Utamakura, Allusion, and Intertextuality in Traditional Japanese Poetry

A central feature of traditional Japanese poetry ( waka ) is the use of utamakura-- a category of poetic words, many of which are place-names or the names of features associated with them--to cultivate allusion and intertextuality between individual poems and within the tradition. In this book Edward Kamens analyzes a wide selection of poems to show how utamakura came to wield special powers within Japanese poetry.