was a noted Japanese poet and nobleman. He was active at the end of the Heian period, and the son of Fujiwara no Takatsune (藤原隆経). He was also a member of the famous poetic and aristocratic clan, the

Fujiwara Fujiwara (, written: 藤原 lit. "''Wisteria'' field") is a Japanese surname. (In English conversation it is likely to be rendered as .) Notable people with the surname include: ; Families * The Fujiwara clan and its members ** Fujiwara no Kamatari ...

. Akisue was close to Emperor Shirakawa, as his mother was the Emperor's nurse, and due to the influence of Fujiwara no Sanesue (藤原実季), his foster father, who was Dainagon to the Emperor. Starting in 1075, Akisue held a number of local official posts, and by 1109 was appointed as a Dazai Daini (secretary to the administrative officer of several provinces). Akisue was the father of

Fujiwara no Akisuke Fujiwara no Akisuke (, 1090–1155) was a ''waka'' poet and nobleman active in the Heian period Japan. One of his poems is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. A member of the Fujiwara clan, he was also known as Sakyō no Daibu Akisuke (). His fat ...

Poetry

In 1078 Akisue participated in The Imperial Palace Poetry Match of Shōraku-2. In 1093 he contributed a one-hundred poem set to the ''Horikawa-in hyakushu'', and participated in several other poetry competitions (郁芳門院根合 (Ikuhômon-in neawase), 堀河院艶書合 (Horikawa-in tsuyakotobaawase), and 鳥羽殿北面歌合 (Toba-dono hokumen utaawase)), which firmly established his reputation as a poet.

Poetry school

Akisue's most famous house was built in Kyoto at the crossing of two streets, Rokujō and

Karasuma is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Yūichi Karasuma (烏丸祐一, born 1982), Japanese voice actor *Setsuko Karasuma (烏丸せつこ, born 1955), Japanese actress *Tasuku Karasuma (烏丸匡, born 1978), Japanese ...

, and the poets of his salon used to meet there. The poetic school that he established came to be called Rokujô. Similarly his descendants formed a clan that came to be called the

Rokujō family The Rokujō family () was a poetically conservative faction in the Japanese Imperial court, founded by Fujiwara no Akisue (1055–1123 CE); it was the first clan to specialize in attaining power and influence via success in poetry, and was origi ...

. His poetic style was very conservative. Members of his salon were many of the more conservative poets of the time, such as Fujiwara no Akisuke, Fujiwara no Kiyosuke, Fujiwara no Motosuke and Fujiwara no Ari'i.e. Akisue was a scholar of 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 ...

and worked to recover and popularize the poetry of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. Both Akisue and the Emperor revered Hitomaro, and Akisue managed to borrow a famous painting of Hitomaro from the Emperor to make a copy for his own family, which he proudly displayed. In 1118, Akisue held a celebration of Hitomaro at his Rokujô mansion which was attended by the poetry luminaries of the time including Minamoto no Shunrai and

. They presented offerings before the painting of Hitomaro and recited both his poems and their own, both Japanese waka and Chinese verse, composed especially for this occasion. This was the first formal ceremony on record dedicated to the veneration of Hitomaro, and began a practice that was later for other esteemed poets.

Notes

References

* Levy, Ian Hideo (1984) ''Hitomaro and the Birth of Japanese Lyricism'' Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, ; * Miner, Earl; Odagiri, Hiroko; and Morrell, Robert E. (1985) "Fujiwara, Akisue (1055-1123)" ''The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature'' Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, ;

External links

"WakaPoetry.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fujiwara no, Akisue 1055 births 1123 deaths Fujiwara clan Kuge 11th-century Japanese poets