Ki no Tsurayuki

Ki no Tsurayuki (Japanese纪 贯 之; * 872, † 945 ) was a Japanese writer, poet and courtier.

Life

Tsurayuki was the son of Ki no Mochiyuki. He was a waka poet in the 890 years. 905 he was one of the Daigo- tennō command to the four poets who gathered the Kokin - Wakashū, an anthology of poetry.

After having held several offices in Kyoto, he was appointed provincial governor of Tosa province and remained 930-935 there. Later, he was probably placed in the province of Suo, as a record of waka party that he has kept in his house in Suo, has been handed down.

He is famous for his waka and is in Japan, regarded as one of the 36 immortals of poetry, selected by Fujiwara no Kinto. He was also known as one of the editors of the Kokin - Wakashū. Tsurayuki wrote one of the two prefaces to this work, the second is written in Chinese. Its preface was the first critical essay on Waka. He dealt with the history of Waka from the mythological origin to the waka its time. He arranged them in a genre, referring to a number of important poets and criticized his predecessor, as Ariwara no Narihira pretty harsh.

His Waka is included in the important Japanese poetry anthology Hyakunin Isshu, which was compiled long after his death in the 13th century.

Works

In addition to the Kokin - Wakashū and his foreword was Tsurayukis literary masterpiece, the Tosa Nikki ( Tosa Diary ), which was written anonymously and in Hiragana characters. At the beginning of the diary he pretended to be a woman, but the content suggests that the author was male. The text describes a return trip from the province of Tosa to Kyoto in 935, where Tsurayuki provincial governor had been.

Tosa nikki was written in Hiragana, usually the " uneducated " and " female " Hiragana not used in a time when men and Kanji preferred. However, he chose this expression because the central theme of the diary was not the journey, but the grief over the death of his daughter in Tosa. At the beginning of the text you death is not mentioned and scenes of the trip are described in a comic, half - serious way. Later in the text the girl died and the funeral is introduced via their absence. Tosa nikki is the oldest surviving diary at Cana. It is considered to be exceptionally well written work and had strong influence on later written in the style of a diary works.

There is an anthology of waka Tsurayukis called Tsurayuki shū. He probably put this together yourself. Some of his works were also included in other large waka anthologies Kokin - like Shuu and other collections created on imperial order. In the three oldest of the imperial waka anthologies he was one of the most popular waka poet.

His name is mentioned in the works of Genji as a Waka - master. In this story of Uda tennō orders him and a number of female poets to write Waka on door panels.