, also spelled ''Nukada'', 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 ...
of the
Asuka period
The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after t ...
.
The daughter of and supposed younger sister of
Princess Kagami Princess Kagami (鏡王女 ''Kagami-no-ōkimi'') was a Japanese princess and ''waka'' poet of the Asuka period
The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap wit ...
, Nukata became
Emperor Tenmu
was the 40th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 天武天皇 (40) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 53.
Tenmu's re ...
's favorite wife and bore him a daughter,
Princess Tōchi
was a Japanese Imperial House of Japan, Imperial princess during the Asuka period of Japanese history and the empress consort to her cousin Emperor Kōbun. Her name Tōchi is derived from the Tōchi district, a neighbourhood located a few miles ...
(who would become
Emperor Kōbun
was the 39th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 弘文天皇 (39)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 53.
Kōbun's reign lasted on ...
's consort).
A legend claims that she later became consort to
Emperor Tenji
, also known as Emperor Tenchi, was the 38th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')天智天皇 (38)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 5 ...
, Emperor Tenmu's elder brother, but there is no evidence to support this claim.
Poetry
Nukata was one of the great female poets of her time; thirteen of her poems appear in the ''
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 ...
'': 7–9, 16–18, 20, 112, 113, 151, 155, 488, and 1606 (poem 1606 is a repeat of 488). Two of the poems are reprinted in the later poetry collections ''
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 ...
'' and ''
Shinshūi Wakashū
, occasionally abbreviated as ''Shinshūishū'', a title which recollects the ''Shūi Wakashū'', is the 19th imperial anthology of Japanese waka poetry. It was finished late in 1364 CE, a year after Emperor Go-Kōgon first ordered it in 1363 at ...
''.
Poem 8
Nukata composed this poem in at the harbor of ''Nikita-tsu'' in
Iyo Province
was a province of Japan in the area of northwestern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Iyo bordered on Sanuki Province to the northeast, Awa to the east, and Tosa to the south. Its abbreviated form name was . In term ...
as an imperial fleet invaded
Kyushu
is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...
:
Poem 9
The ninth poem of the ''Man'yōshū'' is known as one of the most difficult poems within the ''Man'yōshū'' to interpret. Nukata composed this poem in
658
__NOTOC__
Year 658 (Roman numerals, DCLVIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 658 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domi ...
when
Empress Saimei
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...
went to a
hot spring
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
in
Kii Province
, or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Pro ...
:
A common interpretation for the later part of the poem is by
Keichū
(1640 – April 3, 1701) was a Buddhist priest and a scholar of Kokugaku in the mid Edo period. Keichū's grandfather was a personal retainer of Katō Kiyomasa but his father was a ''rōnin'' from the Amagasaki fief. When he was 13, Keichū left h ...
: , which translates to "...my beloved who stands at the foot of the sacred oak".
The first two lines has already defeated modern scholarship to date. Some theories include:
* , "I see clearly the country atop mount Kagu, o..." (Kaneko)
* , "I went and crossed the mountains of Kii province to..." (
Kada no Azumamaro
was a poet and philologist of the early Edo period. His ideas had a germinal impact on the nativist school of National Learning in Japan.
Life
Azumamaro was born the second son of Hakura Nobuaki (1625-1696), father of a scholarly family that ...
, Tachibana Chikage, Mizue Aso)
* , "The hillside birds have covered the morning snow, o..." (Teiichi Kumekawa)
* , "The inlet's once quietened waves have become noisy, o..." (Hisataka Omodaka, Thomas McAuley)
* , "It's the once-declined trick of standing on one's toes, o..." (Mineko Kawaguchi)
* , "The once quieted thunder has finally roared loudly, o..." (Toshihiko Tsuchihashi)
* , "Our calmed down meetings have widened, o..."
Yamatai association
* , "I went and saw the twisted field-reeds, o..." (Bunmei Tsuchiya)
* , "It is by seeing mount Matsuchi that I walked with..." (Michiyasu Inoue)
* , "I gazed upon and went to the mountains of Mimuro, o..." (Mokichi Saitō)
* , "I gazed upon and went to the mountains of Mimoro, o..." (Masazumi Kamochi)
* , "I gazed upon and went to the mountains of fair Yoshino, o..." (Tokujirō Oyama)
* , "The evening moon's light covers the clouds, o..." (Keitsū)
* , "The evening moon's light stands in step, o..." (Sueo Itami)
* , "As I looked up the evening moon, I asked..." (
Sengaku
was a Japanese Buddhist monk of the Tendai school. He was a scholar, editor and a literary critic.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric ''et al.'' (2005). "''Senkaku''" in ; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, ''see'Deutsche ...
, Keichū, and Masakoto Kimura)
* , "As celebration dies down, I took mulberry rope to..." (Kaoru Tani)
According to
Alexander Vovin
Alexander (Sasha) Vladimirovich Vovin (russian: Александр Владимирович Вовин; 27 January 1961 – 8 April 2022) was a Soviet-born Russian-American linguist and philologist, and director of studies at the School for Adv ...
, the first two lines should be read in
Old Korean
Old Korean () is the first historically documented stage of the Korean language, typified by the language of the Unified Silla period (668–935).
The boundaries of Old Korean periodization remain in dispute. Some linguists classify the sparsely ...
, whereby their meaning is similar to the one proposed by Sengaku:
Poem 20
Nukata composed this poem when
Emperor Tenji
, also known as Emperor Tenchi, was the 38th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')天智天皇 (38)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 5 ...
was out hunting in ''Gamōno'' (or the field of ''Une'', now part of
Ōmihachiman
260px, City Hall
260px, Traditional buildings Preservation Area
is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 82,233 in 34747 households and a population density of 570 persons per km². The total area ...
and
Yōkaichi, Shiga
was a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan.
As of 2003, the city had an estimated population of 44,823 and the density of 852.15 persons per km². The total area was 52.60 km².
On February 11, 2005, Yōkaichi, along with the towns of ...
):
[Vovin (2017: 74)]
Notes
References
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630 births
690 deaths
7th-century Japanese women writers
7th-century writers
Women of medieval Japan
Japanese princesses
7th-century Japanese poets
Japanese women poets
Man'yō poets
7th-century Japanese women
7th-century Japanese people
Emperor Tenji
Emperor Tenmu
{{Japan-royal-stub