Heritage Discourses in Early Japan Analyzing Strategies of Textual Appropriation in Poetic Anthologies of the Eighth and Ninth Centuries

This article explores how the concept of "textual heritage" can enhance humanistic studies by examining early Japanese literary practices through the lens of heritage theory. Focusing on the prefaces of four Sino-Japanese poetic anthologies from the eighth and ninth centuries—Kaifūsō (751), Ryōunshū (814), Bunka shūreishū (818), and Keikokushū (827)—the study analyzes how political and cultural elites constructed authorized heritage discourses in early Japan. Rather than viewing anthology editing as a merely mechanical compilation, the article argues that selecting, rearranging, and preserving texts constitutes an active process of heritagization driven by nostalgia, political legitimation, and the desire to transmit cultural identity to posterity. Furthermore, the study demonstrates how early Japanese literati performed "textual appropriation" by creatively borrowing and naturalizing the Chinese literary canon and its meta-discourses (such as Cao Pi’s Lunwen) to legitimize the imperial court's power and foster social harmony. By framing these premodern intertextual dynamics within Laurajane Smith’s "Authorized Heritage Discourse" and David Harvey's "history of heritage," the article challenges modern, nation-centered paradigms of heritage, highlighting how textual artifacts continuously produce new embodiments across historical contexts.