- Prince Ōtsu
Nihongo|Prince Ōtsu|大津皇子|Ōtsu-Ōji|663–
25 October 686 – the third day of the tenth month of "Shuchō 1" was a Japanese poet and the son ofEmperor Temmu byPrincess Ōta whose father wasEmperor Tenji . He was therefore the younger full-blood brother ofPrincess Ōku . His consort wasPrincess Yamanobe , daughter of Emperor Tenji, thus his cousin. His life is known from the "Nihon Shoki ", and his personality such poetry anthologies as "Kaifūsō " and "Man'yōshū ".As a poet, Ōtsu is best known for the letters he exchanged with Lady IshikawaFact|date=March 2007 .
Prince Ōtsu was a popular and able figure who was a likely successor of his father to the imperial throne, but was forced to commit suicide after false charges of rebellion were laid against him by
Empress Jitō in order to promote her own son,Prince Kusakabe , to the position of crown prince.Poem sent by Prince Ōtsu to Lady Ishikawa
Gentle foothills, and
in the dew drops of the mountains
soaked, I waited for you –
grew wet from standing there
in the dew drops of the mountains.Farewell poem
Momozutau / iware no ike ni / naku kamo wo / kyo nomi mite ya / Kumokakuri nan. Today, taking my last sight of the mallards Crying on the pond of Iware, Must I vanish into the clouds! Influence
Japanese poet and scholar
Shinobu Orikuchi featured a fictionalised version of Prince Ōtsu in his novel "Sisha no Sho" ("The Book of the Dead", also made into a film byKihachirō Kawamoto ) as a restless ghost of kept on Earth by the memory of a young woman whose gaze he connected with just prior to his death.
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