Early Women Writers

Lady Ise (Ise no Miyasudokoro)

Heian-kyo (modern day Kyoto)

875 - after 938

Lady Ise was the daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage, a mid-ranking official. Ise entered into service at court when her father was governor of the province of Ise and consequently inherited her name. She was regarded as one of the foremost masters of the waka form during her lifetime; twenty-two of her poems were included in the Kokin Wakashu. [Source:Mulhern, Chieko Irie. Japanese Women Writers: a Bio-critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.]

Ise Shu, Poetry

Japanese

Poetry

Sato, Hiroaki. Japanese Women Poets: An Anthology. New York: Routledge, 2015. ; McCullough, Helen C, tr. Kokin Wakashu: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1985 ; Sato, Hiroaki and Burton Watson, eds. and tr. From the Country of Eight Islands. New York: Columbia UP, 1986.