Biographies CXLVIII: The Waka Poets, Part IV

Fujiwara-no-Mototoshi

¶Fujiwara-no-Mototoshi was a son of Toshiie, Udaijin, Minister of the Right (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). He had literary talent and excelled at waka. At that time Minamoto-no-Toshiyori was known throughout the world for his waka. Mototoshi did not wish to stand beneath Toshiyori; he set up a manner of his own and founded a school, and so the two came to be named together. Whenever a poetry gathering was held, he often served as judge (hanja; Note: the one who decides the winners in a poem contest). But he was haughty by nature and looked down on the world, and he liked to point out the faults of others, for which he drew censure (Note: compiled from the Imakagami, the Jikkinshō, the Yakumo Mishō, and Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō. The statement that he founded a school follows the Yakumo Mishō and the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

¶There was a monk named Rinken who loved waka and associated with many court officials. He had long disliked Mototoshi and was always seeking to bring him down. One day he secretly extracted twenty poems from the Gosenshū, showed them to Mototoshi, and falsely said, "Someone is holding a poem contest and wishes you to judge it." Mototoshi, having carelessly forgotten the source, set out a series of arbitrary criticisms. Rinken repeated this to others, spreading the word that "Mototoshi is superior to the poets of old, so much so that he even raises objections against the poems of the imperial anthologies." Rinken's companions chimed in, and when Mototoshi heard of it he was greatly mortified and resentful (Note: following Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō).

¶In the fourth year of Hōen (1138) he shaved his head and took the Buddhist name Kakushun (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku. Note: the entry for the first month of the first year of Kōji (1142) in the Taiki says, "In recent years Mototoshi and Morotoshi died one after another," so the year of his death was probably between Eiji and Kōji (1141-1144). At present there is no means of confirming it). Mototoshi was esteemed for his lineage and reputation, but because he relied only on his talent and looked down on others, he never rose in office. He ended his life as Sa-emon-no-suke, Assistant Captain of the Left Gate Guards, of Junior Fifth Rank Lower (Note: following the Imakagami; the Sonpi Bunmyaku was also consulted). His works include the Etsumokushō, the Shin-Sanjūrokkasen, and the Shinsen Rōeishō (Note: following the Yakumo Mishō and the Ninna-ji Shoseki Mokuroku).

¶Mototoshi was also versed in the study of the Man'yōshū. Long before, Emperor Murakami had ordered Minamoto-no-Shitagō and others to read the Man'yōshū in the vernacular, and afterwards Mototoshi added reading marks to it (Note: following the Shirin Saiyōshō). He wrote the Chinese characters and the national script (kana) in two parallel lines, for the convenience of beginners (Note: following the colophon of the Man'yōshū). Later, in the time of Emperor Kameyama, there was a monk named Senkaku who was likewise versed in the study of the Man'yōshū and is said to have applied reading marks to it as well (Note: following the Shirin Saiyōshō).

The Monk Senkaku

¶Senkaku's clan lineage and place of origin are not known. At first he lived at the Shin-Shaka-dō in Kamakura and was appointed Gon-no-risshi, Provisional Vinaya Master; later he moved to Hiki district in Musashi province (Note: following the Senkaku-shō). He excelled at waka, and in applying reading marks to the Man'yōshū he revised the ancient readings and put forward many new views. When he completed the work and presented it to the Retired Emperor Gosaga, the Retired Emperor was greatly impressed and praised it, and by imperial order had his waka included in the Shoku Kokinshū (Note: following the Shirin Saiyōshō). The monk Yua of Fujisawa transmitted his learning and gathered disciples to teach (Note: following the Rakusho Roken). His works include the Shirin Saiyōshō (Note: following the Shōtetsu Monogatari), which circulates in the world.

Minamoto-no-Toshiyori

¶Minamoto-no-Toshiyori was a son of Tsunenobu, Dainagon, Major Counsellor. He served three sovereigns, Horikawa, Toba, and Sutoku, was appointed U-konoe-no-shōshō, Lesser Captain of the Right Palace Guards, concurrently held the posts of Moku-no-gon-no-kami, Provisional Director of the Bureau of Carpentry, and Sakyō-no-gon-no-daibu, Provisional Master of the Left Capital Office, and was granted Junior Fourth Rank Upper. He was versatile and gifted (Note: following the Chūyūki and the Sonpi Bunmyaku), and excelled above all at waka. He labored over his thoughts and never uttered words lightly. Whenever something moved him, he generally wrote it down and stored it up, and used it when the occasion arose. For this reason he made no careless or clumsy errors. His conceptions were novel and his manner gentle and refined, and the people of his time all looked up to him as the master of the poetic world (Note: compiled from the Yakumo Mishō, the Imakagami, and Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō).

¶Fujiwara-no-Saneyuki once debated with Fujiwara-no-Nagazane which was the greater poet, Ōshikōchi-no-Mitsune or Ki-no-Tsurayuki, and the matter remained unsettled for a long time. When Nagazane put the question to the Retired Emperor Shirakawa, the Retired Emperor said, "How could I easily decide such a thing? It would be best to ask Toshiyori." When Nagazane told this to Toshiyori, Toshiyori nodded and said, "Mitsune must not be taken lightly." Nagazane asked, "Then does that mean Tsurayuki is the lesser?" and Toshiyori again answered only, "Mitsune must not be taken lightly." Toshiyori had deep thoughts and did not wish to state the matter outright (Note: following Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō).

¶When Fujiwara-no-Akisue held a rite in honor of Kakinomoto-no-Hitomaro, all those present showed their respect. Akisue said to Toshiyori, "You are the foremost poet of the age, so it is fitting that you offer the first cup." This is how highly he was esteemed by others (Note: following the Kokon Chomonjū and the Jikkinshō). In nearly all the poem contests of the court and of the great houses, Toshiyori was usually put forward as judge. Toshiyori often said, "One who judges waka cannot do the task unless he is equipped with ten virtues." These were what are called moral standing, family lineage, clear judgment, and a strong memory, and the like (Note: following the Jikkinshō).

¶At the beginning of Tenji (1124) he received an imperial order and presented the Kin'yō Wakashū (Note: following the Fukuro-zōshi, the Yakumo Mishō, and the Imakagami). Toshiyori had never cared for renga, linked verse, and regarded it as something that damaged the essence of waka. Yet when it came to compiling the Kin'yōshū, he included many renga. Likewise, when at the command of Kaya-no-in he collected waka to serve as models and presented them, he included renga in them. Presumably he did not wish to leave out anyone's merits (Note: following the Imakagami).

¶At that time Fujiwara-no-Mototoshi was also outstanding in waka; he and Toshiyori competed with each other in talent and did not get along (Note: following Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō and the Yakumo Mishō). Mototoshi once said to someone, "Toshiyori has no literary learning yet is good at waka. It is like a fine horse that is good at running, and moreover he has no heir." Hearing this, Toshiyori said: "Men like Ōe-no-Fumitoki and Ōe-no-Asatsuna had learning both broad and deep, yet we have never heard that they composed excellent poems. Mitsune and Tsurayuki, though we hear no reputation of them as poets in Chinese, were not thereby hindered from excelling in waka. Are not Mototoshi's words a distortion of the facts?" Mototoshi, trusting in his own talent, thought very highly of himself, and when judging poems he always refuted them in the strongest terms. But his talent could not keep pace with his words, and he sometimes made coarse errors. Toshiyori was by nature gentle and kindly and was loved by many people. For this reason the world's esteem gathered ever more around Toshiyori (Note: following Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō).

¶Whenever he received a request for a waka and felt it was somewhat difficult, he would first have his household members and the young men of his house compose some, choose from among them the words and conceits that were good, and polish them into a poem of his own. For this reason Toshiyori's fine poems were extremely numerous (Note: following the Gotoba-in Kuden).

¶Once, when he went to Ōhara with colleagues on an outing, he suddenly dismounted on the road. When the others wondered at it and asked him why, Toshiyori answered, "This is the site of the old dwelling of the monk Ryōzen." Everyone dismounted. Ryōzen was a man known for his waka. Such was the depth of Toshiyori's devotion (Note: following the Fukuro-zōshi). His works include the Sanboku Zuinō and the Mumyōshō (Note: following Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō and the Ninna-ji Shoseki Mokuroku).

¶His son, the monk Shun'e, was also skilled at waka (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō). He strongly inherited his father's manner and was esteemed by the people of his time (Note: following Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō). He wrote the Kaen-shō and the Kakyō Sengō (Note: following the Ninna-ji Shoseki Mokuroku). Fujiwara-no-Toshinari once said, "Toshiyori's poems are refined and exquisite, with no flaw one can point to. Shun'e's poems are also extremely skillful, but compared with his father's they fall far short" (Note: following Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō).

Fujiwara-no-Toshinari

¶Fujiwara-no-Toshinari was a son of Toshitada, Gon-Chūnagon, Provisional Middle Counsellor. His first name was Akihiro (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Keichūshō. Note: both these works say he became an adopted son of Akiyori, but the Sonpi Bunmyaku says he "later returned to his original family line," so this account is not adopted here). He was intelligent from childhood and excelled at waka. Wishing to become a pupil of Fujiwara-no-Mototoshi, he once visited his house. It was just the mid-autumn season; Mototoshi, admiring the moon, was composing linked verse and himself recited the opening verse, whereupon Toshinari continued it with the closing verse and completed it. Mototoshi praised him greatly, and in the end they made a covenant of master and pupil, and he transmitted to Toshinari the secret teachings of the Kokinshū. Thereafter Toshinari's fame grew ever greater (Note: following Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō).

¶He often said: "The excellence of a poem lies only in whether one captures its general feeling; one should not run after fine technique. It is like a painter who, in depicting things, needlessly decorates them in showy colors and so makes people dislike them. What has flavor of itself, naturally, is what has grasped the essence of poetry" (Note: following the Seian-shō). When he composed waka in ordinary times, he wore old, clean clothing, sat quietly holding a paulownia-wood brazier, and showed no emotion at all. The finished poems were elegant, subtle, and deep, their language well worked and their sentiment gracefully indirect. Emperor Gotoba loved them most of all (Note: following the Gotoba-in Kuden and the Shōtetsu Monogatari).

¶His office and rank rose to Kōtaigūgū-no-daibu, Master of the Empress Dowager's Household, and Senior Third Rank (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin), and the world called him Gojō-no-Sanmi, the Third-Rank Lord of Gojō (Note: following Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō and the Tō Tsunetsugu documents). In the Angen era (1175-1177) he resigned his office and soon shaved his head (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Sonpi Bunmyaku), taking the Buddhist name Shakua (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

¶Once, in obedience to an edict of the Cloistered Emperor Goshirakawa, he compiled the Senzai Wakashū. In the second year of Bunji (1186) the work was completed and presented (Note: following the Yakumo Mishō, the Chokusen Shidai, and the Tō Tsunetsugu Kikigaki. Note: the Meigetsuki gives the fourth year of Bunji (1188)).

¶From the beginning Minamoto-no-Toshiyori and Fujiwara-no-Mototoshi had not got on, and each one's disciples formed factions and disparaged the other side. Toshinari praised the depth of Mototoshi's learning, while from Toshiyori he took the flavor of his style (Note: compiled from the Yakumo Mishō and Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō). In compiling this Senzaishū he adopted many of Toshiyori's poems. When someone said, "Was not Toshiyori the very man your teacher disliked?" Toshinari answered, "I take only the poem itself; the man has nothing to do with it." The people of the time praised his impartiality (Note: following the Kensai Zōdan).

¶In his young and vigorous years Toshinari was, together with Fujiwara-no-Kiyosuke, a judge of the age. Kiyosuke seemed humble on the surface but was stubborn within, and when contradicted by others he changed color and answered fiercely, so that people could not readily give their approval or disapproval. Toshinari was gentle by nature, and even when contradicted he accepted it readily and showed no sign of rejecting anyone (Note: following Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō). The words of his criticism were handed down in the world as models (Note: following the Yakumo Mishō and Kamo-no-Chōmei's Mumyōshō).

¶In his late years he reflected on himself with deep feeling and said: "Though I have no talent, I have judged a great many poems. Perhaps I mistook their weight at times. If the worthies of the past knew of it, what would they say? Moreover, I have grown old and weak, and what I hear in the morning I forget by evening, so I may well have cited authorities wrongly. Even so, is it right that I should fail to examine myself and settle the merits of poems by my own private opinion alone? From now on I will never again write words of judgment" (Note: following the preface to the Mimosuso-gawa Utaawase).

¶Yet even in great age his spirit did not decline, his eyes and ears remained keen, and he was still able to attend at court. He often waited upon poetry gatherings, and the emperor treated him with great generosity. In the third year of Kennin (1203), when he reached ninety and his strength had failed so that he could no longer attend court, the emperor wished to confer upon him the highest honor. Following the precedent of the Ninna era (885-889), he held a celebratory banquet at the Waka-dokoro, the Poetry Office, had screens and cushions prepared as his seat, and his sons helped Toshinari up into the hall. He was granted the emperor's own waka and a dove-headed staff, and at that time this was regarded as extraordinary (Note: following the Kyūjū-ga-ki).

¶In the first year of Genkyū (1204) he died, at the age of ninety-one (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). His works include the Korai Fūtai-shō (Note: following the Yakumo Mishō and the Jikkinshō). His personal collection is called the Chōshū Eisō (Note: following the Tō Tsunetsugu documents). His sons were Nariie and Sadaie (Teika). Nariie rose to Junior Third Rank and Hyōbu-kyō, Minister of Military Affairs (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

The Monk Jakuren

¶The monk Jakuren was the son of Sadanaga, who was himself the son of the monk Shunkai, Toshinari's younger brother (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Gifted from early childhood, he was taken in by Toshinari and adopted as his son. He was appointed Nakatsukasa-no-shō, Lesser Assistant of the Ministry of Central Affairs. When Teika was born, he gave up that position to make way for him, took the tonsure, and changed his name to Jakuren. He was known in the world for his excellence at waka.

¶At that time the monk Kenshō, too, took pride in his waka and was on close terms with Jakuren. Kenshō's learning was truly outstanding and broad, but in poetic talent he fell somewhat short. Jakuren had no learning, yet he displayed a quite exceptional skill. Kenshō said, "The art of waka is not especially difficult. Jakuren has no learning and yet is good at it." Jakuren retorted, "There is nothing in the world harder than waka. A man as learned as Kenshō still cannot do it well," and Kenshō could not reply (Note: following the Kensai Zōdan). Teika had always valued Jakuren's poems, and when he died he grieved and mourned him greatly (Note: following the Meigetsuki).

Fujiwara-no-Teika

¶In the Jishō and Juei years (1177-1185) Teika was granted Senior Fifth Rank Lower (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In the first year of Bunji (1185), in the imperial hall, he quarreled with Minamoto-no-Masayuki and struck him on the cheek with a candlestick, for which he was struck from the register of court attendants (Note: following the Gyokukai). His father Toshinari was deeply distressed at this and composed a poem entrusting his feelings to it. The Cloistered Emperor Goshirakawa heard of it with sympathy, and before long restored him to his former office and rank (Note: following the Senzai Wakashū and the Jikkinshō).

¶In the fifth year of Bunji (1189) he was appointed Sa-konoe-no-shōshō, Lesser Captain of the Left Palace Guards, served successively as Inaba-no-gon-no-suke and Aki-no-gon-no-suke, Provisional Assistant Governor of Inaba and of Aki, and was granted Senior Fourth Rank Lower. In the Kennin years (1201-1204) he was appointed Sa-konoe-no-gon-no-chūjō, Provisional Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards, and concurrently Mino-no-suke, Assistant Governor of Mino (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin).

¶Teika had made his name in waka early (Note: following the letter the monk Saigyō sent to Teika, the postscript to the Miyagawa Utaawase, and the Seian-shō). The Retired Emperor Gotoba once summoned him to the Ko-gosho, the Small Imperial Hall, to judge poems, and said to his face, "I have called you here because I do not hold you lightly. Say everything you think and hold nothing back out of reserve. If you know and do not speak, that is not why I summoned you." Teika was deeply moved by this generous treatment (Note: following the Meigetsuki).

¶At the beginning of Genkyū (1204), by order of the Retired Emperor, he compiled the Shin-Kokin Wakashū together with Minamoto-no-Michitomo, Fujiwara-no-Ariie, Ietaka, and Masatsune (Note: compiled from the preface of that work, the Meigetsuki, the Yakumo Mishō, and the Azuma Kagami). It was determined that at the head of each section there should always be a poem by a poet of old, but the Retired Emperor had works by Teika, Ietaka, and others placed at the head of sections, and the world counted this an honor. At the beginning of Jōgen (1207) the Retired Emperor had the leading poets of the day compose the "Poems on Famous Places for the Screens of the Saishō Shitennō-in," and himself examined the results. Teika's works were adopted most often (Note: following the Meigetsuki).

¶In the first year of Kenryaku (1211) he was granted Junior Third Rank. In the Kenpō years (1213-1219) he was appointed Sangi, Counsellor, became Jibu-kyō, Minister of Civil Administration, and advanced to Senior Third Rank. Soon afterward he was transferred to Minbu-kyō, Minister of Popular Affairs. In the first year of Jōō (1222) he resigned as Sangi. In the first year of Antei (1227) he advanced to Senior Second Rank. Teika was by nature rather impatient and eager to rise in office. He had always been proud of his talent, constantly lamented his poor fortune, and resentful words often appeared in his poems (Note: following the Meigetsuki and the Fujikawa Hyakushu). His father Toshinari had ended his career at Senior Third Rank, and when Teika exceeded that and was granted Senior Second Rank, he rejoiced greatly, saying, "That such good fortune should reach the highest rank a subject can hold!" (Note: following the Meigetsuki).

¶In the first year of Jōei (1232) he was appointed Gon-Chūnagon, Provisional Middle Counsellor, and soon afterward was permitted to wear a sword at court (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). By edict of Emperor Go-Horikawa he compiled the Shin-Chokusen Wakashū (Note: following the preface of that work, the Chokusen Shidai, and the Yakumo Mishō). At this time the emperor had a mind to abdicate. Teika learned of it, put enormous effort into hastening the compilation, and presented it when it was complete (Note: following the Masukagami. Note: the entry for the seventh day of the eighth month of the first year of Bunryaku (1234) in the Meigetsuki says, "The anthology was not yet finished when the Great Mourning (the emperor's death) came. Since the command has been overturned, there is no use in keeping the drafts," and that he burned all twenty volumes of the draft of the imperial anthology in the courtyard. But since the compilation was in the first place begun by imperial edict, it is not something that may be burned at one's private discretion, and this account still contains doubtful points. Moreover, the preface of the Shin-Chokusen Wakashū also says "it was presented in this year," so the account of this work (the Chokusen Shidai) is followed here. The Meigetsuki's entries for the Jōei and Bunryaku years are full of gaps, and at present they cannot be verified).

¶In the first year of Tenpuku (1233) he shaved his head and took the name Myōjō. In the second year of Ninji (1241) he died, at the age of eighty. In the world he was called Kyōgoku Chūnagon, the Middle Counsellor of Kyōgoku (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin).

¶Once he set up a grass hermitage on Mount Ogura at Saga as a place for rest and wandering, and sometimes lived there (Note: following the Meigetsuki, the Shoku Kokin Wakashū, and the Fūga Wakashū). Teika was widely versed in histories and biographies and was also skilled in Chinese poetry (Note: following the Meigetsuki). His talent for waka came from his natural gift. He moved his brush freely and reached the utmost in detail and refinement. In addition, he had the deep source of learning handed down in his house, and there was no inner mystery or secret teaching that he did not master completely (Note: following the Shōtetsu Monogatari and the Kokin Wakashū Dōmōshō).

¶When composing poems at home, he always opened the south-facing room so as to look far into the distance, straightened his clothes, sat upright, and said: "If one accustoms oneself in ordinary times to this clean and reverent state, then even in the presence of the emperor one will not be thrown into disorder" (Note: following the Shōtetsu Monogatari). He also said: "Whenever you are about to compose waka, first recite the lines 'At my old home a mother weeps in the autumn wind; at the inn no one is there, a soul in the evening rain; at the Orchid Bureau, when the flowers bloom, beneath brocade curtains; on Mount Lu, on a rainy night, in a grass hut' (Note: lines from a poem by Bai Juyi). Then your frame of mind will of itself become lofty and subtle." Such was the care he took in the use of his mind (Note: following the Seigan Sawa).

¶In those days the composing of waka flourished greatly and poets appeared in great numbers, but Teika regarded them as unworthy of notice. He once sent a letter to Fujiwara-no-Yoshitsune saying, "How could a man such as Fujiwara-no-Suetsune be worth discussing waka with?" Suetsune saw this and was greatly angered, and slandered him to the Retired Emperor Gotoba through Minamoto-no-Michichika; for this reason Teika is said to have been kept at a distance and cast aside (Note: compiled from the Meigetsuki and the Gotoba-in Kuden).

¶The Retired Emperor once said: "Teika's talent and learning are without equal, but his heart is rather not upright. When it comes to recommending or appraising anything, he cannot keep private feeling out of it. Moreover, he thinks very highly of himself and looks down on the people of the day. If others praise his poems and they are not ones he considers his best, his face at once turns sour." And he also said: "Teika's poems are not something others can imitate. This is because he values only fluency of flow and does not make the meaning primary. It is because he has, through talent beyond the ordinary, a skillful hand at composition that he is able to achieve that beauty. If someone weak in strength imitated it, the result would be insipid" (Note: following the Gotoba-in Kuden).

¶Teika once chose one poem each from about a hundred poets, from Emperor Tenji down to his own day, wrote them out, and gave the set to someone (Note: following the Meigetsuki). In the world this is called the Hyakunin Isshu. His other works include the Eika Taigai, the Shūka no Taitai, the Banji Kenchū Mikkan, and the Maigetsushō (Note: compiled from the Shōtetsu Monogatari, the Kokin Wakashū Dōmōshō, and the Jiteiki. Note: books such as the Miraiki, the Uchū-gin, the Sangoki, and the Hekian-shō are sometimes attributed to Teika, but all of them appear to be forgeries falsely ascribed to him, and so they are not adopted here. Also, the Wakai-shō says, "Teika added commentary to the hard-to-read passages of the Tale of Genji and named it the Okuiri," but the Ninna-ji Shoseki Mokuroku says, "the Okuiri is the work of Fujiwara-no-Koreyuki, and Teika merely made additions to its notes"; which is correct is not known). His personal collection is called the Shūi Gusō (Note: following the Tō Tsunetsugu documents), and his diary is called the Meigetsuki (Note: following the Meigetsuki and the Shōtetsu Monogatari). Both are still in circulation today. His son was Tameie (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Fujiwara-no-Tameie

¶Fujiwara-no-Tameie. Even past the age of twenty, Tameie had not grasped the essentials of waka. Teika often scolded him, and Tameie, greatly ashamed, went to the Hie Shrine and prayed for the help of the god. Suddenly a slip of paper about one square sun in size came fluttering down onto his sleeve, and when he looked, the character "michi," the Way, was written on it. Tameie was overjoyed and took it as a revelation from the god. He stayed there seven days and seven nights and composed a thousand waka. After he returned, Teika and Jichin saw the poems and praised them greatly. From then on his talent advanced day by day (Note: following the Tō Tsunetsugu documents. The Seian-shō says the following: Tameie, thinking his poems so poor that he feared they would lower the family's reputation, planned to take the tonsure and flee the world, went to the Hie Shrine, and told the monk Jichin of his feelings. When Jichin asked his age, Tameie answered, "Twenty-five." Jichin said, "Nothing is settled yet. Apply yourself to study for several years, and if you still have no results it will not be too late to abandon the world." Tameie was moved and aroused, returned home, and composed a thousand waka, finishing in five days. Teika saw them and admired them greatly. From then on he turned his deep thought to the study of waka, his fame grew day by day, and in the end he became a master of the world).

¶At the beginning of Karoku (1225) he was appointed Kurōdo-no-tō, Head Chamberlain, and concurrently Sa-konoe-no-chūjō, Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards. Soon he was appointed Sangi and advanced to Junior Third Rank. In the Katei years (1235-1238) he was appointed Gon-Chūnagon, granted Senior Second Rank, and concurrently held the post of Minbu-kyō. In the second year of Ninji (1241) he was transferred to Gon-Dainagon, Provisional Major Counsellor (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). In the Hōji years (1247-1249), by order of the Retired Emperor Gosaga, he compiled the Shoku-Gosenshū. In the Shōgen years (1259-1260) he also compiled the Shoku-Kokinshū (Note: following the Chokusen Shidai). In the Kōchō years (1261-1264), again at the Retired Emperor's order, he composed the Sentō Hyakushu, the Retired Emperor's Palace Hundred-Poem Sequence, together with Fujiwara-no-Saneuji, Ieyoshi, and others, and it was named the Shichigyokushū (Note: following the Shichigyokushū).

¶In the first year of Kōgen (1256) he shaved his head and changed his name to Yūkaku. In the world he was called Minbukyō Nyūdō, the Minister of Popular Affairs who became a monk, and also Nakanoin Zenmon. In the first year of Kenji (1275) he died, at the age of seventy-nine (Note: compiled from the Sonpi Bunmyaku, the Kugyō Bunin, the Reizei-ke Keizu, and the Seian-shō).

¶Tameie once instructed others, saying, "Composing waka is like crossing a perilous bridge. You must not look to left or right," and also, "It is like building a many-storied pagoda: one begins from the foundation, and one must always keep the mind on the final lines" (Note: following the Seian-shō). In his later years he grew lax in thought, and for that reason he always liked to compose renga (Note: following the Sayo no Nezame. Note: the Tsukuba Mondō attributes this to Teika).

¶He was also versed in kemari, the kickball game. He received its secret teachings from the Retired Emperor Gotoba (Note: following the Yūtei Hishō). When Emperor Kameyama held a kemari gathering, Tameie took part in it. He was specially permitted to wear unpatterned smoked-leather tabi (kun-kawa-no-shitōzu; Note: tabi socks of smoked leather), and the people of the time counted this an honor (Note: following the Kumoi no Haru).

¶His sons were Tameuji, Tamenori, and Tamesuke. Tamenori was Junior Second Rank and U-hyōe-no-kami, Chief of the Right Gate Guards, and had a son, Tamekane (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Reizei-ke Keizu. Note: Tamenori was the third son of Fujiwara-no-Tameie and the founder of the Kyōgoku house).

Kyōgoku Tamekane

¶Kyōgoku Tamekane. In the Shōō years (1288-1293) he rose to Junior Second Rank and Gon-Chūnagon. Soon afterward he advanced to Senior Second Rank. In the sixth year of Einin (1298), implicated in an incident, he was exiled to Sado. In the first year of Kagen (1303) he was recalled. In the third year of Enkyō (1310) he was appointed Gon-Dainagon (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Reizei-ke Keizu). In the second year of Shōwa (1313) he shaved his head and changed his name to Renkaku (Note: following the Reizei-ke Keizu). At the beginning of Ōchō (1311), by order of the Retired Emperor Fushimi, he compiled the Gyokuyō Wakashū (Note: following the Fushimi-in Gyoki, the Reizei-ke Keizu, the Sonpi Bunmyaku, and the Masukagami). In the second year of Genkō (1332) he died (Note: following the Jōraku-ki).

Fujiwara-no-Tameuji

¶Fujiwara-no-Tameuji. Tameuji was Senior Second Rank and Gon-Dainagon (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In the world of that time renga was prized above all, and Tameuji, being quick of talent, could compose skillfully even on difficult topics. He took pride in this himself and boasted of it even beyond the seas. By order of the Retired Emperor Kameyama he compiled the Shoku-Shūi Wakashū (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). In the eighth year of Kōan (1285) he shaved his head and changed his name to Kakua (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin, the Reizei-ke Keizu, and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). The following year he died, at the age of sixty-five (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Reizei-ke Keizu). He was called Nijō (Note: following the Mikohidari Reizei-kei Zu. Note: both the Tō Tsunetsugu Kikigaki and the Seian-shō say Tameuji was called Reizei). His son was Tameyo.

Fujiwara-no-Tameyo

¶Fujiwara-no-Tameyo. He was Senior Second Rank and Gon-Dainagon (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). By order of the Retired Emperor Go-Uda he compiled the Shin-Gosenshū and the Shoku-Senzaishū (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku, the Reizei-ke Keizu, the Chokusen Shidai, and the Tō Tsunetsugu Kikigaki. Note: the Masukagami says he compiled the Shoku-Senzaishū by order of Emperor Go-Daigo).

¶In compiling the anthologies, whenever he met a guest he always asked for fine poems. Tamefuji doubted this and said, "An imperial anthology is a weighty undertaking. One should take only outstanding works. Why must one ask for poems even from nameless people?" Tameyo answered, "If a poem is worth taking, then even if its author is not a named poet, it should be included." Once, judging the poems of his forebears, he said: "My grandfather's (Toshinari's) words are profound and mysterious; my father's (Tameie's) are deep in meaning and in reason. Neither can be equaled" (Note: following the Seian-shō).

¶In the fourth year of Karyaku (1329) he shaved his head and took the Buddhist name Myōshaku (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Reizei-ke Keizu). In the third year of Engen (1338) he died, at the age of eighty-nine.

¶His sons were Tamefuji and Tamefuyu. Tamefuji was Senior Second Rank and Gon-Chūnagon (Note: following the Reizei-ke Keizu). At first Emperor Daigo ordered Tameyo to compile a waka anthology, but since he had already presented two anthologies, he asked that Tamefuji be made to receive the edict in his place. Before the work was finished, however, Tamefuji died. Tamefuji had earlier adopted his elder brother's son Tamesada as his heir, and so an edict was issued to Tamesada to complete the work. This is the Shoku-Goshūi Wakashū (Note: compiled from the Chokusen Shidai, the Sonpi Bunmyaku, the Reizei-ke Keizu, and the Masukagami). The Retired Emperor Kōgon (Go-Kōgon-in) also had Tamesada compile an anthology, which is called the Shin-Senzaishū (Note: following the Enta-ryaku and the Chokusen Shidai). Tamefuyu has a separate biography.

Fujiwara-no-Tamesuke

¶Fujiwara-no-Tamesuke. Tamesuke was named together with his elder brother Tameuji. Originally their father Tameie had granted two estates of the Waka-dokoro to his eldest son Tameuji, but later, losing his affection for him, Tameie took them back and gave them to Tamesuke, drawing up a deed as proof. After Tameie's death Tameuji and Tamesuke disputed the estates (Note: following the Reizei-ke Keizu). Tamesuke's mother went in person to Kamakura to bring the suit (Note: following the Izayoi Nikki), and in the end the estates became Tamesuke's.

¶Later, in the time of Tameuji's son Tameyo, the dispute broke out again. The agents of both houses filed suits against each other. The shogun, Prince Morikuni, ordered Hōjō Takatoki and others to judge the matter, and they sided with Tamesuke (Note: following the Reizei-ke Keizu).

¶His office and rank rose to Senior Second Rank and Gon-Chūnagon. In the third year of Karyaku (1328) he died at Kamakura, at the age of sixty-six. He took the name Reizei. His son was Tamehide, Junior Second Rank and Gon-Chūnagon, and his grandson was Tametada, Senior Second Rank and Gon-Dainagon (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Reizei-ke Keizu). The brothers Tameuji and Tamesuke each founded a house of his own, and in later generations the separate Nijō and Reizei houses arose.

¶His mother, of the Taira clan, first served Ankamon-in, was called Shijō, and was also known as Uemon-no-suke. She shaved her head and took the Buddhist name Abutsu (Note: following the Reizei-ke Keizu and the Shōtetsu Monogatari), and was called in the world Hokurin Zenni, the Nun of Hokurin (Note: following the Reizei-ke Keizu). She excelled at waka (Note: following the Sakusha Burui), and her works include the Izayoi Nikki and the Yakaku (Note: following the Izayoi Nikki and the Yakaku).

Fujiwara-no-Ietaka

¶Fujiwara-no-Ietaka was a son of Mitsutaka, Chūnagon, Middle Counsellor (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). Intelligent from childhood, he was called a prodigy by Emperor Gotoba (Note: following the Seigan Sawa). He studied waka under Fujiwara-no-Toshinari, who said: "Whenever this boy questions me, he does not leave a doubt as it is but urgently presses for the author's essential purpose. He will surely become a poetic immortal." Later he did indeed become widely famous in the world through waka (Note: compiled from the Seian-shō, the Kensai Zōdan, and the Seigan Sawa) and was named together with Fujiwara-no-Teika (Note: following the Kokon Chomonjū and the Jikkinshō).

¶When the Regent Yoshitsune once asked, "Who is the foremost poet of the day?" Ietaka remained silent and gave no answer. When he left, he put down a sheet of paper he had been carrying in his bosom and went out. When it was looked at, it was a poem of Teika (Note: following the Jikkinshō. Note: the Kensai Zōdan says it was Emperor Gotoba who asked). When Teika, by imperial order, compiled the Shin-Chokusenshū, Ietaka's poems were adopted most of all. Such was the mutual esteem between them (Note: following the Shōtetsu Monogatari and the Kensai Zōdan).

¶When Emperor Gotoba asked Yoshitsune, "I wish to study waka; whom should I take as my teacher?" Yoshitsune recommended Ietaka and said, "This man is the Kakinomoto-no-Hitomaro of our time" (Note: following the Kokon Chomonjū). In the Genkyū years (1204-1206), by order of the Retired Emperor, he compiled the Shin-Kokin Wakashū (Note: following the preface of that work and the Masukagami).

¶He had always served the Retired Emperor closely. Even after the Retired Emperor was moved to Oki, he was granted topics and had poems composed (Note: following the Masukagami). Ietaka kept composing with deep thought, and the poems he made, taken together before and after, are said to have totaled sixty thousand (Note: following the Seian-shō). He was appointed Kunai-kyō, Minister of the Imperial Household, and rose to Junior Second Rank. In the second year of Katei (1236), owing to illness, he shaved his head and changed his name to Busshō. The following year (1237) he died, at the age of eighty (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In the world he was called Mibu-no-Nii, the Second-Rank Lord of Mibu (Note: following the Jikkinshō).

¶His son Takasuke was Junior Fourth Rank Lower and Jijū, Chamberlain (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku), and he too excelled at waka. Teika said to someone, "Takasuke's works of his prime nearly equal his father's in beauty. But in his old age they fell even below those of his early years." Hearing this, Takasuke was resentful and said, "Then why did you not take the poems of my prime?" Teika had once said that Ietaka's poems carried a sign of the decline of his house, and indeed his descendants did not prosper (Note: following the Seigan Sawa. Note: this work says "the line was cut off after three generations," but the Sonpi Bunmyaku records the descendants as far as the great-great-grandson, so this account is not adopted).

Fujiwara-no-Sadamune

¶Fujiwara-no-Sadamune was a descendant of Nikaidō Yukimasa (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). His father was Mitsusada, Shimotsuke-no-kami, Governor of Shimotsuke (Note: following the Sakusha Burui and the Nikaidō Keizu. Note: the Sonpi Bunmyaku makes Mitsusada Sadamune's younger brother, but this is an error. One variant genealogy makes Sadamune the son of Ninyo, but the Sōan-shū calls Ninyo his "former teacher," so it was probably because they transmitted the monastic lineage by tonsure that they were mistakenly made father and son. The Kensai Zōdan and others also make him a descendant of Morozane, but probably because Sadamune received his manner of poetry from the Nijō house, he was mistakenly made a descendant).

¶In his youth he lived at Enryaku-ji, was broadly versed in Buddhist learning, shaved his head, and took the name Taijin. He also went to Mount Kōya, and thereafter took the name Tonna, or Kankū (Note: following the Nikaidō Keizu). Later he lived in the capital (Note: compiled from the Sōan-shū and the Enta-ryaku), excelled at waka, and was also skilled at calligraphy (Note: following the Enta-ryaku).

¶He once studied waka under Fujiwara-no-Tameyo and grasped its inner secrets. When Tameyo died, Tonna lamented that "there is no one in the world who understands me" and never composed waka again. The Retired Emperor Kōgon had always loved Tonna's poems and regretted that he had given them up. He ordered the Kampaku Yoshimoto to encourage and persuade him (Note: following the Shoku Sōan-shū). Yoshimoto asked about several points of poetic form, and the record of Tonna's answers was named the Gumon Kenchū (Note: following the postscript to the Gumon Kenchū).

¶When the Retired Emperor Hanazono was compiling the Fūga-shū, he wished to include a poem about snow that Tonna had composed, but altered several characters and had word of it conveyed to him. Tonna firmly declined, saying, "The intention of a mountain monk such as I differs from the imperial correction (gyohi; Note: an emperor's emendation). I beg that it not be adopted." The Retired Emperor accepted this and chose other poems instead. Such was his pride in his waka (Note: following the Tō Tsunetsugu Kikigaki).

¶In his later years his reputation grew very high (Note: following the Seigan Sawa), and he was treated especially generously by Ashikaga Takauji. Whenever there was a poetry gathering, he never failed to take part (Note: following the Sōan-shū and the Kensai Zōdan).

¶In the Shōhei years (1346-1370), the Retired Emperor Go-Kōgon ordered Fujiwara-no-Tameaki and Tonna to compile the Shin-Shūi Wakashū together. But before it was complete, Tameaki died. From the love section onward, it was compiled by Tonna alone.

¶At that time Urabe-no-Kenkō, together with Jōben and Keiun, was named alongside Tonna in waka, and the world called them the Four Heavenly Kings. Once, when Tonna met with Kenkō, Keiun, and others to compose poems, they were to draw topics (tandai; Note: a form in which topics are drawn and the poem written on the spot) and each compose six poems. Tonna happened to have an errand and went home; he opened his topic, glanced at it once, and went out. Keiun secretly swapped that topic for one of his own. After a while Tonna returned, and since the composition was already formed in his mind, he took up his brush to write, but all the topics differed from the earlier one. Even so, he did not change color in the slightest; he composed six poems anew, and all were splendid. Everyone present looked at one another and felt they could not match him. Keiun said, "I certainly did not mean it as a prank, but how else could we have seen his marvelous skill?" Such was his skill at improvisation (Note: following the Shōtetsu Monogatari).

¶Tonna loved elegance himself and named his dwelling the Kikaen, the Garden of Mallow Blossoms. In spring he invited nobles and aristocrats and they composed poems together. At other times he made a dwelling at Higashiyama, and, admiring the traces of the monk Saigyō, he also lived at Sōrin-ji, both of them places of beautiful springs, garden stones, and flowering trees (Note: following the Sōan-shū and the Shoku Sōan-shū).

¶In the first year of Bunchū (1372) he died, at the age of eighty-four (Note: following the Go-Fukakushin-in Kampaku-ki and the Tō Tsunetsugu Kikigaki). His works include the Seian-shō (Note: following the Seian-shō), and the two collections, the Sōan-shū and its sequel, were praised by the people of the time (Note: following the Shoku Sōan-shū).

¶His son Kyōken (Note: following the Sakusha Burui and the Shōtetsu Monogatari) was Gon-Daisōzu, Provisional Greater Master of Discipline (Note: following the Sakusha Burui), a Hōin, Dharma Seal (Note: following the Shōtetsu Monogatari). His grandson Gyōjin was Gon-Daisōzu (Note: following the Ibon Keizu), and both were skilled at waka (Note: following the Sakusha Burui). Gyōjin's son Gyōkō continued his father's and grandfather's work, and his name was the highest of all; he was Gon-Daisōzu (Note: compiled from the Yasutomi-ki and the Ibon Keizu) and became a Hōin. In the Eikyō years (1429-1441), when Gon-Chūnagon Fujiwara-no-Masayo compiled the Shin-Shoku-Kokin Wakashū, Gyōkō served as kaikō (Note: a practical administrator) of the Waka-dokoro (Note: following the Tō Tsunetsugu Kikigaki).

The Monk Jōben

¶The monk Jōben's clan and family name are not known; he was granted the rank of Hōin. He studied waka under Fujiwara-no-Tameyo, practiced and studied together with Tonna, and was esteemed by Tameyo (Note: compiled from the Sōan-shū, the Waka Fushin, and the Seigan Sawa).

Keiun

¶Keiun was a son of Jōben (Note: following the Sakusha Burui). He was granted the rank of Hōin (Note: following the Sōan-shū and the Sakusha Burui). He was named alongside his father (Note: following the Shōtetsu Monogatari).

¶In the Shōhei years, the Retired Emperor Go-Kōgon ordered Fujiwara-no-Tamesada to compile the Shin-Senzai Wakashū (Note: following the Chokusen Shidai and the Enta-ryaku), and four of Keiun's poems were adopted. Keiun was overjoyed and visited Tamesada to thank him. But later, hearing that more than ten of Tonna's poems had been included, he could not rest easy, secretly struck his own poems out, and in the end none of them remained. Keiun always lamented his ill fortune, and when he was about to die he gathered his draft poems and buried them (Note: following the Shigo-shō). His son was Keikō, who was likewise skilled at waka.

Urabe-no-Kenkō

¶Urabe-no-Kenkō was a great-grandson of Kanemochi, Jingi-no-taifu, Senior Assistant of the Department of Deities. He lived at Yoshida (Note: following the Urabe Keizu). Intelligent from childhood, Kenkō loved to read the books of Laozi and Zhuangzi, had literary talent, excelled at waka (Note: following the Tsurezuregusa), and was also skilled at calligraphy (Note: following the Taiheiki).

¶He served Emperor Go-Uda, was appointed Sa-hyōe, Officer of the Left Gate Guards, and gradually came to be favored by the emperor. When the emperor died, Kenkō shaved his head and entered Shugaku-in (Note: compiled from the Urabe Keizu, the Shōtetsu Monogatari, and the Yoshino Shūi). Later he visited Kiso, loved its mountains and waters, and built a hermitage there to live in. One day the provincial governor of that place led a party on a hunt, and Kenkō, disliking the commotion, composed a waka. In it he said that even this place had turned out to be the weary world after all, and that he longed for a mountain village of the kind he had imagined, somewhere other than here. Then he returned to his home country and composed waka for his own enjoyment (Note: following the Yoshino Shūi). He always said, "There is no pleasure like reading books by lamplight and taking the people of old as one's friends" (Note: following the Tsurezuregusa). The court nobles and officials of the time all loved his character, and those who associated with him were very numerous (Note: following the Shōtetsu Monogatari and the Kenkō Kashū).

¶Kenkō once composed a letter for Kō-no-Moronao to press his suit to the wife of Enya Takasada. When the wife would not comply, Moronao was angry and broke off relations with Kenkō. Because of this affair the world held Kenkō in low regard (Note: following the Taiheiki).

¶He once chose a burial ground at Narabigaoka, the Twin Hills, planted cherry trees there, and composed a waka on the occasion. In it he spoke to the blossoms as companions he had promised to keep, wondering with deep feeling how many springs he would pass beside the twin hills (Note: following the Kenkō Kashū). His works include the Tsurezuregusa and a collection of poems, which are still in circulation (Note: following the Tsurezuregusa and the Kenkō Kashū).

¶When he died, he had no child. A page boy who had served him, Myōshōmaru, transmitted Kenkō's learning and excelled at waka. Later he shaved his head, called himself Imagawa Sadayo, and lived in Chinzei (Note: Kyushu). (Note: following the Rakusho Roken. The Bunroku Seidan says, "Myōshōmaru shaved his head, wrote books, and recorded the affairs of his time by citing waka." Considering this now, a man called Shōō wrote the Yoshino Shūi, and everything cited in the Seidan agrees with the Yoshino Shūi. Since the Yoshino Shūi says, "I was an old acquaintance of Kenkō," Shōō was probably Myōshōmaru).