Fujiwara Teika [key], 1162–1241, Japanese poet and literary theorist of the early medieval period. Son of the poet Shunzei, Teika ranks among the greatest of Japanese poets. Despite several setbacks occasioned by the changing political fortunes of his patrons, Teika continued to perfect his art, producing poetry and poetic treatises, as well as compiling anthologies, such as the highly regarded Shinkokinwakashu [new collection of ancient and modern verse], an imperially commissioned poetry anthology, and the Hyakunin Isshu [one hundred poems of one hundred poets]. While his style evolved considerably throughout his career, Teika is best known for verse of haunting beauty and rich symbolism. Eventually, quarrels among Teika's descendants produced the Reizei, Kyogoku, and Nijo schools of poetic tradition, each claiming direct transmission of Teika's teachings.
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