Poetic Diction of Izumishikibu: Focusing on the Food Names

Abstract

This paper is about the food names used in Izumishikibu Waka. Izumishikibu was a poetess who was active in Japan in the 11th century. It is very difficult to find scenes of eating food in literary works at that time. In the background, it was recognized that depicting a meal scene was far from the trend of the times when aesthetic sense was important. The reason is that he recognized that depicting meal scenes was far from the trend of the times when aesthetic sense was emphasized. Exceptions are made when food has meaning as a formal ritual, but these usages are concentrated on essays and monogatari. However, Izumishikibu is unique because it has written poems that include the name of the food. In this study, it was confirmed that Izumishikibu's aspect as a lyricist was expressed even in waka with common food names, and I tried to understand one side of Izumishikibu waka's characteristics through food names.