An entertainment of Chinese origin, held on the first Day of the Snake of the third month (later fixed to the third day, third month). The guests, sitting in front of a meandering stream, try to compose poems before cups of rice wine floating from upstream reach them, which they drink. According to the chronicle Nihon shoki, compiled in the eighth century, and the anthology of Chinese style poetry Kaifūsō, it had been introduced before the Nara period.
Japanese Garden Dictionary: A Glossary for Japanese Gardens and Their History
(C) 2010 by Ono Kenkichi and Walter Edwards. All rights reserved.
