, 1171? – 1252?, Previously published as ''The Burning Heart'' by The Seabury Press. was a Japanese

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

; she was probably the greatest female poet of her day, ranked with Princess Shikishi. Although she was called Shunzei's Daughter, Shunzei was in fact her grandfather, and her birth father's name was Fujiwara no Moriyori. Her grandfather was the noted poet

Fujiwara no Shunzei was a Japanese poet, courtier, and Buddhist monk of the late Heian period. He was also known as Fujiwara no Toshinari"...there is the further problem, the rendition of the name in romanized form. Teika probably referred to himself as Sadaie, and ...

, and her half-uncle was

Fujiwara no Teika , better-known as Fujiwara no Teika"Sadaie" and "Teika" are both possible readings of ; "...there is the further problem, the rendition of the name in romanized form. Teika probably referred to himself as Sadaie, and his father probably called ...

, who thought enough of her talents to seek her out for advice and criticism after Shunzei died, although she did not hesitate to castigate him when he completed the ''

Shinchokusen Wakashū , abbreviated as ''Shinchokusenshū'', is an imperial anthology of Japanese waka, initially compiled in ~1234 CE at the behest of the Retired Emperor Go-Horikawa. It was compiled by Fujiwara no Teika (who also wrote its Japanese preface). It consi ...

'', for Teika had turned against his former ideal poetic style of ''yoen'' (ethereal beauty) while Shunzei's Daughter had not- thus she found Teika's previous efforts to be markedly inferior, and even according to

Donald Keene Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japan ...

, "declared that if it had not been compiled by Teika she would have refused even to take it into her hands." (in a letter sent to

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 ...

, Teika's son). She and others also criticized it for apparently deliberately excluding any of the objectively excellent poems produced by the three Retired Emperors exiled in the aftermath of the

Jōkyū War , also known as the Jōkyū Disturbance or the Jōkyū Rebellion, was fought in Japan between the forces of Retired Emperor Go-Toba and those of the Hōjō clan, regents of the Kamakura shogunate, whom the retired emperor was trying to overthr ...

. Personal pique may also have played a role, since she saw 29 of her poems selected for the ''Shinkokinshū'' while only nine were chosen for the ''Shin Chokusenshū''.

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:''How can I blame the cherry blossoms'' :''for rejecting this floating world'' :''and drifting away as the wind calls them?''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shunzeis Daughter 1170s births 1252 deaths Fujiwara clan Japanese nobility 13th-century Japanese women writers Japanese women poets 13th-century Japanese women 13th-century Japanese poets 13th-century Japanese people 12th-century Japanese women 12th-century Japanese poets 12th-century Japanese people Unidentified people

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References