Fujiwara no Teika

Fujiwara no Teika or Sadaie (藤原定家: 1162–September 26, 1241) was a Japanese waka poet, critic, carigrapher, scribe and scholar of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods.

Teika is known as an editor of the Shin-kokin-wakashu ordered by the Emperor Go-toba. He also selected the works for the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, an anthology of a hundred poems by a hundred poets. His Hyakunin Isshu was later thought a book of waka theory in which all types of ideal waka and all techniques were laid out.

Teika made many manuscripts of Japanese classics. In his days, the ancient Japanese pronunciation was lost and it made the orthography of kana confused and uncertain. Teika researched old documents and recovered the earlier system of deciding between kana, and made an systematic orthography. It has been used till the modern period. He applied his kana system to his manuscripts. His manuscripts were known for their accuracy and good quality and called Teika bon (Teika text). Using his method he was able to document the accurate pronunciation of earlier waka like Kokin-wakashu.