Kodai no Kimi

Kodai no Kimi (ICP) (Yamato Bunkakan)
Kodai no Kimi by Kanō Naonobu, 1648

Kodai no Kimi (小大君, fl. circa 990 CE), also known as Koōgimi) was a Japanese waka poet and noble from the middle Heian period.[1][2][3]

During this period of time, the Japanese court was a place of literary flourishing for noble women, and many of the ladies in waiting were accomplished poets and authors.[1][4] For instance, she was at court as the same time as another renowned female writer, Murasaki Shikibu, author of the great novel The Tale of Genji.[1]

Kodai no Kimi was a lady-in-waiting in the courts of Emperor Ichijo (who reigned from 986-1011 CE) and his son, the crown prince Okisada who would eventually reign as Emperor Sanjo.[1] In the court of the Crown prince, her position appears to have been that of chamberlain and secretary.[5][6] Members of the court were expected to participate complex poetic activities, writing poems to exchange for everything from greetings to games to poet-vs-poet competitions. Kodai-no-Kimi was one of the most skilled.[7]

She is one of only five women numbered as one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals.[2]

Many of her poems are in Japanese imperial poetry anthologies including Shūi Wakashū.[8] There is some overlap between her personal poetry collection Kodai no Kimishū (小大君集) and Ono no Komachi's personal collection.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Carpenter, John T.; McCormick, Melissa; Bincsik, Monika; Kinoshita, Kyoko; Midori, Sano (2019-03-04). The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-1-58839-665-5.
  2. ^ a b Hosoda, Eishi (1991). Thirty Six Immortal Women Poets. WW Norton. ISBN 978-0-8076-1256-9.
  3. ^ a b Cranston, Edwin A. (1993). A Waka Anthology, Volume Two: Grasses of Remembrance. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-4825-4.
  4. ^ Murmured Conversations: A Treatise on Poetry and Buddhism by the Poet-Monk Shinkei. Stanford University Press. 2008-04-16. ISBN 978-0-8047-7939-5.
  5. ^ Japan), Princess Shikishi (daughter of Goshirakawa, Emperor of (1993-01-01). String of Beads: Complete Poems of Princess Shikishi. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-1483-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Murasaki Shikibu: The Greatest Lady Writer in Japanese Literature. Japanese National Commission for Unesco. 1970.
  7. ^ Henderson, John S.; Netherly, Patricia (1993). Configurations of Power: Holistic Anthropology in Theory and Practice. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-2487-8.
  8. ^ Laffin, Christina (2013-01-31). Rewriting Medieval Japanese Women: Politics, Personality, and Literary Production in the Life of Nun Abutsu. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-3785-3.
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