Editorial Note

         The accompanying text is an electronic edition of Kokinshu based on a facsimile of the manuscript of Fujiwara Teika generally known as the Date Family text. This is the only extant publicly available text of Kokinshu in Teika's hand, and has been used as the copytext for a number of recent modernized typographic editions. The fact that this is the copytext for Shinpen Kokka Taikan, a standard authority and among the most widely cited and readily available editions, makes it an obvious choice for dissemination via the World Wide Web.

         Of three facsimile editions published since 1938, the most recent, that edited by Kyusojin Hitaku, published by Kyuko Shoin (Tokyo) in 1991, was used in preparation of this electronic edition. The monochrome facsimile in the Kyuko Shoin text is supplemented by a modernized typographic edition which includes transcription of the original notations in red ink, many of which are illegible in the facsimile, and provides a number of editorial suggestions on emendations. As far as possible, the electronic version is faithful to the manuscript, with the following conditions and exceptions:

1. For the most part, the usual conventions on modernization and typographic transcription of pre-modern Japanese texts have been followed. Thus,

a. Most kanji and all kana have been changed to modern forms and yomigana have been supplied.

b. Kana orthography has been brought into conformity with so-called "historical usage."

c. Diacritical marks (seiten) have been supplied. In ambiguous cases regarding glottalization and where dakuten are not given in the manuscript, reference has been made to the commentary of 1482 by Joen and Sogi, Kokin Wakashu Ryodokikigaki, which incorporates much of Teika's own commentary on the Kokinshu; to the Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei edition by Arai Eizo and Kojima Noriyuku (1989); to Kokin Wakashu Zenhyoshaku by Takeoka Masao (revised edition 1981); to Fukutake Kogo Jiten (Inoue and Nakamura, eds., 1988); and to Kyusojin Hitaku's typographic transcription, roughly in that order of precedence.

d. Punctuation has been supplied for prose passages, generally following Kyusojin's transcription, which seems to strike a readable compromise between over- and under-punctuation (the extremes of which are exemplified by the edition of Arai and Kojima, on the one hand, and the Shinpen Kokka Taikan, on the other).

e. Kanji which are unambiguously used to represent kana have been changed to kana; thus in such cases 鶴 is replaced by つる, 南 by なん or なむ, 覧 by らむ or らん, etc. Many cases are ambiguous, however; for example Teika frequently writes 物を to represent ものを, 物から for ものから, etc. in contexts in which もの is clearly a grammatical particle rather than a noun. In some such cases (e.g. Nos. 64, 112, 206, 518, 685, etc.) however, the context suggests that the word もの may be understood as also having a noun antecedent and so could be interpreted as a pun. There is evidence elsewhere, e.g. in No. 777, where 「ま つ」is written by Teika as 松 ("pine tree"), even though its primary meaning is indisputably the verb 待つ ("to wait"), that Teika was deliberately using kanji rather than kana to leave open the possibility of reading puns, in this instance a pun on "pine tree" behind the verb. In No. 770, by contrast, as Takeoka notes, 松 more likely represents the kana まつ (for the verb "to wait") without intending a pun on "pine tree." There is room for debate, however, and I have tried to consistently err on the side of caution, leaving Teika's kanji intact in many cases where the Shinpen Kokka Taikan editors for example replace them with kana.

2. As far as seemed reasonably possible, with due respect for the needs of modern readers, the text of the manuscript has not been emended, even in cases which modern scholars have quite reasonably decided are scribal errors. (A list of the usual emendations is provided in the editorial notice to the Shinpen Kokka Taikan edition.)

3. As a result of the above, the text of this edition is substantially closer to the manuscript than the Shinpen Kokka Taikan edition is.

4. Paragraph breaks in the Kana Preface follow the pagination of the manuscript. Consequently, some of breaks displayed here occur in the middle of sentences.