Akazome Emon

• • Period: Heian Period
  • Occupation: Lady-in-Waiting, Nun, Poet
  • Family: Ōe no Masahira (husband)
  • Birth: c.957
  • Death: 1041

Akazome Emon

Akazome Emon (赤染衛門) living from c.957-1041, was the Lady-in-Waiting to Minamoto no Rinshi¹², and potentially her daughter Empress Shōshi.¹

She was married to Ōe no Masahira and later became a nun after his passing at the end of her life.²

One of the foremost female poets during her life at court we can find 93 of her poems in Imperial Anthologies beginning with the Shūi wakashū.

Her personal anthology the Akazomeshū contains over 600 poems.¹²

She has traditionally been creditted with writing a part of the Eiga Monogatari¹² as well as a travel diary called Owari kikō.²

Footnotes

1. Kodansha. (1993) ”Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia”. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.
2. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.

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