Fujiwara no Nagaie


Fujiwara no Nagaie was a Japanese nobleman and waka poet of the Heian period.

Life

Fujiwara no Nagaie was born on the 20th day of the eighth month of Kankō 2, to Fujiwara no Michinaga and His adoptive mother was Michinaga's principal wife . He was the sixth and youngest of Michinaga's sons. He was fawned over by his father, adoptive mother, eldest sister Shōshi and eldest brother Yorimichi.
Nagaie lived for a long period in the Mikohidari manor on Sanjō Avenue, from which he acquired the nicknames Sanjō and Mikohidari.
At the height of his career, immediately before his death, he held the position of Provisional Senior Counselor and the Senior Second Rank. On the 25th day of the tenth month of Kōhei 7 he took the tonsure as a result of illness. He died shortly thereafter, on the ninth day of the eleventh month of Kōhei 7. He was sixty years old, by Japanese reckoning.

Descendants

Nagaie was the founder of the famous Mikohadari lineage of waka poets, which included his son Tadaie, grandson Toshitada, great-grandson Shunzei and great-great-grandson Fujiwara no Teika.

Poetry

Nagaie was a patron of the poetic arts, which were seen as a key element in the education of the ruling class. He hosted poetic gatherings, including uta-awase contests and meetings for the composition of both waka and kanshi, at his residence. He participated in a number of uta-awase at the palace, notably acting as the poetic arbiter of the right team at the Kōgōgū Shunjū Uta-awase in Tengi 4.
43 of his waka were included in imperial anthologies from the Goshūi Wakashū on. He supposedly produced a kashū, but this does not survive.

Citations

Works cited