“Chunjiang huayue ye” in the History of Sinographic Literature in East Asia

Abstract

Zhang Ruoxu’s poem “Chunjiang huayue ye,” reached Japan and Korea in the anthology Tangshi xuan compiled by the Ming dynasty scholar Li Panlong. In the mid-Edo period, under the influence of the “Kobunjigaku” (Ancient Rhetoric School) represented by Ogyū Sorai, the Tangshi xuan anthology enjoyed a phase of great popularity and became the widest-read Tang poetry work at the time. Because “Chunjiang huayue ye” was included in Tangshi xuan, it was also widely read. Many versions of Tangshi xuan containing abundant commentaries on “Chunjiang huayue ye” were published in Japan; most of these focus on art appreciation and comment on the poem in considerable depth. China, Japan, and Korea also produced many response poems and imitations of “Chunjiang huayue ye.” Of these, the Chinese imitations were closest to the original work, the Japanese ones had greater ideological depth and echoed the commentaries on the poem, and the Korean ones were all rhymed response poems that were integrated into Korean culture over time. As a literary classic, “Chunjiang huayue ye” transcended its original era and at the same time broke the barriers of space, becoming world literature appreciated by people in other countries.