Fujiwara no Takamitsu (藤原高光, c. 939-994) was a mid-

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. ...

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 and Japanese nobleman. He is designated as a member of the

Thirty-six Poetry Immortals The are a group of Japanese poets of the Asuka, Nara, and Heian periods selected by Fujiwara no Kintō as exemplars of Japanese poetic ability. The oldest surviving collection of the 36 poets' works is ''Nishi Honganji Sanju-rokunin Kashu'' ...

. His father was

Fujiwara no Morosuke , also known as Kujō-dono or Bōjō-udaijin, was a Japanese statesman, courtier and politician during the middle Heian period.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Fujiwara no Nakahira" in ; Brinkley, Frank ''et al.'' (1915). Considered a learne ...

, and his mother was , the daughter of

Emperor Daigo was the 60th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 醍醐天皇 (60)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Daigo's reign spanned the years from 897 through 930. He is named after his place of burial. Ge ...

. He was a brilliant

poet, acclaimed as a genius when he was fifteen, and was included in the

Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry The are a group of Japanese poets of the Asuka, Nara, and Heian periods selected by Fujiwara no Kintō as exemplars of Japanese poetic ability. The oldest surviving collection of the 36 poets' works is ''Nishi Honganji Sanju-rokunin Kashu'' ...

. Takamitsu’s decision to abandon family and social station for life as a Buddhist monk in 961, along with his extended family’s grief over that action, is documented in ''

Tōnomine Shōshō Monogatari The is a mid-Heian period ''monogatari'' in one volume. It is also known as the , although its actual author is unknown. It is believed to have completed in the Ōwa or Kōhō eras, or 961-968. It tells the story of how the Lesser Captain of the ...

''. Takamitsu, upon renouncing the world, first lived in “the monastery on Mount Hiei, not far from the capital” but relocated, perhaps as early as 962, “to remote Tōnomine, where he spent the rest of his life, occasioning the name by which he is usually known.”Keene, Donald. ''Travelers of a Hundred Ages''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999, p 58. Takamitsu's poems are included in several imperial poetry anthologies from the ''

Gosen Wakashū The , often abbreviated as ''Gosenshū'' ("Later Collection"), is an imperial anthology of Japanese waka compiled in 951 at the behest of Emperor Murakami by the Five Men of the Pear Chamber: Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu (922-991), Kiyohara no Motosuke ...

'' on. A personal collection known as the is also extant.

References

Sources

* Keene, Donald. ''Travelers of a Hundred Ages''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. * Mostow, Joshua S. ''At the House of Gathered Leaves: Shorter Biographical and Autobiographical Narratives from Japanese Court Literature''. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004.

External links

E-text of his poems
in Japanese 930s births 994 deaths Fujiwara clan 10th-century Japanese poets {{japan-writer-stub