Izumi Shikibu

and her father's official designation of nihongo|master of ceremony|式部|shikibu. Their daughter Koshikibu no Naishi was also a gifted poet. Izumi Shikibu accompanied Michisada to the provinces for a time, but found life there disagreeable and returned to the capital.

Izumi Shikibu had a sequence of affairs at the court in the capital. In the beginning, before her marriage to Michisada, she is believed to have been the companion (some accounts say wife) of a man named Omotomaru at dowager Queen Shoko's court. While still married to Michisada, she fell madly in love with Emperor Reizei's third son, Prince Tametaka (977–1002) and had a public affair; as a result of the scandal she was divorced by her husband and disinherited by her father. That Tametaka died because he visited Shikibu during the plague season became the prevailing mythology of this affair.

After Tametaka's death, she was courted by Prince Atsumichi (981–1007), a half brother of Tametaka. The first year of this affair is described in the semi-autobiographical novel nihongo|Diary of Izumi Shikibu|和泉式部日記|izumi shikibu nikki; like many nihongo|Diaries|日記|nikki of this period, the narration in "Izumi Shikibu Nikki" is in the third person, and parts of it are certainly fiction. It is believed that Shikibu's motive in writing this diary was partly to explain her affair to her fellow courtiers. Like before with Tametaka, this affair also soon ceased to be secret, and Atsumichi's real wife left his house in anger. Shikibu moved into Atsumichi's residence, and the two had a very public courtship until Atsumichi's death in 1007 at the age of 27.

The following year, Izumi Shikibu went to the court of Fujiwara no Shoshi, the daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga and the Empress Ichijo. "Izumi Shikibu Nikki" was actually written around this time, along with most of her important work that is present in the nihongo|Izumi Shikibu Collection|和泉式部集|izumi shikibu shū and the Imperial anthologies. Her life of love and passion earned her the nick name of nihongo|The Floating Lady|浮かれ女|ukarejo from Michinaga. Indeed, her poetry is characterised by overflowing passion and overwhelming sentimental appeal. Her style was the direct opposite of that of Akazome Emon, even though both served in the same court and were close friends. At the court she also nursed a growing rivalry with Murasaki Shikibu, who had a similar poetic style, though this rivalry pales in comparison with Murasaki Shikibu's spirited competition with Sei Shōnagon. Izumi Shikibu's emotional poetry won her the praise of many at the court, including Fujiwara no Kinto.

While at the court, she married Fujiwara no Yasumasa, a military commander under Michinaga famous for his bravery, and left the court to accompany him to his charge in Tango Province. She is said to have lived long, outliving her daughter Koshikibu no Naishi, but the year of her death is unknown. The last Imperial correspondence from her was in 1033.

In contemporary arts, the National Opera of Paris and the Grand Theater of Geneva jointly commissioned an opera based on her poems. Titled “Da Gelo a Gelo” by Salvatore Sciarrino and sung in Italian, the work draws on 65 poems from "Izumi Shikibu Nikki" that features her passion for Prince Atsumichi. It was performed in early 2008 by the Grand Theater of Geneva with the Chamber Orchestra of Geneva.

Poetry examples

• Shikibu's love poems are full of startling imagery.waka
  刈藻かき臥猪の床のゐを安み|さこそねざらめ斯らずもがな
  reading = karu mo kaki fusu wi no toko no wi wo yasumi sa koso nezarame kakarazu mo gana
  translation = loosely: Trampling the dry grass the wild boar makes his bed, and sleeps. I would not sleep so soundly even were I without these feelings.
  source = Goshūi Wakashū 14:821waka
  黒髪のみだれて知らず打臥せば|まづかきやりし人ぞ戀しき
  reading = kurogami no midarete shirazu uchifuseba madzu kakiyarishi hito zo kohishiki
  translation = loosely: My black hair is unkempt; unconcerned, he lies down and first gently smooths it, my darling!
  source = Goshūi Wakashū 13:755(A man willing to smooth the unkempt long hair of a Heian noblewoman must have been very affectionate indeed.)
• A large number of Shikibu's poems are nihongo|poems of lamentation|哀傷哥|aishō no uta. A few examples, first to Tametaka:waka
  亡人のくる夜ときけど君もなし|我が住む宿や魂無きの里
  reading = naki hito no kuru yo to kikedo kimi mo nashi wa ga sumu yado ya tamanaki no sato
  translation = loosely: They say the dead return tonight, but you are not here. Is my dwelling truly a house without spirit?
  source = Goshūi Wakashū 10:575Upon seeing her daughter Koshikibu no Naishi's name on her Imperial robes she received after her death:waka
  諸共に苔のしたには朽ちずして|埋もれぬ名をみるぞ悲しき
  reading = morotomo ni koke no shita ni ha kuchizu shite udzumorenu na wo miru zo kanashiki
  translation = loosely: Beneath the moss, imperishable, her name of high renown: seeing it is a great sadness.
  source = Kin'yō Wakashū 10:620

References

*cite book
author = Edwin Cranston
title = Izumi Shikibu
work = Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan
publisher = Kodansha
*cite book
author = Earl Miner
coauthors = Hiroko Odagiri; and Robert E. Morrell
title = The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature
year = 1985
publisher = Princeton University Press
pages = 170–171
id = ISBN 0-691-06599-3
*cite book
author = Shuichi Kato
title = A History of Japanese Literature
year = 1995
month = October
publisher = Kodansha
id = ISBN 1-873410-48-4
*cite book
author = Chieko Mulhern (ed.)
title = Japanese Women Writers: A Bio-critical Sourcebook
publisher = Greenwood Press
year = 1994
*cite journal
author = Janet Walker
title = Poetic Ideal and Fictional Reality in the "Izumi Shikibu nikki"
journal = Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
volume = 37
month = June
year = 1977
pages = 135–182
doi = 10.2307/2718668
*cite book
author = Edwin Cranston (trans.)
title = The Izumi Shikibu Diary
publisher = Harvard University Press
year = 1969

External links

*cite web
title = "Izumi Shikibu Nikki" online
url = http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/izumi/shikibu/index.html
publisher = [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/index.html University of Virginia Library Japanese Text Initiative]
accessdate = 2006-07-07