Six Poetic Geniuses

Six Poetic Geniuses (六歌仙, Rokkasen) were a group of 6 Poets mentioned by Ki no Tsurayuki in the preface of the Kokinshū as the six best poets of the Heian Period.

All of these poets have their poems in the Kokinshū and all (except Otomo Kuronushi) can find their poems in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

The poets listed are Otomo Kuronushi, Ono no Komachi, Henjo, Ariwara no Narihira, Fun’ya no Yasuhide and Priest Kisen.

This list of six later found itself superceeded by later lists such as the Thirty-Six Poetic Geniuses.¹

Otomo Kuronushi	Ono no Komachi
Priest Henjo	Ariwara no Narihira
Fun'ya no Yasuhide	Priest Kisen

Footnotes

1. MacMillan, P. (2018) ”One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Treasury of Classical Japanese Verse”. St. Ives: Penguin Classics.

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• Period: Heian Period
• Occupation: Waka Poet, Monk
• Family:
• Birth: mid 9th Century
• Death: –

Priest Kisen

Priest Kisen (喜撰) was a Buddhist monk and Japanese poet living around the mid 9th century. Sadly not much is known about him other than he lived in the area of Uji and according to the Kokinshū his dictation was vague and that his poems lacked structure.

The only othe thing we know is that he is said to have written the Kisen shiki, although this is very dubious.

He is listed as on the 6 Poetic Geniuses, and one of his poems (No. 8) can be found in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu and goes as follows:¹

Japanese text2	Romanized Japanese1	English translation1
わが庵は 都のたつみ しかぞすむ 世をうぢ山と 人はいふなり	Waga io wa miyako no tatsumi shika zo sumu yo o Ujiyama to hito wa iu nari	I live alone in a simple hut South-east of the capital, But people speak of me as one Who fled the sorrows of the world Only to end up on the Hill of Sorrow.

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.

Six Poetic Geniuses
Otomo Kuronushi * Priest Kisen * Ono no Komachi * Archbishop Henjo * Ariwara no Narihira * Fun'ya no Yasuhide

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