Abe no Iratsume (阿倍女郎 or 安倍女郎; dates unknown) was a Japanese '' waka'' poet of 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 ...

Biography

The exact birth and death dates of Abe no Iratsume (literally, "the lady Abe") are unknown, but she probably lived from around the Wadō era (began 708) to around the

Hōki was a after ''Jingo-keiun'' and before ''Ten'ō''. This period spanned the years from October 770 through January 781. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 770 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The pr ...

era (ended 780).

Poetry

Abe no Iratsume is the credited author of five poems included in books III and IV of the ''

Man'yōshū The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...

''. They are the poems numbered 269, 505–506, 514, and 516. These include a poetic exchange with Nakatomi no Azumahito, the author of poem 515. An "Abe no Iratsume" (安倍女郎) is mentioned as the recipient of poem 1631 (Book VIII) by

Ōtomo no Yakamochi was a Japanese statesman and '' waka'' poet in the Nara period. He was one of the ''Man'yō no Go-taika,'' the five great poets of his time, and was part of Fujiwara no Kintō's . Ōtomo was a member of the prestigious Ōtomo clan. Like his g ...

, but this was likely a different woman.

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* * Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Man'yō poets Japanese women poets {{Japan-poet-stub