, also known as Shijō-dainagon, 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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, 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 Japane ...

's '' Seeds in the Heart''. 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 Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

. His father was the regent Fujiwara no Yoritada 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, Japanese poetry#Age of Nyobo or court ladies, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial Court in Kyoto, Imperial court in the Heian period. She was best known as the author of ''The Tale of Genji'', widely considered t ...

Sei Shōnagon , or , was a Japanese author, poet, and 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 amon ...

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 The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th empe ...

'' 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 Kash ...

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

Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...

art; he first assembled in 1009–1011 which

Fujiwara no Teika was a Japanese anthologist, calligrapher, literary critic,"The high quality of poetic theory (''karon'') in this age depends chiefly upon the poetic writings of Fujiwara Shunzei and his son Teika. The other theorists of ''tanka'' writing, st ...

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, Minamoto no Toshikata, and

Fujiwara no Yukinari was a Japanese people, Japanese calligrapher (''shodoka'') during the Heian period, 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 with ...

, 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'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