakashū|Kokinshū]]}}. The source of this particular {{transliteration|ja|utamakura}} example is poem #3 in the "Spring" section.{{Clarify|date=May 2024}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Kokin Wakashū |chapter=Spring. No. 3|url=http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-japanese?specfile=/web/data/japanese/search/japanese.o2w&act=surround&lang=en&offset=44095026&id=CookKok&query=Where+are+the+promised |via=[[University of Virginia Japanese Text Initiative|Japanese Text Initiative]] |publisher=University of Virginia Library |year=2004 |access-date=28 July 2013}}</ref>
{{Verse translation|
{{transliteration|ja|harugasumi
tateru ya izuko
Miyoshino no
Yoshino no yama ni
yuki wa furitsutsu}}
|attr1=Anonymous|
Where are the promised
mists of spring?
In Yoshino, fair hills
of Yoshino, snow
falling still|attr2=Translated by Lewis Cook}}

In the poem above, [[Yoshino, Nara|Yoshino]] refers to a place in the [[Yamato Province|Yamato region]] in the nearby of the capital. Yoshino is known for having both heavy snowfall and an abundance of cherry blossoms.

Poem #1 in "Spring 1" of ''[[Shin Kokin Wakashū]]'' also uses ''Yoshino'' for depicting the beginning of spring.<ref>{{cite web |title=Shinkokinshu |url=http://etext.virginia.edu/japanese/shinkokinshu/index.html |work=[[University of Virginia Japanese Text Initiative|Japanese Text Initiative]] |publisher=University of Virginia Library |date=1 August 1999 |access-date=28 July 2013}}</ref><ref name="Carter1993">{{cite book|last=Carter|first=Steven D.|title=Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dq7TOrkTCP0C&pg=PA510|year=1993|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-2212-4|page=172}}</ref>
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|ja-Latn|Miyoshino wa
yama mo kasumite
shirayuki no
furinishi sato ni
haru wa kinikeri}}
|attr1=The Regent Prime Minister<br />([[Kujō Yoshitsune]])|
Fair ''Yoshino,'' mountains
now wrapped in mist:
to the village where snow
was falling
spring has come.|attr2=Translated by Lewis Cook}}

Another instance of poetic place name comes from ''[[Tales of Ise]]'', a piece titled "In the Provinces" (#15).<ref>{{cite web |title=Ise Monogatari |url=http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/ise/index.html |work=Japanese Text Initiative |publisher=University of Virginia Library |date=11 November 1998 |access-date=28 July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=McCullough |first=Helen Craig |title=Tales of Ise: Lyrical Episodes from Tenth - Century Japan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ol_MOUZmpMC|year=1968 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-0653-7 |page=80}}</ref>
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|ja-Latn|Shinobuyama
shinobite kayou
michi mogana
hito no kokoro no
oku no miru beku}}
|
I long to find a path
to the depths of Mount ''Shinobu''
that I might fathom
the secrets
of another's heart.|attr2=Translated by Jamie Newhard<br />and Lewis Cook}}

''Mount Shinobu'' is a pun on the verb ''shinobu,'' meaning "to conceal," "endure," "long for," and "remember".

===Contemporary examples===

''Utamakura'' are also used outside of poetry, for example menu items named after their visual appearance with a reference to a well-known Japanese scenic area. ''Tatsuta age'', deep-fried fish or chicken that has a dark reddish-brown color as a result of being marinated in soy sauce, is named after the [[Tatsuta River]], known for its maple trees, the leaves of which turn a deep red color in autumn.<ref>{{cite news|last=Andoh|first=Elizabeth|title=Japanese Menu Names|url=http://www.bento.com/ta-name.html|access-date=28 July 2013|newspaper=Daily Yomiuri|date=8 November 1997}}</ref>

==See also==
* {{anli|Darmok}}
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Kamens, Edward. ''Utamakura, Allusion, and Intertextuality in Traditional Japanese Poetry.'' Yale University Press, [[1997 in literature|1997]]. {{ISBN|0-300-06808-5}}
*Raud, Rein. "The Lover's Subject: Its Construction and Relativization in the Waka Poetry of the Heian Period". In ''Proceedings of the Midwest Association for Japanese Literary Studies'', vol. 5, summer 1999, pp.&nbsp;65–79.
*Shirane, Haruo (editor). ''Traditional Japanese Literature.'' Columbia University Press: New York, 2007.
*Wright, Ichabod C (Translator). ''The Inferno of Dante.'' Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman: London, 1833.

{{Japanese poetry}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Concepts in Japanese aesthetics]]
[[Category:Japanese poetry]]
[[Category:Articles containing Japanese poems]]
[[Category:Japanese words and phrases]]
[[Category:Allegory]]