Fujiwara no Teika (Fujiwara Sadaie) (1162–1241) poet. Encyclopedia of World Writers, Beginnings To 20th Century

Fujiwara no Teika was born into a family of Japanese
noblemen and poets. He was a direct descendant
of Fujiwara Michinaga, who ruled Japan from
995 to 1028. However, his family line descended
through a succession of younger sons, so his position
in the Japanese court, while respectable, was
not powerful. His father, Shunzei, was a great poet
and literary critic who compiled the seventh imperial
literary anthology, the Senzaishu, in 1183.
Fujiwara held minor court positions throughout
his life. His opportunities for advancement
through the imperial ranks were often stymied by
political intrigues or, in one case, by his own temperament,
as evidenced when he struck a court official
with a candlestick after being provoked. Still,
Fujiwara’s literary skill and his father’s favorable
reputation allowed him to achieve great fame as a
poet and critic.He wrote and taught TANKA, and he
was an accomplished essayist. For these reasons, he
was asked to compile the eighth imperial anthology,
the Shinkokinshu, by the ex-emperor Go-Toba
in 1201. Fujiwara included many of his own poems
in the collection.
Later in his life, Fujiwara began to teach young
writers about poetry. His Maigetsusho, or Monthly
Notes, was a detailed series of essays about poetic
style and sensibility. He also collected shorter anthologies
of representative poems that he used to
teach young poets by example. He advised poets
to look forward in their work and not to “become
enamored of the archaic style.” As a champion of
poetry and as a master poet, Fujiwara continues to
influence Japanese literature.
English Versions of Works by
Fujiwara no Teika
Fujiwara Teika’s Superior Poems of Our Time. Translated
by Robert H. Brower and Earl Miner. Stanford,
Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1967.
The Tale of Matsura: Fujiwara Teika’s Experiment in
Fiction. Translated by Wayne P. Lammers. Ann
Arbor,Mich.: Center for Japanese Studies, 1992.

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