Fujiwara no Teika

59

Fujiwara no Teika : biography

1162 – September 26, 1241
Letting the radiance of his power and majesty shine forth unobscured, at the same time he amused himself with every variety of art and accomplishment. In all of these he was second to none, so that people wondered when and how he had gained such proficiency….For his part, the ex-sovereign showed an interest in every accomplishment, even those which seemed of the most trivial and insignificant kind, so that all sorts of people who had any claim to knowledge of these matters were summoned to his presence, where, it appears, they could petition freely for his favor."
  • pg 9 of Brower 1972
  • See also pg 14: "Go-Toba, on the other hand, while appreciating the need for discipline and practice, remained throughout his life the grand dilettante- man who in his own way appreciated and loved poetry, but who never ceased to regard it as a kind of elegant pastime. Such an attitude is implicit in the ex-emperor’s flitting from hobby to hobby, and it is, as his poetic treatise illustrates, at the heart of his critical differences with Teika."

Go-Toba regarded all these pursuits as hobbies, taking one up and dropping another. One of these was his support of poetry, especially the waka. Immediately after his abdication, he had announced that he would hold two poetry contests, each requiring a number of preeminent poets to compose some 100 waka in a particular thematic progression, known as the hyakushu genre of poem sequences. The first contest (Go-Toba no In shodo hyakushu – "Ex-Emperor Go-Toba’s First Hundred-Poem Sequences") was considered a crucial political nexus; if a clan’s poet did well and impressed the powerful (and youthful) Go-Toba, the clan would benefit considerably.

Another example of Teika’s calligraphy; here he has copied a portion of [[Sugawara no Takasue no musume’s Sarashina nikki]]

Teika’s diary records that he looked forward to this chance to improve himself. He was 38, and had reached middle age. While he was recognized as a talented poet, his career was stagnant; he had been in the Palace Guards of the Left for twenty years, and had not been promoted for nearly 10. He was "Lesser Commander of the Palace Guards of the Left" with little prospect of further advancement.pg 15 and 69 of Brower 1972

He had wider political problems: The influence of his patrons, the Kujōs, over the Emperors had declined drastically. Minamoto no Michichika (d. 1202) had insinuated himself into Imperial circles through Go-Toba’s former nursemaid; with this leverage, Michichika’s adopted daughter (the then Shogun’s daughter, who had decided to marry his daughter off to the Emperor, using Michichika as a go-between – contrary to the Shogun’s usual policy if favoring Kujo Kanezane. The Shogun’s lack of confidence allowed Michichika to push Go-Toba into firing Kanezane as kampaku in 1196pg 667 of Keene 1999) became Go-Toba’s concubine (making Michichika the Retired Emperor Go-Toba’s father in law), and she bore him his first heir in 1195; the shame of this usurpation led Go-Toba’s first wife, Ninshi, to retire from the court. As Ninshi was the daughter of the Kujō’s leader Kujo no Kanezane, the Kujō’s influence in court diminished considerably, even to the extent of Kanezane and Yoshitsune (d. 1206; once the regent and prime minister)pg 663 of Keene 1999 being driven from the court in 1196;pg 60 of Brower 1972 with the diminution of their influence, so dimmed Teika’s prospects. Teika expressed his disappointment through poetry, such as this example, written when he was "passed over for promotion in the spring list" in 1187 (he would eventually be promoted in 1190, but as his good and encouraging friend Saigyo died that year, it was cold comfort):

Rōmaji English
toshi furedo
kokoro no haru wa
yoso nagara
nagamenarenuru
akebono no sora
Another year gone by
And still no spring warms my heart,
It’s nothing to me
But now I am accustomed
To stare at the sky at dawn.