- Ariwara no Narihira
Ariwara no Narihira (在原業平,
825 -July 9 ,880 ) was aJapan ese wakapoet andaristocrat . He was one of six waka poets referred in the preface inkana to "Kokin Wakashū " byKi no Tsurayuki , and has been named as the hero of "The Tales of Ise ", whose hero was an anonym in itself but most of whose love affairs could be attributed to Narihira.He was the fifth son of Prince Abo, a son of
Emperor Heizei . His mother Princess Ito was a daughter ofEmperor Kammu , so he was therefore linked to Emperor Kammu by both maternal and paternal lineage. Along with his other brothers, he was relegated to civilian life, receiving a new clan name, Ariwara.Although he belonged to the noblest lineage, his political life was not prominent, especially under the reign of
Emperor Montoku . During the thirteen years of the Emperor's reign, Narihira was not raised to a higher rank within the court. This setback was supposedly caused by a scandal involving him andFujiwara no Takaiko , an imperial consort or another loyal lady. Both love affairs were referred to in "The Tales of Ise".As a waka poet, his thirty waka were included in "
Kokin Wakashū ". Traditionally he was considered the model for the hero of "Tales of Ise", which contains many of his waka, although not all waka in it were his works and some of its episodes can hardly belong to his real life. Thanks to a reference to him in the preface of "Kokin Wakashū" he is listed as one of theSix best Waka poets and also one of theThirty-six Poetry Immortals .He has been traditionally regarded as the epitome of the "beau homme" in the Japanese culture. It is believed he was one of the men who inspired
Murasaki Shikibu when she createdHikaru Genji , the hero of theTale of Genji , especially in the aspects of her story concerning forbidden love between a high ranked woman and a member of the court.External links
*cite book | author=Trans.
Helen Craig McCullough | title=Tales of Ise: Lyrical Episodes from 10th Century Japan | publisher=Stanford University Press | year=1968 | id=ISBN 0-8047-0653-0
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