Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry


The Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry are a group of Japanese poets of the Asuka, Nara, and Heian periods selected by Fujiwara no Kintō as exemplars of Japanese poetic ability. The oldest surviving collection of the 36 poets' works is Nishi Honganji Sanju-rokunin Kashu of 1113. Similar groups of Japanese poets include the Kamakura period Nyōbō Sanjūrokkasen, composed by court ladies exclusively, and the Chūko Sanjūrokkasen, or Thirty-Six Heian-era Immortals of Poetry, selected by . This list superseded an older group called the Six Immortals of Poetry.
Sets of portraits of the group were popular in Japanese painting and later woodblock prints, and often hung in temples.

Kintō's Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry

  1. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
  2. Ki no Tsurayuki
  3. Ōshikōchi Mitsune
  4. Lady Ise
  5. Ōtomo no Yakamochi
  6. Yamabe no Akahito
  7. Ariwara no Narihira
  8. Henjō
  9. Sosei
  10. Ki no Tomonori
  11. Sarumaru no Taifu
  12. Ono no Komachi
  13. Fujiwara no Kanesuke
  14. Fujiwara no Asatada
  15. Fujiwara no Atsutada
  16. Fujiwara no Takamitsu
  17. Minamoto no Kintada
  18. Mibu no Tadamine
  19. Saigū no Nyōgo
  20. Ōnakatomi no Yorimoto
  21. Fujiwara no Toshiyuki
  22. Minamoto no Shigeyuki
  23. Minamoto no Muneyuki
  24. Minamoto no Saneakira
  25. Fujiwara no Kiyotada
  26. Minamoto no Shitagō
  27. Fujiwara no Okikaze
  28. Kiyohara no Motosuke
  29. Sakanoue no Korenori
  30. Fujiwara no Motozane
  31. Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu
  32. Fujiwara no Nakafumi
  33. Taira no Kanemori
  34. Mibu no Tadami
  35. Kodai no Kimi
  36. Nakatsukasa

    Thirty-Six Female Immortals of Poetry

Nyōbō Sanjūrokkasen, composed in the Kamakura period, refers to thirty-six female immortals of poetry:
  1. Ono no Komachi
  2. Ise
  3. Nakatsukasa
  4. Kishi Joō
  5. Ukon
  6. Fujiwara no Michitsuna no Haha
  7. Uma no Naishi
  8. Akazome Emon
  9. Izumi Shikibu
  10. Kodai no Kimi
  11. Murasaki Shikibu
  12. Koshikibu no Naishi
  13. Ise no Taifu
  14. Sei Shōnagon
  15. Daini no Sanmi
  16. Takashina no Kishi
  17. Yūshi Naishinnō-ke no Kii
  18. Sagami
  19. Shikishi Naishinnō
  20. Kunai-kyō
  21. Suō no Naishi
  22. Fujiwara no Toshinari no Musume
  23. Taikenmon'in no Horikawa
  24. Gishūmon'in no Tango
  25. Kayōmon'in no Echizen
  26. Nijō In no Sanuki
  27. Kojijū
  28. Go-Toba-in no Shimotsuke
  29. Ben no Naiji
  30. Go-Fukakusa In no Shōshōnaishi
  31. Inpumon'in no Tayū
  32. Tsuchimikado In no Kosaishō
  33. Hachijō-in Takakura
  34. Fujiwara no Chikako
  35. Shikikenmon'in no Mikushige
  36. Sōhekimon'in no Shōshō

    New Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry

There are at least two groups of Japanese poets called New Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry:
The term usually refers to the second:
  1. Emperor Go-Toba
  2. Emperor Tsuchimikado
  3. Emperor Juntoku
  4. Emperor Go-Saga
  5. Prince Masanari of Rokujō-no-Miya
  6. Prince Munetaka of Kamakura-no-Miya
  7. Prince Dōjonyūdō
  8. Prince Shikishi
  9. Kujō Yoshitsune
  10. Kujō Michiie
  11. Saionji Kintsune
  12. Koga Michiteru
  13. Saionji Saneuji
  14. Minamoto no Sanetomo
  15. Kujō Motoie
  16. Fujiwara no Ieyoshi
  17. Jien
  18. Gyōi
  19. Minamoto no Michitomo
  20. Fujiwara no Sadaie
  21. Hachijō-in Takakura
  22. Shunzei's Daughter
  23. Go-Toba-in Kunaikyō
  24. Sōheki Mon'in no Shōshō
  25. Fujiwara no Tameie
  26. Asukai Masatsune
  27. Fujiwara no Ietaka
  28. Fujiwara no Tomoie
  29. Fujiwara no Ariie
  30. Hamuro Mitsutoshi
  31. Fujiwara no Nobuzane
  32. Minamoto no Tomochika
  33. Fujiwara no Takasuke
  34. Minamoto no Ienaga
  35. Kamo no Chōmei
  36. Fujiwara no Hideyoshi

    Late Classical Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry