The Set of a Hundred Poems (百首歌)
Hyakushuuta (The Set of One Hundred Poems, 百首歌) consists of one hundred poems as a unit, which are a type of waka composed with a predetermined number. It is also simply referred to as "One Hundred Poems." The Set of One Hundred Poems can be broken down into two types, including a set of poems composed by an individual poet and a set which is a collection of poems by a number of poets.
It is believed that the first set of one hundred poems by an individual poet was "Hyakuchi no Uta" (百ちの歌) composed in 960 as part of the 'Sotanshu,' the personal poetry collection of SONE no Yoshitada. The first set of one hundred poems written by a number of poets is presumed to be the 'One Hundred Waka of the Horikawa-in Era,' which was submitted to Emperor Horikawa at around 1105 to 1106. This collection of one hundred poems consisted of waka written by 16 poets, including FUJIWARA no Kinzane, and became the model for subsequent collections with set topics.
Following medieval times, it became a practice for leading poets to submit one hundred poems as baseline material when selecting waka for the Chokusen Wakashu (Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry compiled by Imperial command). One hundred poem sequences written by an individual poet, on the other hand, were composed for other purposes, such as training and dedicating them to shrines and temples.