| Shinpen kokka taikan no. | |
| Heian-chō uta’awase taisei no. | 35 |
| Title | 女四宮勤子内親王歌合 |
| Romanised Title | Onna shi no miya kinshi naishinnō uta’awase |
| Translated Title | Poetry Contest held by Imperial Princess Isoko, the Princess of the Fourth |
| Alternative Title(s) | |
| Date | Unknown |
| Extant Poems | 1 |
| Sponsor | Imperial Princess Isoko (Kinshi) 勤子 904-938 |
| Identifiable Participants | Sakanoue no Korenori |
| Judgements | N |
| Topics | Cuckoos (hototogisu 時鳥) |
Isoko (Kinshi) 勤子 (904-938) was the fifth daughter of Emperor Daigo (her sobriquet of ‘Princess of the Fourth’ is due to her rank—Fourth Order (shihon 四品). Hagitani (1957, 253) notes that she was greatly loved by her father and was also famed as a genius at painting and calligraphy; she was also the patron who instructed Minamoto no Shitagō 源順 (911-983) to compile Japan’s first dictionary, Wamyō ruijushō 和名類聚抄 (931-938). We know that Ki no Tsurayuki contributed a sequence of eight poems for folding screens produced to celebrate her coming-of-age ceremony in the Second Month, Engi 延喜 18 [3.918] (Tsurayuki-shū II: 97-104), so it seems likely that her birthday lay in this time of the year. She married Fujiwara no Morosuke 藤原師輔 (909-960) in the autumn of Shōhei 承平 5 [935], but was to die only a few years later, on the 5th day of the Eleventh Month, Tengyō 天慶 1 [29.11.938] at the age of only thirty-four.
We have no details about when this match was held, as only the one poem, by Sakanoue no Korenori 坂上是則 (?-930?)[ii] survives, and this is a straightforward poem on cuckoos. Given its character as a spring poem, it is possible the match was held in this season and may have been to mark an event in Isoko’s life—possibly her birthday—but this remains speculative.
Poetry Contest held by Imperial Princess Isoko, the Princess of the Fourth[i]
山がつと人はいへども郭公まつはつこゑは我のみぞきく
| yamagatsu to hito wa iedomo hototogisu matsu hatsukoe wa ware nomi zo kiku | A crude mountain man Folk call me, yet The cuckoo’s Eagerly awaited first call I, alone, do hear! |
[i] Onna shi no miya kinshi naishinnō ut’awase 女四宮勤子内親王歌合.
[ii] Sakanoue no Korenori 坂上是則 was a minor noble who was active in the poetic events of Emperor Uda’s court, participating in the ‘Poetry held by the Empress Dowager during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor’ (893) among others. He held a number of lower-ranking court positions, beginning with Supernumerary Junior Clerk of Yamato (Yamato gon-shōsakan 大和権少掾) in the First Month, Engi 8 [908], rising to Assistant Governor of Kaga (kaga no suke 加賀介) at Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade in the First Month, Enchō 延長 2 [924]. He was best known during his lifetime, however, as an expert kemari 蹴鞠 player, and subsequently for his poetic skills. He has a respectable 39 poems in imperial anthologies, including seven in Kokinshū. Fujiwara no Kintō 藤原公任 (966-1041), named him as one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals (Sanjū rokkasen 三十六歌仙), while today he is chiefly remembered due to the inclusion of one of his poems in Ogura hyakunin isshu 小倉百人一首: Composed on seeing snow fall when he had gone to the province of Yamato. あさぼらけありあけの月と見るまでによしののさとにふれるしらゆき asaborake / ariake no tsuki to / miru made ni / yoshino no sato ni / fureru shirayuki ‘Dawning’s / Pale moonlight / It seems: / The house at Yoshino, / With snowfall all around.’ (KKS VI: 332/ Ogura hyakunin isshu 31).
[iii] This poem is included in a number of other collections: Shūishū (II: 103), attributed to Sakanoue no Korenori, with the headnote, ‘From the Poetry Match held at the Residence of the Fourth Princess’; Shūishō (II: 63), also attributed to Korenori, but with the headnote ‘From a folding screen for the Fourth Imperial Princess’; Korenori-shū (9), where it simply has the headnote ‘Summer: cuckoos’; Sanjūninsen (94), with the headnote ‘[One of] Three poems by Korenori’’ and Sanjūrokuninsen (114), with the headnote ‘Korenori’.