Ono no Komachi
Ono no Komachi (Japanese小野 小 町; * ca 825, † 900 ) was a great Japanese poet. Ono is one of the six best waka poets of the early Heian period, and the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry. It was regarded as exceptionally beautiful and became a symbol of feminine beauty in Japan.
Life and Legend
Ono's place of birth and place of death are not known for sure. A tradition reports that she was in the area of today's Akita Prefecture, the daughter of Yoshisada, a district manager of Dewa, was born. It could be that she has lived at the court of Emperor Nimmyō (reigned 833-850 ).
A legend about a relationship with the high- courtier Fukakusa no Shosho reported Ono had promised him that she would his mistress, when he would visit a hundred nights. Fukakusa no Shosho she attended to the last, in which he was held every night. In desperation, he became ill and died. When Ono learned of this, she was overwhelmed with grief.
Work
Ono wrote extremely dense and complex love poems in waka form. Eighteen of their songs the Kokin shū are in the first imperial anthology, comprised of Emperor Uda. According Kokin shū to Ono's style through " naivety in the old sense " distinguished. The translation of Ono's work is extremely difficult, as they masterfully words with multiple meanings used so that their poems, depending on which word meaning is assumed to arise entirely different meaning. In order to fully reproduce a poem, several translations have to be specified. The following example comes from the Kokin - Shuu:
" The lovely color the flower is gone, destroyed by the falling rain. While I, pointless the days verlebend, the view entschweifen let into the void. "
In the second imperial collection of poems, the Gosenshū, Ono's four poems are included. Most of her works deal of anxiety, loneliness, and hot-blooded love. Even dreams are a recurring motif. Flowers and petals they used repeatedly as a metaphor for transience.
Effect
Ono appears frequently in Japanese literature, such as in the five Noh plays: Sotoba Komachi (卒 都 婆 小 町), Sekidera Komachi (关 寺 小 町), Komachi Uta arasoi (小町 歌 争い), Komachi Soshi (小 町 草纸) Kayoi Komachi (通 小 町). These works look at Ono's poems and love stories. Ono was also portrayed as an old, withered woman, abandoned by her lovers living as a beggar and is revered yet simultaneously young lovers of her poems. These legends are influenced by Buddhist thought.
Fujiwara no Teika used one of their 31 -syllable poems as an introduction to his, became known by the card game Uta- Garuta, anthology of waka poems Hyakunin Isshu.
In her honor received the high-speed rail line Akita Shinkansen Komachi the nickname. Named after her were still the Akita Komachi rice, as well as a limited edition of the camera Olympus E- 420th
The British-Australian composer Vivienne Olive named the chamber music piece ... is the flower of the heart of man ... from 1985 for bass flute on a poem by Ono no Komachi.
Ono is namesake for the modern one-woman play Call Me Komachi, written by Christie Nieman. Call Me Komachi was performed in the years 2003 to 2006 to actress Kaori Hamamoto successful in Australia. The piece compares the life of traditional Geishas with Enjokōsai, go out in the present-day Japanese schoolgirls with older men and accept this gift.
Swell
- Jane Hirshfield, Mariko Aratani: The Ink Dark Moon. Love Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Court of Japan. Vintage Books, New York, 1990, ISBN 0-6797-2958-5.