Fujiwara no Yoshitaka

Fujiwara no Yoshitaka (藤原 義孝, 954–974) was a Japanese waka poet of the mid-Heian period. One of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. He produced a private waka collection, the Yoshitaka-shū.

Fujiwara no Yoshitaka, from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

Biography

Yoshitaka was born in 954, the son of Fujiwara no Koretada.[1][2]

He served as captain of the right bodyguards (右少将, ushōshō).[1][2] He was the father of the respected calligrapher Yukinari.[1]　When his father died, Yoshitaka considered ordaining as a Buddhist monk. In the same year his son was born, which dissuaded him from pursuing a religious career.

He died in 974, at age twenty, of smallpox, on the same day as his twin brother.[1][2]

Poetry

Twelve of his poems were included in imperial anthologies, and he was listed as one of the Late Classical Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry.[1]

The following poem by him was included as No. 50 in Fujiwara no Teika's Ogura Hyakunin Isshu:

Japanese text[3]Romanized Japanese[4]English translation[5]
君がため
惜しからざりし
命さへ
長くもがなと
思ひけるかな
Kimi ga tame
oshikarazarishi
inochi sae
nagaku mogana to
omoikeru kana
I always thought
I would give my life
to meet you only once,
but now, having spent a night
with you, I wish that I may
go on living forever.

He left a private collection, the Yoshitaka-shū (義孝集).[1][2]

References
  1. McMillan 2010 : 140 (note 50).
  2. Daijirin entry "Fujiwara no Yoshitaka". Sanseidō.
  3. Suzuki et al. 2009 : 65.
  4. McMillan 2010 : 165.
  5. McMillan 2010 : 52.

Bibliography
  • McMillan, Peter. 2010 (1st ed. 2008). One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Suzuki Hideo, Yamaguchi Shin'ichi, Yoda Yasushi. 2009 (1st ed. 1997). Genshoku: Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. Tokyo: Bun'eidō.
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