The Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each) is Japan's most popular and widely known poetry collection, containing one hundred poems in the tanka form, selected by the famous poet and scholar Fujiwara Teika (1162-1241). These were in part arranged to represent the history of Japanese poetry from the 7th c. down to Teika's own day. The rough chronological order starts with Emperor Tenchi (626-671) and ends with Retired Emperor Juntoku (1197-1242).

[Fujiwara Teika]
In Teika's time it was common to write one hundred poem sequences with one's own poetry - Teika himself produced twenty - but Teika also compiled several collections of poems with work by other poets, from his own and earlier ages, of which the present one is the best known. As it offered an excellent overview of the living history of poetry, it became a tool for the instruction of novices in the art. The Hyakunin Isshu also became the basis for a popular uta karuta card game, and as such the poems have been memorized by countless Japanese since the Edo period. The game is still widely played today, especially at New Year.
[Poem Card (yomifuda): Emperor Tenchi and his poem]
Fujiwara Teika probably wrote out the single poems by 100 poets to decorate a set of sliding doors, somewhere towards the end of his life between 1235 and 1241. He had written out an almost similar set for the mansion of his son's father-in-law, and later made the present set for his own house. As this w...