Fujiwara no Akitsuna

Fujiwara no Akitsuna was a son of Fujiwara no Kanetsune,[1] a member of the Michitsuna lineage (道綱流) of the Northern Branch of the Fujiwara clan.[1] His mother was Ben no Menoto,[1] a daughter of Fujiwara no Masatoki (藤原順時),[1] the governor of Kaga Province.[2] The year of his birth is uncertain.[2]

He was the adoptive father of Arisuke (有佐), a son of Emperor Go-Sanjō.[2] His other children included Michitsune (道経), the governor of Izumi Province,[2] Kenshi (ja), the wet nurse of Emperor Horikawa,[2] and Nagako (ja), the author of the Sanuki-no-suke Nikki.[1] He was also related by marriage to Fujiwara no Michitoshi and Fujiwara no Akisue.[2]

During the Kanji era (1087–1094) he became the governor of Sanuki Province,[2] earning him the nickname Sanuki no Nyūdō (讃岐入道).[1] He served in positions such as governor of Tanba Province[2] and governor of Izumi Province,[2] and by the end of his career was of Senior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade.[2]

He probably took the tonsure in Kōwa 2 (1100).[2]

It is uncertain when he died.[2] Sonpi Bunmyaku says he died on the 27th day of the sixth month of Kōwa 5 (1103), at age 75 (by Japanese reckoning),[2] but his poetry appears in the record of the Sakon no Gon-Chūjō Toshitada Ason-ke Uta-awase (左近権中将俊忠朝臣家歌合), which took place the following year.[2] Boku Hagitani places his death in the summer of Kajō 2 (1107).[2]

The first uta-awase contest in which he took part was the Jōryaku Ninen Dairi Uta-awase (承暦二年内裏歌合) in Jōryaku 2 (1078).[2] He took part in the poetic gatherings:

• the Kaya no In-dono Shichiban Uta-awase (高陽院殿七番歌合) in the eighth month of Kanji 8 (1094);[2]
• the Ikuhō Mon'in Senzai-awase (郁芳門院前栽合) in the eighth month of Kahō 2 (1095);[2] and
• the Sakon no Gon-Chūjō Toshitada Ason-ke Uta-awase in the fifth month of Chōji 1 (1104).[2]

He also held poetic gatherings at his own residence.[2]

According to the Fukuro-zōshi, he was engaged in copying the Man'yōshū,[2] and that he came into possession of the Yōmei-in text (陽明院本 Yōmei'in-bon) of the Kokinshū, penned by the compiler Ki no Tsurayuki.[2]

Twenty-five of his poems were included in imperial anthologies, including the Goshūishū.[2] He left a personal collection, the Akitsuna Ason Shū.[2] Among his most famous works is the following poem, which was submitted to the Sakon no Gon-Chūjō Toshitada Ason-ke Uta-awase and included in the first book of love poems in the Shikashū:[2]