Ariwara no Narihira

Ariwara no Narihira (825-880), though an historical personage has become so confused with the legends surrounding him that little can be said of the circumstances of his life with any certainty. He was friends with Prince Koretaka, often accompanying him on hunting trips, and something of a lover, judging by his poems, but beyond that little is known. Many of his poems were compiled with others and used in the Ise Monogatari, ‘The Tales of Ise’, describing the life and exploits of a courtly lover. Tsurayuki named him as one of the rokkasen, the ‘Six Poetic Geniuses’, but noted that in his poetry his ‘heart’ (kokoro) is too great for his ‘words’ (kotoba) – that is, he often expresses a great number of ideas in the few words of a tanka – making his poetry some of the most difficult to interpret in the classical canon. Nevertheless, he was also the author of the most famous tanka of all (KKS XV: 747), on the moon and springtime.

On WakaPoetry.net, the following poems are by Narihira:

KKS I: 53
KKS I: 63
KKS II: 133
KKS V: 268
KKS V: 294
KKS IX: 410
KKS IX: 418
KKS XI: 476
KKS XIII: 616
KKS XIII: 618
KKS XIII: 622
KKS XIII: 632
KKS XIII: 644
KKS XIII: 646
KKS XIV: 705
KKS XIV: 707
KKS XV: 747
KKS XV: 785
KKS XVI: 861
KKS XVII: 868
KKS XVII: 871
KKS XVII: 879
KKS XVII: 884
KKS XVII: 901
KKS XVII: 923
KKS XVIII: 969
KKS XVIII: 970
KKS XVIII: 971
GSS V: 224
GSS V: 252
GSS X: 628
GSS XIII: 891
GSS XIII: 967
GSS XV: 1083
GSS XVI: 1125
GSS XVII: 1231
GSS XVII: 1244
GSS XIX: 1352
SIS VII: 381
SIS XII: 728
SIS XIX: 1234

'Simply moving and elegant'