Fujiwara no Koretada

26/12/2020| Eli| 0 Comment| 11:18 pm

- Period: Heian Period
- Occupation: Waka Poet, Udaijin, sesshō, dajō daijin.
- Family: Fujiwara no Morosuke (father) Fujiwara no Yoshitaka (son) Fujiwara no Yoshikane (son) Fujiwara no Kaishi (daughter) Fujiwara no Kanemichi (brother) Fujiwara no Kaneie (brother) Fujiwara no Kinsue (brother) Fujiwara no Tamemitsu (brother)
- Birth: 924AD
- Death: 972AD

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 Morosuke ¹ 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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