Michitsuna's Mother
Item
Author
Michitsuna's Mother
Location
Heian-kyo (modern day Kyoto)
Dates
936-995
Biography
Michitsuna's Mother was a member of the Fujiwara family and the daughter of a mid-ranking court official. Her poetry was widely read and admired during her lifetime and has featured prominently in anthologies since. The Kagero Nikki, a mixed-style memoir containing more than two-hundred and fifty poems and a frank, emotional account of Michitsuna's relationship with her husband, was one of the first female-authored texts taken up by national learning scholars in the Edo period. [Source:Mulhern, Chieko Irie. Japanese Women Writers: a Bio-critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.]
Works
Kagero Nikki (The Gossamer Years, The Mayfly Diary), poetry
Languages
Japanese
Genres
Diary/Memoir, Poetry
Editions and Translations
Seidensticker, Edward. tr. "The Kagero Nikki: Journal of a 10th Century Noblewoman." Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. Third Series (June 1955): 1-243.
