Fujiwara no Kanesuke (藤原兼輔, 877–933), also known as the Riverbank Middle Counselor (堤中納言, Tsutsumi Chūnagon),[1]: 137  was a middle Heian-period waka poet and Japanese nobleman. He is designated as a member of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals.

Chūnagon Kanesuke by Kanō Naonobu, 1648

His great-granddaughter was Murasaki Shikibu, author of the well-known monogatari the Tale of Genji.

His father was Fujiwara no Toshimoto.[2]

Poetry

edit

Kanesuke's poems are included in several imperial poetry anthologies, including Kokin Wakashū and Gosen Wakashū. A personal poetry collection known as the Kanesuke-shū also remains.

The Tale of Heike contains "an almost direct quotation" of his poem in the Gosenshū (no. 1102). The passage goes, "...as clear as a father's understanding may be in all other matters, love blinds him when it comes to his own child."[3]

One of his poems is included in the famous anthology Hyakunin Isshu:

みかの原わきて流るるいづみ川
     いつ見きとてか恋しかるらむ

mika no hara wakite nagaruru Izumi-gawa
itsu miki tote ka koishikaruran

When was it I got my first glimpse? Like the Moor of Jars divided by the Izumi river I am split in two—so deep my longing for you.[1]: 29 
(Shin Kokin Wakashū 11:996)

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b McMillan, Peter (2008). One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, A Translation of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. Columbia University Press. p. 160. ISBN 9780231143998.
  2. ^ "Fujiwara no Kanesuke • . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史". . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
  3. ^ The Tales of the Heike. Translated by Burton Watson. Columbia University Press. 2006. p. 48. ISBN 9780231138031.
edit