was a Japanese scholar and writer of '' kanshi'' (poetry in

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...

) and ''

kanbun A is a form of Classical Chinese used in Japan from the Nara period to the mid-20th century. Much of Japanese literature was written in this style and it was the general writing style for official and intellectual works throughout the period. A ...

'' (prose in Classical Chinese), who lived in the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the cap ...

of Japanese history.

Biography

Birth and ancestry

Mifune was born in 722.''

Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten (Japanese: 日本古典文学大辞典) is a reference work about Japanese literature published by Iwanami Shoten circa 1983-1985. References External links * CiNii CiNii () is a bibliographic database service for ...

'' article "Ōmi no Mifune" (pp. 410-411, author:

Noriyuki Kojima Noriyuki (written: 紀之, 紀行, 敬之, 記之, 徳行, 憲幸, 範之 or 範幸) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese anime director *, Japanese musician *, Japanese motorcycle racer *, Japanese ...

).'' Britannica Kokusai Dai-Hyakkajiten'' article
Ōmi no Mifune
. Britannica.'' MyPaedia'' article
Ōmi no Mifune
.

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...

.''

Daijisen The is a general-purpose Japanese dictionary published by Shogakukan in 1995 and 1998. It was designed as an "all-in-one" dictionary for native speakers of Japanese, especially high school and university students. History Shogakukan intended for ...

'' entry
Ōmi no Mifune
.

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

. His father was , who was a son of , a son of

Emperor Kōbun was the 39th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 弘文天皇 (39)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 53. Kōbun's reign lasted on ...

. He was originally an imperial prince, known as , but in the first month of 851 was made a commoner and given the surname ''Ōmi'' and the title ''Mahito''.

Political career

He served as , and .

Death

He died in 785.

Literary career

In 770 he composed the work , an account of the Chinese monk

Jianzhen Jianzhen (; 688–763), or Ganjin in Japanese, was a Chinese monk who helped to propagate Buddhism in Japan. In the eleven years from 743 to 754, Jianzhen attempted to visit Japan some six times. Ganjin finally came to Japan in the year 753 and ...

's work in Japan. It has been theorized that he was the compiler of the oldest extant Japanese collection of ''kanshi'', the ''

Kaifūsō The is the earliest extant poetry anthology of literary Sinitic ('' kanshi'') written by Japanese poets. It was compiled in 751. In the brief introduction of the poets, the unknown writer seems sympathetic to Emperor Kōbun and his regents who ...

''.> Some of his poetry was included in the ''kanshi'' anthology ''

Keikokushū The was the third imperially commissioned anthology of kanshi (poetry written in classical Chinese by Japanese poets). The text was compiled by Yoshimine no Yasuyo, Minabuchi no Hirosada, Sugawara no Kiyotomo, Yasuno no Fumitugu, Shigeno no ...

''.

Scholarship

Mifune is credited with determining the canonical Chinese style posthumous names of early

emperors An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

who did not have them before his time (they only had Japanese style posthumous names). Between 762 and 764 he set the names of

Emperor Jinmu was the legendary first emperor of Japan according to the '' Nihon Shoki'' and '' Kojiki''. His ascension is traditionally dated as 660 BC.Kelly, Charles F"Kofun Culture"Emperor Suizei , also known as , was the second legendary emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Very little is known about this Emperor due to a lack of material available for further verification and study. Suizei is known as a "le ...

Emperor Annei , also known as was the third legendary emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Very little is known about this Emperor due to a lack of material available for further verification and study. Annei is known as a "lege ...

and so on. Based on his research into Buddhist scriptures, in 779 he declared the , a commentary on the '' Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna'' attributed to , to be a forgery.

References

External links

Ōmi no Mifune
on Kotobank. {{DEFAULTSORT:Omi, Mifune 722 births 785 deaths 8th century in Japan 8th-century Japanese poets People of Nara-period Japan Japanese nobility Japanese male poets Buddhism in the Nara period Kanshi poets