Koshikibu no Naishi

Koshikibu no Naishi (小式部内侍, c. 999 – November 1025) was a Japanese waka poet of the early eleventh century.[1][2][3] One of her poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.[1][2][4][5]

Koshikibu no Naishi, from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

Biography

She was the daughter of Izumi Shikibu and Tachibana no Michisada (橘道貞),[1][2][3] the governor of Mutsu.[1]

Starting around 1009,[2] she joined her mother[2][3][4] in serving Empress Shōshi.[1][2][3][4]

A target of many suitors, she eventually married Fujiwara no Kiminari (藤原公成).[2] They had a child, but she died thereafter, still in her late twenties.[1][2][3]

Poetry

Four[4] of her poems were included in imperial anthologies such as the Goshūi Wakashū and the Kin'yō Wakashū.[1][3]

Ōe-yama

The following poem by her was included as No. 60 in Fujiwara no Teika's Ogura Hyakunin Isshu:

Japanese text[1]Romanized Japanese[6]English translation[7]
大江山
いく野の道の
遠ければ
まだふみも見ず
天の橋立
Ōe-yama
ikuno no michi no
tookereba
mada fumi mo mizu
ama no hashidate
How could my mother
help me write this poem?
I have neither been
to Ōe Mountain nor Ikuno
nor have any letters
come from her
in a place so far away it's called—
The Bridge to Heaven.

In later literature

Numerous anecdotes about her were incorporated into later treatises on poetry (歌論書, karonsho) and setsuwa collections.[1]

An otogizōshi, Koshikibu, was also written.[1]

References
  1. Britannica Kokusai Dai-hyakkajiten article "Koshikibu no Naishi". 2007. Britannica Japan Co.
  2. Mypaedia article "Koshikibu no Naishi". 2007. Hitachi Systems & Services.
  3. Digital Daijisen entry "Koshikibu no Naishi". Shogakukan.
  4. McMillan 2010 : 142 (note 60).
  5. Suzuki et al. 2009 : XX.
  6. McMillan 2010 : 167.
  7. McMillan 2010 : 62.

Bibliography
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Koshikibu no Naishi.
  • Keene, Donald (1999). A History of Japanese Literature, Vol. 1: Seeds in the Heart — Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11441-7.
  • McMillan, Peter. 2010 (1st ed. 2008). One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231143998
  • Suzuki Hideo, Yamaguchi Shin'ichi, Yoda Yasushi. 2009 (1st ed. 1997). Genshoku: Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. Tokyo: Bun'eidō.
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