Fujiwara no Atsutaka (藤原敦隆; 1060s–1120) was a Japanese nobleman and ''

waka Waka may refer to: Culture and language * Waka (canoe), a Polynesian word for canoe; especially, canoes of the Māori of New Zealand ** Waka ama, a Polynesian outrigger canoe ** Waka hourua, a Polynesian ocean-going canoe ** Waka taua, a Māori w ...

'' 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. ...

. His real name may have been Tachibana no Atsutaka.

Life

Fujiwara no Atsutaka was a son of the

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 ...

Hizen Province was an old province of Japan in the area of the Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo. The province was included in Saikaidō. It did not inclu ...

, Fujiwara no Toshikiyo (藤原俊清). His year of birth is unknown, but the 's entry for the 27th day of the seventh month of Hōan 1 (22 August 1120 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 ...

) says that he was in his fifties when he died earlier that same month. The ''

Sonpi Bunmyaku is a Japanese genealogical text. Originally written by Tōin Kinsada in the late 14th century, it was either 15 or 16 volumes in length. This was followed by re-edited editions eventually bringing the text to thirty volumes in length. The full tit ...

'' does not mention a "Fujiwara no Atsutaka", but it includes a reference to "Mokunosuke Atsutaka" (木工助敦隆), son of "Tachibana no Toshikiyo" (橘俊清). Atsutaka's court position was ''Mokunosuke'' (assistant director of the ''Mokuryō'' 木工寮), and his father's name was the same, so it is believed that these two were the same individual. The ''Chūyūki'' records that he was assigned to the ''Mokunosuke'' post in Eichō 1 (1096). He appears to have held this position until his death. According to the ''Chūyūki'', Atsutaka died on the first day of the seventh month of Hōan 1 (27 July 1120).

Descendants

His daughter married

Minamoto no Toshiyori was an important and innovative Japanese poet, who compiled the ''Gosen Wakashū''. He was the son of Minamoto no Tsunenobu (1016–1097); holder of the second rank in court and of the position of Grand Counsellor). Shunrai was favored by Empero ...

, and from this union was born

Shun'e , also known as , was a Japanese ''waka'' poet of the late-Heian period. One of his poems was included in the ''Ogura Hyakunin Isshu''. He produced a private collection, the ''Rin'yō Wakashū'', and was listed as one of the Late Classical Thirty- ...

Poetry

He participated in the '' Sanka Goban Uta-awase'' (山家五番歌合) in Tennin 3 (1110). Counting both "Tachibana no Atsutaka" and "Fujiwara no Atsutaka", his name appears in the surviving records of four ''

uta-awase , poetry contests or ''waka'' matches, are a distinctive feature of the Japanese literary landscape from the Heian period. Significant to the development of Japanese poetics, the origin of group composition such as ''renga'', and a stimulus to a ...

'' contests from this period. None of his poems, however, were included in any of the court anthologies. He was also noted for his scholarship, and compiled the 20-volume '' Ruiju Koshū'' (類聚古集), a thematically arranged collection of ''

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 ...

'' poems. Sixteen volumes of the work are extant.

Notes

References

Citations

Works cited

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fujiwara Atsutaka Waka poets 11th-century Japanese poets 12th-century Japanese poets Kuge 1060s births 1120 deaths