One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each in Brocade of Eastern Weave

In this delicately printed book, poetry brushed in a calligraphic fl ourish accompanies portraits of 100 poets. Of them, 79 are men and 21 are women. One Hundred Poets was a collection of 100 poems by preeminent poets from the 600s to 1200s that were selected by courtier and poet Fujiwara Teika (1162–1241). By the 13th century, One Hundred Poets was considered the foundation for the study of poetry and an entry point for beginners. In the Edo period, the poems were adapted into a popular card game in which one person reads out the fi rst half of a poem and the players must fi nd the card with the second half. The game required players to have the poems memorized— nothing extraordinary at a time when children learned and practiced writing by copying the same poems. This book had an enduring appeal to readers that is evident in its publication history: it was fi rst published in 1775, while the last known edition was printed in the Meiji period, about a century later.