noun
Imperial New Year's poetry reading
A formal annual event held at the Imperial Court where poems are read aloud. The term is specific to the Japanese imperial tradition.
御歌会始は毎年一月に皇居で行われる。
The Imperial New Year's poetry reading is held at the Imperial Palace every January.
歌会始 is a more common, less formal term for the same event, without the honorific prefix 御.
Compound of 御 (honorific prefix) + 歌会 (poetry gathering) + 始 (beginning, first). The term refers specifically to the first poetry gathering of the year at the Imperial Court.