Fujiwara no Koretada

Fujiwara no Koretada
Koretada from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

Fujiwara no Koretada

Fujiwara no Koretada (藤原 伊尹) was a member of the Fujiwara Clan, more specifically the Hokke Branch of this clan, living from 924AD to 972AD.

He was the son of Fujiwara no Morosuke1 and father of Fujiwara no Yoshitaka, Fujiwara no Yoshikane and Fujiwara no Kaishi.2

He held several position during his life receiving the titles of Udaijin in 970, sesshō in 971 and later dajō daijin.

Koretada also went by the names of Ichijō Sesshō, Mikawa-kō1 and Fujiwara no Koremasa. He was additionally known posthumously as Kentoku-ko (Lord Humble and Virtuous)3

In regards to literature he was appointed at 26 years old as superintendant of the editorial commitee for the Gosenshū. We can find 37 poems of his in the Imperial Anthologies as well as a private collection called the Ichijō sesshō gyoshū.3

One of his poems (No.45) can be found in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu and goes as follows:

Japanese text4
Romanized Japanese3
English translation3
あはれとも
いふべき人は
思ほえで
身のいたづらに
なりぬべきかな
Aware to mo
iubeki hito wa
omōede
mi no itazurani
narinubeki kana
'I feel so sorry for you,'
No one comes to mind
who would say that to me,
so I will surely die alone
of a broken heart.

Footnotes

1. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.
2. Kodansha. (1993) ”Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia”. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.
3. MacMillan, P. (2018) ”One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Treasury of Classical Japanese Verse”. St. Ives: Penguin Classics.
4. Suzuki, H. et al. (1997) ”Genshoku: Ogura Hyakunin Isshu”. Tokyo: Bun’eidō.

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