Japanese Literature - Lady of Ise

As mentioned in class, the Kokin Wakashu (古今和歌集) is probably one of the most famous and important pieces of Heian literature not just in Japan, but around the world. The Kokin Wakashu is often shortened to just the “Kokinshu (古今集).” The Kokinshu is a collection of waka or poems and when translated into English, it is called “The Collection of Poems Old and New.” To the Japanese people of the time, poetry was one of the most important arts that could be performed. It was so important to the Japanese that the Japanese people would have poetry competitions. It was under Emperor Daigo (醍醐天皇) that this collection of poetry in the Kokinshu would come into existence in 905.

One of the many poets included in the Kokinshu would be Lady of Ise (伊勢). She was asked by Ki no Tsurayuki and his fellow poets to submit some of her poetry to be compiled for the Kokinshu. Out of the one thousand one hundred eleven poems recorded, twenty-two of Lady of Ise’s poetry is included in the Kokinshu. Other major achievements Lady of Ise claims are being part of the Thirty-Six Poetic Geniuses (三十六歌仙 or Sanjurokkasen), The Ise Shu, having seventy of her poetry included in the “Later Collection of Japanese Poems (後撰和歌集 or Gosen Wakashu),” and performing in various poetic tournaments. Although there has been many research projects done on the subject, there is not much known about the poets, especially the women poets, during the Heian period. However, there is a little more known on Lady of Ise than some of the other famous women poets of the time.

Lady of Ise was born the daughter to Fujiwara no Tsugikage sometime in the tenth century. The exact year of her birth is unknown. Her father was Lord of Ise as well as becoming Lord of Yamato later on in life. It has been noted that Lady of Ise had come from a long line of poets as well as scholars. Lady of Ise had been sent off to act as the assistant to the empress of Japan, Fujiwara no Onshi (藤原温子). Onshi was the consort of Emperor Uda (宇多天皇). Emperor Uda was the 59th emperor of Japan, who served as emperor for ten years. He served from 887 to 897 AD. After Emperor Uda had served his ten years as emperor, the role was then passed onto Emperor Daigo (醍醐天皇). Emperor Daigo had served from 897 until 930AD. As Emperor Uda had, Emperor Daigo had gained his entitlement to the throne by it being passed down from father to son. Even after Emperor Uda was no longer serving as the emperor, Lady of Ise had continued to act as his wife’s assistant. After Onshi had passed away, Lady of Ise went on to serve as the assistant to Onshi’s daughter.

Lady of Ise was well-known for being similar to that of a “femme fatale” in the sense that she was involved in many love affairs. Among the people she was involved with were Fujiwara no Nakahira (藤原仲平), Nakahira’s brother Fujiwara no Tokihira (藤原 時平), Emperor Uda (宇多天皇), Prince Atsuyoshi (敦慶親王), and Taira no Sadafun (平貞文). Fujiwara no Tsugukage was the brother to Empress Onshi, her boss. Although the love affair with Fujiwara no Nakahira was short-lasting, she was able to capture his attention once again after withdrawing from the court for a period of time to write poetry. At the return to court, she had also managed to gain the attention of Nakahira’s and Onshi’s brother, Tokihira. One of Fujiwara no Tokihira’s rivals, Taira no Sadafun, was exchanging poetry with Lady of Ise as Tokihira was trying to win over Lady of Ise’s love. During this time period, when you were exchanging your poetry with someone, it was similar to how the Japanese students will give their crush a love note. However, during this time, Lady of Ise was one of Emperor Uda’s concubines, before Onshi had passed away. As a result of being his concubine, she gave birth to Emperor Uda’s son who had passed away at a young age. The son was named Prince Yuki-Akari. However, sometime before Lady of Ise became the concubine of Emperor Uda, she was the lover of Prince Atsuyoshi. Prince Atsuyoshi was the brother by blood to Emperor Daigo (醍醐天皇) – who commissioned the Kokinshu – as well as being the fourth son of Emperor Uda. Prince Atsuyoshi was Lady of Ise’s last lover. With Prince Atsuyoshi, Lady of Ise gave birth to Nakatsukasa (中務).

Lady of Ise had made sure that her daughter Nakatsukasa (中務) had followed in her footprints and become a great poetess as well. While Nakatsukasa was growing up, Lady of Ise would show and teach her about poetry. It was noted that Lady of Ise once showed Nakatsukasa a poem and was stated saying “Poems should be composed in this manner.” Nakatsukasa had succeeded by becoming known as one the “Thirty-Six Poetic Geniuses (Sanjurokkasen or 三十六歌仙)” along with her mother. At that time, Nakatsukasa had established a name for her own self rather than being known as the daughter of Prince Atsuyoshi and/or Lady of Ise. It had been suggested that the Yamato monogatari (The Tales of Yamato大和物語) was created by Lady of Ise and finished by Nakatsukasa, but there is not much evidence supporting this claim.

While Lady of Ise was still alive, the Ise Shu was produced. It had included almost five hundred of Lady of Ise’s poetry. The exact number of the poems in the Ise Shu would be four hundred eighty-three; however, some of the poetry included was not written by Lady of Ise, but for Lady of Ise. Within the first thirty-three poems of the Ise Shu were accounts of her beginning years within the courts. These first thirty-three poems are generally referenced as the “Diary of Ise (Ise Nikki or 伊勢の日記).” The title “Diary of Ise” actually came about because of Ban Nobutomo labeling it as such. Scholars who studied the Ise Shu had agreed that Lady of Ise had not produced the Ise Shu by herself, but rather it was written for her. Lady of Ise did, however, have a hand in the editing process that took place during the creation of the Ise Shu. Even though the scholars understand that it was not Lady of Ise’s own creation, they take the Ise Shu as an autobiography of Lady of Ise’s life. This could be problematic in the sense that the Ise Shu could have fabricated or embellished some details of Lady of Ise’s life.

Almost fifty years after the “Collection of Poems Old and New (Kokin Wakashu 古今和歌集)” was created, the “Later Collection of Japanese Poems (Gosen Wakashu 後撰和歌集)” was created. The Gosenshu was compiled around the year 951, making it the second collection of poetic anthologies that was imperially commissioned. However, the Gosenshu was commissioned not by Emperor Daigo (醍醐天皇), but by Emperor Murakami (村上天皇). Each of the poems in the Gosenshu had a narrative headnote at the beginning, which made it sometimes difficult for the readers to distinguish it from the actual poetry. The Gosenshu had been produced during the time when uta monogatari were becoming popularized. Thus, uta monogatari and the Gosenshu share many similarities, such as the narrative headnotes. For the Gosenshu, Emperor Murakami had demanded Lady of Ise’s daughter Nakatsukasa to submit her mother’s collection of poetry for the project. However, only four of the seventy Lady of Ise’s poems appear in both the Gosenshu and the Ise Nikki.

Although it is unknown if Lady of Ise did have any involvement in the Ise monogatari (The Tales of Ise or 伊勢物語), many scholars speculate that Lady of Ise had finished it after Ariwara no Narihira (在原業平) had passed away. Scholars had first assumed that Ariwara no Narihira was the original author of the Ise monogatari, but later realized that would be seemingly impossible for him to have written the entire uta monotagatari by himself for it mentions his death within it. Because of that reason, many scholars suspect that someone close to Ariwara no Narihira, such as a family member or as mentioned before Lady of Ise. The Ise Monogatari entails a hero figure who lives in a world full of lies and restrictions and manages to overcome the obstacles that gets in the way of the hero.

Besides getting credit for major works of literature during the Heian period, Lady of Ise was performing in poetic tournaments that were very popular at the time. Lady of Ise was performing in these competitions even when she was no longer part of the court. These contests were called “uta-awase 歌合せ” that were created by the emperors themselves. With each competition, there was a different theme for the poets to compose. Lady of Ise had won many competitions and sometimes ended up in a tie with her opponents. Due to her skill in composing beautiful poetry – especially that of Japanese waka (和歌), she was invited to many poetic tournaments; most of the time, her presence was mandatory at the imperial waka contests. She was also the only woman to have taken place in the Empress’s Poetry Contest that took place in 893 during the Kampyo Era. This competition was thought of as one of the earliest and most important poetic contests that took place during the Heian period. About twenty years later, Lady of Ise had acted as the recorder in the Poetry Contest at the Teiji Villa held by the then retired Emperor Uda. The role of a recorder was one of the most prestigious in a poetic tournament. Lady of Ise’s opponent in that Poetic Contest was Ki no Tsurayuki (紀 貫之); she had tied with him during this competition due to Tsurayuki’s complaint of biased judgement.

In the competition where Lady of Ise and Ki no Tsuraryuki had ended with a tie, the theme for their poetry was about the feeling of sadness and missing someone. The following poems are what Lady of Ise and Ki no Tsurayuki had written for their match; Lady of Ise is on the left side and Ki no Tsurayuki is on the right side:

Meetings with you When longing for you overflows,
have ended long ago; try though I may to hide it,
how many tears, I wonder, others will surely know—
have flowed out of me. how depressing the thought.

Lady of Ise’s poem for the competition was about the sadness a person feels when someone they love or was very close to leaves them and how a person would react to such an event. Based on the way Lady of Ise had phrased the first two lines of her poem “Meetings with you/ have ended long ago,” it seems to be dealing with a break-up. The next two lines that she wrote “how many tears, I wonder, have flowed out of me” seems to be conveying the idea that she had been crying a great amount since the incident. Another possibility of how Lady of Ise could have not met that person in a long time could because that person had passed away. She could also be expressing the thoughts and feelings of her “audience.” By “audience,” it could be whoever is reading her poems. This could be used as a method to convey humanly feelings that all people would feel at one point or another in their lifetime that expresses the way the audience member feels when they cannot think of the words themselves.

Ki no Tsurayuki’s poem for the competition was about the sadness a person feels and how difficult it may be to hide such a feeling from others. The feeling that Ki no Tsurayuki is expressing the depression someone feels when they no longer have that person they want when he wrote the following lines “When longing for your overflows, try thought I may to hide it.” The person would be longing for someone, but perhaps that person does not feel the same way or perhaps something that happened to the person – such as death – and the longing the person feels could be the longing to see him or her once again. It may be because Ki no Tsurayuki is a man that he must feel as though he has to hide the feeling for the person in his poem or that people do not others to see them while they are feelings as depressed as they do. His next lines are “others will surely know—how depressing the thought.” Going along with the idea of hiding your feelings from others, when people are in a depressed state of mind, it is usually easy to tell regardless of how close or distant a person may be to you. When a person is depressed, it affects their whole mood and the environment around them. To these ideas of depression and sadness, Ki no Tsurayuki closes the poem with a thought that many people would probably think when first hearing this poem. However, it could have another meaning underneath it. It could mean something like others will talk about what problems the person is dealing with behind their back and the person feels as though there might not be anyone to they could confide in without the fear of things being spread from person to person.

Both poems could be representative of many things and could be taken in a different way with each person to adjust to their specific situation. These poems were vague enough that they can relate to anyone that is feeling sadness or missing someone due to a break-up or death. The poems are not just limited to break-ups and deaths though or to any of the analysis that I pulled out of them. They are versatile enough to speak to and for the audience.

During her lifetime, Lady of Ise had achieved many great and memorable things. She was involved in many important pieces of literature during the Heian period – including the Kokinshu, Gosenshu, The Ise Nikki, winning important poetic tournaments, getting credit for the Ise Monogatari, and possibly the Yamato Monogatari with her daughter Nakatsukasa. She was given prestigious titles such as being one of the “Thirty-six Poetic Geniuses” and being asked to be the recorder at some poetic tournaments as well as acting as the assistant to the empress, Onshi. Due to her poetic talent and her beauty, she had many men chasing after her. Although there is not too much known on Lady of Ise like there are on other poets of the time, from what scholars do know, Lady of Ise was one of the best poets of her time – regardless of gender.