Mid-Tang Exchange Poetry, the Kingdom of Parhae, and the Reception of Bai Juyi in Early Heian Japan, Part 2: The Yuan-Bai Corpus and the Rise of Heian Sinitic Poetry

Scholars have long been puzzled by the immense popularity of mid-Tang poet Bai Juyi (772–846) at the Heian court (794–1185), especially compared to the relatively limited attention given to other Tang poets known to have reached Japan. This article traces the origins of the Heian court’s appreciation of Bai Juyi to what the author calls a “mode of reading” his poetic corpus, shaped both directly and indirectly by the Heian literati’s familiarity with Yuan-Bai exchange poetry, whose signifcance was reinforced by regular poetic exchanges between Heian poets and envoys from the Kingdom of Parhae 渤海 (698–926) during the ninth and early tenth centuries. The article examines how the Heian-Parhae connection informed the reception of Bai Juyi’s poetry and shaped the practice of Sinitic poetry in early Heian Japan. This is the second part of a two-part article, with the frst installment appearing in the previous issue of the Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies.