Minamoto no Tōru

30/07/2022| Eli| 0 Comment| 7:32 pm

Period: Heian Period
Occupation: Waka Poet, Sadaijin
Family: Emperor Saga (father) Emperor Ninmyō (brother) Minamoto no Makoto (brother) Minamoto no Tokiwa (brother)
Birth: 822AD
Death: 895AD

Minamoto no Tōru

Minamoto no Tōru (源融) was a member of the Imperial Family living from 822-895AD¹. The son of Emperor Saga he was brother to the future Emperor Ninmyō as well as Minamoto no Makoto and Minamoto no Tokiwa.¹ ²

Tōru became Sadaijin in 872¹ and was known as the Kawara Sadaijin after his residence in the capital which was east of Sixth Avenue near the river beach (kawara).²

His mansion would become a focal point in the 81st Chapter of the Tale of Ise.²

Tōru would build a mansion in Uji which would later become Byōdō-in.¹ ²

Additionally one of his major achievements was the creation of many beautiful mini gardens which were styled on his main garden he created.²

We see him as the protagonist in the noh play Tōru, written by Zeami. And he has 2 poems in the Kokinshū and Gosenshū.²

One of his poems (No.14) can also be found in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, and goes as follows:

Japanese text³	Romanized Japanese¹	English translation¹
みちのくのしのぶもぢずり誰故に乱れそめにし我ならなくに	Michinoku no shinobu mojizuri tare yue ni midaresomenishi ware naranakuni	My heart's as tangled as the wild fern patterns of Michinoku's Shinobu cloth. Since it is not my fault whom should I blame for this?

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.

	Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. Instagram (Japan): @japan_archives
	Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. Instagram (Minecraft): @mycenria
	Find the website useful? Please consider donating to help up keep the website running.