Fujiwara no Atsuie (; 1033–1090) was a Japanese nobleman and ''

gagaku is a type of Japanese classical music that was historically used for imperial court music and dances. was developed as court music of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and its near-current form was established in the Heian period (794-1185) around t ...

'' musician poet of the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

Life

Fujiwara no Atsuie was a son of , a member of the Michitsuna lineage () of the

Northern Branch The Northern Branch is a railroad line that runs from Jersey City to Northvale in northeastern New Jersey. The line was constructed in 1859 by the Northern Railroad of New Jersey to connect the New York and Erie Railroad's Piermont Branch ter ...

of the

Fujiwara clan was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since the ancient times and dominated the imperial court until th ...

. His mother was a daughter of

Fujiwara no Takaie , was a '' Kugyō'' ( Japanese noble) of the late Heian period. He was the Regional Governor of Dazaifu and is famous for repelling the Jurchen pirates during the Toi invasion in 1019. He reached the court position of Chūnagon. Early life an ...

. He was born in 1033. His younger brother Akitsuna was a close associate of

Emperor Shirakawa was the 72nd emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 白河天皇 (72)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Shirakawa's reign lasted from 1073 to 1087. Genealogy Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Th ...

. Over the course of his career at

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

, he held a variety of positions including

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Iyo Province was a province of Japan in the area of northwestern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Iyo bordered on Sanuki Province to the northeast, Awa to the east, and Tosa to the south. Its abbreviated form name was . In term ...

and Middle Captain of the Left. In Jiryaku 4 (1068) he was named Head Chamberlain and Captain of the Left Division of the Bureau of Horses. By the end of his career was of

Senior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade The court ranks of Japan, also known in Japanese as ''ikai'' (位階), are indications of an individual's court rank in Japan based on the system of the state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', ...

. He married Akitsuna's daughter Kenshi and by her had a son, Atsukane ( ja). On the thirteenth day of the seventh month of Kaniji 4 (11 August 1090 in the

Julian calendar The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...

), Atsuie died suddenly. He was on his way home from a pilgrimage to

Mount Kinpu , or is a mountain and the main peak in the Okuchichibu Range in Kantō Mountains in the South Japan Alps. It is located in Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park

. He was 58 (by Japanese reckoning).

Musical career

Wanibe no Mochimitsu (和邇部用光) trained him to play the ''

hichiriki The is a double reed Japanese used as one of two main melodic instruments in Japanese music. It is one of the "sacred" instruments and is often heard at Shinto weddings in Japan. Its sound is often described as haunting. According to scholar ...

''.

References

Citations

Works cited

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fujiwara Atsuie 11th-century Japanese musicians Kuge 1033 births 1090 deaths