Bo ZHANG

April 2025 :	Completed doctoral coursework (without obtaining the degree) in Japanese Language and Literature at the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo.
April 2025 :	Appointed to the Faculty of Letters, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo

Medieval Japanese Literature, Waka Poetry

1) Borderlands and Waka Poetry in Early Medieval Japan

My research interests focus on the role and representation of borderlands in waka poetry in the 12th–13th centuries. Borderlands—places remote from the political and cultural center, such as Azuma, Mutsu and Kumano—played a significant role in premodern Japanese literature, including waka poetry. 

At the same time, Japanese society underwent a major transformation from an aristocratic government to a military one, accompanied by a geographical shift of the political center in the early medieval period. This era is also known as the golden age of waka, which gave birth to the anthology Shin Kokin Wakashū. 

By examining poems that represent borderlands and those composed in the borderlands or during pilgrimages, my research aims to reveal the political and cultural roles of borderlands in waka poetry and the dynamics of interaction among politics, geography, and poetry.

2) Minamoto no Sanetomo, the 3rd Shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate

Waka poems by Minamoto no Sanetomo provide a good example of the role of borderlands in waka poetry, revealing the interaction among politics, geography, and literature. Sanetomo was a poet who lived in Kamakura, the capital of the new military government, and never visited Kyoto. This particular geographical and political position gave his poems characteristics that differ from the classical tradition created and maintained by the aristocracy in Kyoto. 

In addition, the rapid rise in the evaluation of his poems reflects a major transformation in Japanese society and culture from the premodern to modern period. Examining his poems also helps illuminate the interaction among politics, geography, and literature, as well as how their relationship changes and persists over time.