Ipotekusuto to shite no Sugawara no Michizane no shi

Objective of this paper is to demonstrate and analyze the transtextual relations that lay between Sugawara no Michizane’s poems collections Kanke bunsō and Kanke kōshū, and two important Heian period works, namely Fujiwara no Kintō’s Wakanrōeishū and Murasaki Shikibu’s Genji Monogatari. I apply the theory of hypertextuality proposed by Gérard Genette to these works, focusing on the problem of hypertextuality, and demonstrating that the terminology cre- ated by Genette about European literature can be adopted to effectively analyze ancient Japanese works. This results in a deeper understanding of the works themselves and the authors’ peculiarities and abilities.