Among the shortest but most revealing statements of the late-medieval uta poet Shtetsu is this one recorded in a memoir written by his contemporary, T no Tsuneyori: “I will be a member of the Teika sect to the end.” Although he could not claim direct blood descent from that great founder of the Mikohidari poetic house, Shtetsu did indeed dedicate much of his career to a revitalization of Teika's legacy. The court uta poets of his time rewarded his efforts with faint praise; but through the renga poets among his students, his influence was felt well into the Edo period.

Shtetsu was born in a castle town in Bitchu Province (modern Okayama) in 1381 to a middle-ranking samurai. When he was about ten years old, however, he moved with his family to Kyoto. There, perhaps in 1395, he met the warrior poet Imagawa Ryshun, contact with whom convinced him that...