, an

imperial prince Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Definition Originally, possessors o ...

(the eighth son of

Emperor Godaigo Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇 ''Go-Daigo-tennō'') (26 November 1288 – 19 September 1339) was the 96th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')後醍醐天皇 (96) retrieved 2013-8-28. according to the traditional order o ...

) and a poet of the

Nijō poetic school The refers to descendants of Fujiwara no Tameie's eldest son, Nijō Tameuji (1222–86). The family name took after Nijō district of Kyoto where the family had resided. This hereditary house of Japanese waka poetry is generally known for its con ...

Nanboku-chō period The Nanboku-chō period (南北朝時代, ''Nanboku-chō jidai'', "North and South court period", also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period), spanning from 1336 to 1392, was a period that occurred during the formative years of the Mur ...

, mostly known for his compilation of the ''

Shin'yō Wakashū The is a Nanboku-chō period collection of waka (poetry), Japanese poetry compiled by Munenaga Shinnōke, Shinnō ca. 1381. Although commissioned by Emperor Chōkei (r. 1368-83) of the Southern Court, it is not included in the ''Nijūichidaishū' ...

''.Earl Roy Miner, Hiroko Odagiri, and Robert E. Morrell (1985: 202). ''The Princeton companion to classical Japanese literature.'' Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press. Prince Munenaga led a turbulent life, which quite likely served as an impetus for his poetic sensibility. In 1326 he took tonsure as a

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese m ...

priest on

Mount Hiei is a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto, lying on the border between the Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures, Japan. The temple of Enryaku-ji, the first outpost of the Japanese Tendai (Chin. Tiantai) sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mount Hiei by S ...

and swiftly advanced in his studies of the Buddhist doctrine. In 1330 Prince Munenaga became the head priest of

school, but was soon after banished to Sanuki in

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

for his participation in the

Genkō War The , also known as the , was a civil war fought in Japan between the Emperor Go-Daigo and the Kamakura Shogunate from 1331 to 1333. The Genkō War was named after Genkō, the Japanese era corresponding to the period of 1331 to 1334 when the ...

, where he had fought for his father's cause of imperial restoration. After three years of exile he marched his troops into

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

. Subsequently, when the imperial army lost to

Ashikaga Takauji was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Muromac ...

in 1336, Prince Munenaga took refuge on Mount Hiei with his father,

. In 1338, when one of his relatives suggested that Prince Munenaga abandon resistance and return to Kyoto, the prince replied with this poem: Thus in an elegant poetic form Prince Munenaga replied that he would not abandon his father and stayed in the mountains of

Yoshino Yoshino may refer to: * Yoshino cherry, another name for ''Prunus × yedoensis'', a flowering cherry tree * Japanese cruiser Yoshino, Japanese cruiser ''Yoshino'', a protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy Places * Yoshino, Nara, a town ...

to continue the fight despite all the hardships. For the rest of his life, Prince Munenaga was at the head of resistance against the

Muromachi bakufu The is a division of History of Japan, Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which wa ...

and the

Northern Court The , also known as the Ashikaga Pretenders or Northern Pretenders, were a set of six pretenders to the throne of Japan during the Nanboku-chō period from 1336 through 1392. The present Imperial House of Japan is descended from the Northern Cour ...

. The date of his death is uncertain, but some historians believe it to be around 1385 CE.

Notes

1311 births 1380s deaths 14th-century Japanese poets Deified Japanese people Kamakura period Buddhist clergy Japanese Buddhist monarchs Sons of emperors {{japan-hist-stub