Abutsu-ni (阿仏尼, c. 12221283; the ''-ni'' suffix means "nun") was a Japanese poet and nun. She served as a lady-in-waiting to Princess Kuni-Naishinnō, later known as Empress Ankamon-in. In approximately 1250 she married fellow poet

Fujiwara no Tameie was a Japanese poet and compiler of Imperial anthologies of poems. Tameie was the second son of poet Teika and married Abutsu-ni. He was the central figure in a circle of Japanese poets after the Jōkyū War in 1221. His three sons were Nijō ...

. She had two children with him. Following his death in 1275, she became a nun. A dispute over her son's inheritance led her, in either 1277 or 1279, to travel from Kyoto to Kamakura in order to plead on her son's behalf. Her account of this journey, told in poems and letters, was published as ''Izayoi nikki'' (''Diary of the Waning Moon'' or ''Journal of the Sixteenth-Night Moon''), her most well-known work.

Early life

Abutsu-ni's birth name and parentage are unknown. She was adopted at a young age by Taira no Norishige, the nominal governor of

Sado Province was a province of Japan until 1871; since then, it has been a part of Niigata Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Sado''" in . It was sometimes called or . It lies on the eponymous Sado Island, off the coast of Niigata Prefectur ...

. As his daughter she served in the court of Princess Kuni-Naishinnō, later Empress Ankamon-in. During this time she was known as Ankamon-in no Shijō and Ankamon-in Emon no Suke. Also during her time at court, she gave birth to three children with unknown parentage: two sons, Ajari and Rishi, and a daughter, Ki Naishi. Both sons became Buddhist clergy members and Ki Naishi became a lady-in-waiting to a consort of

Emperor Kameyama was the 90th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1260 through 1274. Genealogy Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his ''imina'') was . He was t ...

. From later correspondence compiled in the ''Izayoi nikki'', it is revealed that she also had two sisters, one older and one younger.

Marriage and inheritance dispute

In or around 1250, Abutsu-ni married

, whom she likely met while working on a commissioned copy of '' The Tale of Genji''. Together they had two sons: Tamesuke born in 1263, and Tamenori born in 1265. Tamesuke later took the surname of "Reizei", founding the

Reizei family Reizei family (冷泉家, ''Reizei-ke'') is a Japanese ''kuge'' (court noble) family from Kyoto. It is a branch of the Fujiwara clan, with a long poetic tradition. History The Reizei family descended from Fujiwara no Michinaga through his six ...

of poets. Following Tameie's death in 1275, she shaved her head and took on the monastic names of Abutsu and Hokurin-zenni. Before marrying Abutsu-ni and having children with her, Tameie had bequeathed much his estate to his eldest son from another relationship, Tameuji. Before his death, Tameie issued two documents attempting to transfer rights to a portion of the estate from Tameuji to his eldest son with Abutsu-ni, Tamesuke. This portion was the Hosokawa estate, and consisted of a manor located in

Harima Province or Banshū (播州) was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tanba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji. During the ...

. Following Tameie's death, Tameuji refused to transfer the Hosokawa estate to Tamesuke, beginning a protracted legal battle. On behalf of her son, Abutsu-ni appealed to both the imperial court and the

Kamakura shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Y ...

. She personally traveled to Kamakura in 1279 to speak to the shogunate about the dispute. She accused Tameuji of "unfilial conduct" and challenged his refusal to accept Tameie's amendments to his will. A decision on the case was delayed by the shogunate's preoccupation with fending off the

Mongol invasions of Japan Major military efforts were taken by Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty in 1274 and 1281 to conquer the Japanese archipelago after the submission of the Korean kingdom of Goryeo to vassaldom. Ultimately a failure, the invasion attempts are of mac ...

which occurred in 1274 and 1281, and Abutsu-ni died in Kamakura in 1283, still awaiting a verdict. The government eventually decided against Tamesuke in 1286.

Works

Forty-eight of Abutsu-ni's poems appear in imperial anthologies of Japanese poetry. Of these, she first appears in the ''

Shokukokin Wakashū The is a Japanese imperial anthology of waka, a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature. It was finished in 1265 CE, six years after the Retired Emperor Go-Saga first ordered it in 1259. It was compiled by Fujiwara no Tameie (son of Fujiw ...

'', compiled by her husband. Fifty-nine more poems of Abutsu are also found in a private anthology entitled ''Fubokushō''. The ''Izayoi nikki (Diary of the Waning Moon)'', her most well-known work, recounts her trip to Kamakura on behalf of Tamesuke and consists mostly of poems and correspondence from this time. It was available in print as early as 1659 and has enjoyed continued popularity since then, appearing in many collections of Japanese literature and receiving considerable scholarly attention. Abutsu is also generally accepted to be the author of ''Utatane no ki (Record of a Nap)'', which recounts a failed love affair from 1238. Other works include ''Yoru no tsuru (The Night Crane)'', a treatise on poetry written for her son Tamesuke, and ''Niwa no oshie (Garden Instructions)'', a letter to her daughter.

References

{{Authority control 1222 births 1283 deaths Japanese women poets 13th-century Japanese poets 13th-century Japanese women Kamakura period Buddhist clergy Japanese diarists 13th-century Japanese women writers