Yamabe no Akahito
Hear about Yamabe no Akahito on Episode 14B of our Podcast, the Japan Archives. |  |  |
- Period: Nara Period
- Occupation: Waka Poet, Courtier, Bureaucrat, Ason
- Family: –
- Birth: 1st half 8th century
- Death: –
Yamabe no Akahito
Yamabe no Akahito (山部 赤人 / 山邊 赤人) lived during the first half of the 8th century. During his life he acted as a courtier as well as bureaucrat giving his service to the Emperor Shomu.1
Miller (1981) cites two Kanji in his name [朝臣], but does not elaborate upon them. However, these Kanji translate as Ason. This was a high level rank given to people under the Kabane System.3
He and Kasa Kanamura are ranked on the same level for their poetry.3
Not much else is really known about his life. We know he was ranked as one of the Four Great Poets of the Man’yōshū Period and was listed by Kinto as one of the the Thirty-Six Poetic Geniuses. All together he has 13 chōka poems and 37 tanka poems in the Man’yōshū, He also has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (No.4) which goes as follows:1
| Japanese text2 | Romanized Japanese1 | English translation1 |
|---|---|---|
| 田子の浦に 打ち出でてみれば 白妙の 富士の高嶺に 雪はふりつつ | Tago no ura ni uchiidete mireba shirotae no fuji no takane ni yuki wa furitsutsu | Coming out on the Bay of Tago. there before me, Mount Fuji- snow still falling on her peak, a splendid cloak of white. |
Footnotes
1. MacMillan, P. (2018) ”One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Treasury of Classical Japanese Verse”. St. Ives: Penguin Classics.
2. Suzuki, H. et al. (1997) ”Genshoku: Ogura Hyakunin Isshu”. Tokyo: Bun’eidō.
3. Miller, R. A.. (1981) “The Lost Poetic Sequence of the Priest Manzei”. Monumenta Nipponica. Vol.36 No.2 pp.133-172
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