, also known as Shijō-dainagon, was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

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 ...

, admired by his contemporaries "... Fujiwara no Kinto (966–1008), the most admired poet of the day." pg 283 of

Donald Keene Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japan ...

's ''

Seeds in the Heart ''Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century'' is the first book (though the last to be written and published) in Donald Keene's four-book series ''A History of Japanese Literature''. It is followed ...

''. and a court bureaucrat of the

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. ...

. His father was the regent

Fujiwara no Yoritada Fujiwara no Yoritada (藤原頼忠; 924 – 31 July 989), the second son of Saneyori, was a kugyo (high-ranked Japanese noble) who served as regent for Emperor En'yū and Emperor Kazan. His mother was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tokihira. His eld ...

and his son Fujiwara no Sadayori.pg 602 of ''Seeds in the Heart''. An exemplary calligrapher and poet, he is mentioned in works by

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 ...

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 aris ...

and in a number of other major chronicles and texts.

Biography

Kintō wrote a great many poems, as well as many poetry anthologies including the ''

Shūi Wakashū The , often abbreviated as ''Shūishū'', is the third imperial anthology of waka from Heian period Japan. It was compiled by Emperor Kazan in about 1005.Keene 1999 : 283 Its twenty volumes contain 1,351 poems. The details of its publication an ...

'' and the '' Wakan rōeishū''. He also established the grouping of "Thirty-Six Poetic Geniuses" or "

Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry The are a group of Japanese poets of the Asuka, Nara, and Heian periods selected by Fujiwara no Kintō as exemplars of Japanese poetic ability. The oldest surviving collection of the 36 poets' works is ''Nishi Honganji Sanju-rokunin Kashu' ...

", the "Anthology of Poems by the Thirty-Six Poets" (''Sanjūrokkasen''), frequently seen in

Ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...

art; he first assembled in 1009–1011 which

Fujiwara no Teika , better-known as Fujiwara no Teika"Sadaie" and "Teika" are both possible readings of ; "...there is the further problem, the rendition of the name in romanized form. Teika probably referred to himself as Sadaie, and his father probably called ...

would later recommend to study by aspiring poets. The anthology: :"...contained ten poems each by Hitomaro, Tsurayuki, Mitsune, Ise, Kanemori, and Nakatsukasa, and three poems each by Yakamochi, Akahito, Narihira, Henjô, Sosei, Tomonori, Sarumaru, Komachi, Kanesuke, Asatada, Atsutada, Takamitsu, Kintada, Tadamine, Saigû no Nyôgo, Yorimoto, Toshiyuki, Shigeyuki, Muneyuki, Sane-akira, Kiyotada, Shitagô, Okikaze, Motosuke, Korenori, Motozane, Kodai no Kimi (also read O-ô no Kimi), Nakafumi, Yoshinobu, and Tadami. He served the Heian court in the position of '' nagon'' at the same time as

Minamoto no Tsunenobu was a Japanese nobleman and ''waka'' poet in the Heian period. One of his poems is included in the ''Ogura Hyakunin Isshu is a classical Japanese anthology of one hundred Japanese ''waka'' by one hundred poets. ''Hyakunin isshu'' can be tran ...

Minamoto no Toshikata was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...

, and

Fujiwara no Yukinari , also known as Fujiwara no Kōzei, was a Japanese calligrapher (''shodoka'') during the Heian period. He was memorialized for his prowess in his chosen art by being remembered as one of the outstanding Three Brush Traces (Sanseki 三跡), along ...

, all great poets as well. The four have come to be known as the ''Shi-nagon'' (four ''nagon'').

He was also apparently vital in the compilation of

Emperor Kazan was the 65th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 花山天皇 (65)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Kazan's reign spanned the years from 984 through 986. Biography Before his ascension to the Chry ...

's ''

'' (in which 15 of his poems appear),pg 284 of ''Seeds in the Heart''. having compiled between 996 and 999 the original skeleton for it, a collection called ''Shuisho''.pg 283 of ''Seeds in the Heart''.

Notes

6. For a complete translation and study of the Wakan rōeishū, see J. Thomas Rimer and Jonathan Chaves, JAPANESE AND CHINESE POEMS TO SING, Columbia University Press, 1997. This book was the winner of the 1998 US-Japan Friendship Commission Prize for best translation of a work of Japanese literature.

References

* Frederic, Louis (2002). "Japan Encyclopedia." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. * Papinot, Edmond (1910). ''Historical and geographical dictionary of Japan''. Tokyo: Librarie Sansaisha.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fujiwara no, Kinto 966 births 1041 deaths Fujiwara clan 11th-century Japanese poets Hyakunin Isshu poets