Fujiwara no Tadamichi

14/05/2022| Eli| 0 Comment| 10:16 pm

- Period: Heian Period
- Occupation: sesshō, kampaku, dajō daijin
- Family: Fujiwara no Tadazane (father) Kanoe no Motozane (son) Fujiwara no Motofusa (son) Kujō no Kanezane (son) Fujiwara no Kanefusa (son) Jien (son) Fujiwara no Masako (daughter) Fujiwara no Ikushi (adopted daughter) Fujiwara no Teishi (adopted daughter)
- Birth: 1097AD
- Death: 1164AD

Fujiwara no Tadamichi

Fujiwara no Tadamichi (藤原忠通) was a member of the Fujiwara Clan, more specifically the Hokke Branch of this clan, living from 1097-1164. He was also known as Hōshō-ji kampaku.

He held several positions during his career including kampaku in 1121, sesshō in 1123 and dajō daijin in 1129.

He had a relatively large family with five sons (Motozane, Motofusa, Kanezane, Kanefusa, Jien) one daughter (Masako) and two other adopted daughters (Ikushi, Teishi). Most of his daughters married Emperors.

He is known to have a written a memoir titled hōshō-ji kampaku-ki¹ and he is one of the principal characters in the pages of the Hōgen Mongatari, with poem 75 in the book adressed to him.

As a poet he was regarded very highly, creating poetry in both Japanese and Chinese. Following his death he left an anthology of poems and a collection on kanshi. We can find 58 poems of his in the Imperial Anthologies, and one of his poems (No.76) can be found in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu and goes as follows:²

Japanese text³	Romanized Japanese²	English translation²
わたの原こぎ出でて見れば久方の雲井にまよふおきつしらなみ	Wata no hara kogiidete mireba hisakata no kumoi ni magau oki tsi shiranami	Rowing out on the vast ocean, when I look all around I cannot tell aort white billows in the offing from the far-off clouds.

Footnotes

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

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