was a Japanese scholar and writer of '' kanshi'' (poetry in

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...

) and ''

kanbun A is a form of Classical Chinese used in Japan from the Nara period to the mid-20th century. Much of Japanese literature was written in this style and it was the general writing style for official and intellectual works throughout the period. ...

'' (prose in Classical Chinese), who lived in the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the c ...

of Japanese history.

Biography

Birth and ancestry

Mifune was born in 722.'' Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten'' article "Ōmi no Mifune" (pp. 410-411, author: Noriyuki Kojima).'' Britannica Kokusai Dai-Hyakkajiten'' article
Ōmi no Mifune
. Britannica.'' MyPaedia'' article
Ōmi no Mifune
.

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo G ...

.''

Daijisen The is a general-purpose Japanese dictionary published by Shogakukan in 1995 and 1998. It was designed as an "all-in-one" dictionary for native speakers of Japanese, especially high school and university students. History Shogakukan intended fo ...

'' entry
Ōmi no Mifune
.

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the ...

. His father was , who was a son of , a son of

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 only ...

. He was originally an imperial prince, known as , but in the first month of 851 was made a commoner and given the surname ''Ōmi'' and the title ''Mahito''.

Political career

He served as , and .

Death

He died in 785.

Literary career

In 770 he composed the work , an account of the Chinese monk

Jianzhen Jianzhen (; 688–763), or Ganjin in Japanese, was a Chinese monk who helped to propagate Buddhism in Japan. In the eleven years from 743 to 754, Jianzhen attempted to visit Japan some six times. Ganjin finally came to Japan in the year 753 and ...

's work in Japan. It has been theorized that he was the compiler of the oldest extant Japanese collection of ''kanshi'', the '' Kaifūsō''.> Some of his poetry was included in the ''kanshi'' anthology '' Keikokushū''.

Scholarship

Mifune is credited with determining the canonical Chinese style posthumous names of early

emperors 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 ...

who did not have them before his time (they only had Japanese style posthumous names). Between 762 and 764 he set the names of Emperor Jinmu,

Emperor Suizei , also known as , was the second legendary emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Very little is known about this Emperor due to a lack of material available for further verification and study. Suizei is known as a "l ...

Emperor Annei , also known as was the third legendary emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Very little is known about this Emperor due to a lack of material available for further verification and study. Annei is known as a "leg ...

and so on. Based on his research into Buddhist scriptures, in 779 he declared the , a commentary on the '' Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna'' attributed to , to be a forgery.

References

External links

Ōmi no Mifune
on Kotobank. {{DEFAULTSORT:Omi, Mifune 722 births 785 deaths 8th century in Japan 8th-century Japanese poets People of Nara-period Japan Japanese nobility Japanese male poets Buddhism in the Nara period Kanshi poets