Uma no Naishi (馬内侍, 949 - 1011) was a Japanese Waka poet and noble from the middle

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. ...

. She is enumerated as one of the Thirty-Six Female Immortals of Poetry alongside famous authors, poets, and contemporaries

Sei Shōnagon was a Japanese author, poet, and a court lady who served the Empress Teishi (Sadako) around the year 1000 during the middle Heian period. She is the author of . Name Sei Shōnagon's actual given name is not known. It was the custom among arist ...

and

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court in the Heian period. She is best known as the author of '' The Tale of Genji,'' widely considered to be one of the world's first novels, written in Japanese between abou ...

. Naishi, as a contemporary and follower of Shōnagon, was a lady of the same court in

Japan, and bettered her knowledge of Waka poetry through her connection to

Shōnagon was a counselor of the third rank in the Imperial court of Japan. The role dates to the 7th century. This advisory position remained a part of the Imperial court of Japan from the 8th century until the Meiji period in the 19th century.Nussbaum ...

, who was famously known for her Waka poetry as well as her novel of courtly observations, '' The Pillow Book'' (枕草子''makura no sōshi'').

was a notorious rival of fellow Immortal of Poetry,

, author of '' The Tale of Genji''. Her poems are included in the Japanese imperial poetry anthology '' Shūi Wakashū''. She also has a personal collection entitled ''Uma no Naishi-shū'' (馬内侍集). At some point in her life, she had a love affair with Major Captain of the Left Asamitsu, writing a poem for him. Of the Waka poems she wrote, only three have survived into modernity. Near the end of her life, Naishi took Buddhist vows and withdrew to a temple to serve as a monk.

Writing

This poem was written in response to a confession of love by Asamitsu, Major Captain of the Left.

References

External links

Uma no Naishi's poetry online
in Japanese
Portrait
*Smithsonian-hel
Portrait
Japanese poets 10th-century Japanese women writers 10th-century writers 949 births 1011 deaths Japanese women poets {{japan-poet-stub