Fujiwara no Nagako ( – after 1119) was a servant of two

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

tennō The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the wi ...

s 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. ...

. She became famous as the author of a ''

nikki bungaku Nikki may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Nikki (Barbie), a fashion doll in the Barbie toy line * Nikki (comics), a Marvel Comics character * Nikki and Paulo, from the TV series ''Lost'' * Nikki, the mascot of Swapnote * N ...

''.

Career

She became famous under the two

notname In art history, a ''Notname'' (, "necessity-name" or "contingency-name") is an invented name given to an artist whose identity has been lost. The practice arose from the need to give such artists and their typically untitled, or generically title ...

s of Sanuki Tenji (Court lady of the

Sanuki Province was a province of Japan in the area of northeastern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Sanuki''" in . Sanuki bordered on Awa to the south, and Iyo to the west. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō system, ...

) and Sanuki no Suke (Assistant from Sanuki). This described her position as a servant in the court of the emperors Horikawa (1087–1107) and

Toba Toba may refer to: Languages * Toba Sur language, spoken in South America * Batak Toba, spoken in Indonesia People * Toba people, indigenous peoples of the Gran Chaco in South America * Toba Batak people, a sub-ethnic group of Batak people from ...

(1107–1123). At that time, she wrote a ''nikki bungaku'', a literary but quotidian

diary A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...

, intended to educate other readers. Typical for the genre, her identity was not revealed. In 1929 Tamai Kosuke identified the person behind Sanuki Tenji as Nagako from the

Fujiwara family 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 ...

.Jennifer Brewster:
Sanuki no Suke Nikki
The Emperor Horikawa Diary''. Australian National University Press, Canberra 1977. Fujiwara no Nagako was thought to be the youngest daughter of provincial administrator

Fujiwara no Akitsuna Fujiwara no Akitsuna (藤原顕綱; dates uncertain, ? – ) was a Japanese nobleman and '' waka'' poet of the Heian period. Life Fujiwara no Akitsuna was a son of , a member of the Michitsuna lineage (道綱流) of the Northern Branch of the F ...

, who was an important figure at court. Nagako served for eight years as the second-ranked female servant in the Horikawa court, who was likely her age. She may have been a

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

. Her older sister had been Horikawa's wet nurse, and entered a monastery while grieving his death in 1107. Nagako continued serving Horikawa's successor Tenno with dampened enthusiasm. She served Toba for another twelve years until the new emperor neared adulthood. In 1119, she was pushed away from Toba: It was variously reported that she became maniacal, developed delusions of seeing Horikawa, and uttered prophecies. An alternative reason would be allegations of lacking discretion. Her removal from court ended her presence in historical records; her date of death is not known. Two courtiers have been alleged to be her husband. She has been characterized as a modest and educated woman in a comparatively liberal century.

Work

''Sanuki no Suke Nikki'' consists of two extant volumes. The 31 historical copies of her manuscript differ. It is presumed that copyists of later eras modified the text. For example, passages may have been influenced by Buddhist beliefs contemporary to the copyists. A third volume, set between the other two has been hypothesized. ''Sanuki Tenji'' contains detailed observations on contemporary lifestyles, especially of the tenno and his court. Among them are Shintoistic rituals as well as the monarch's leisure activities. The very positive point of view of ''Sanuki Tenji'' is almost the only extant record. The first volume briefly recounts service in Horikawa's court; the second volume reflects much more time and literary freedom. The second volume includes 23 poems, several of them citations of other poets, but most of them proving Nagako's aptitude in poetry. The second volume stops abruptly at the beginning of 1109; the closing lines were written by a different author.Sabrina Anton: ''Sanuki no suke nikki' von Fujiwara no Nagako'', Berlin 2005
Digital version
the essay of 17 pages relies much on the previous work by Brewster.

Career

Work

References

Further reading