The shijin muyō discourse revisited: Confucian scholarship and literary writing in early Heian Japan

A poem by the early Heian kidendō graduate Shimada no Tadaomi (828-891) refers to Confucian scholars’ judgement that shi poetry and poets were “useless” (shijin muyō). In this paper, I interpret Tadaomi’s utterance as a valuable source for assessing the significance of poetic expertise and performance within the broader realm of Confucian scholarship in the early Heian period. By reconsidering the involvement of ninth-century Confucian scholars in a wide range of literary activities that justified their social status, I argue that this shijin muyō discourse can be understood as a commentary on the socio-political possibilities and limitations of those who pursued poetry as a primary form of occupation.