Lady Ise

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Lady Ise (or Ise no miyasudokoro (ca.875-ca.938)[1]) was a female Japanese poet in the Imperial court's waka tradition. She was born the Fujiwara no Tsugikage of Ise, and eventually became the lover of the Prince Atsuyoshi and a concubine to Emperor Uda; her son by him was Prince Yuki-Akari.^[1]

Her poems were emblamatic of the changing styles of the time, and 173[2] of them were included in the revolutionary Kokinshu.

[edit] Quote

Hanging from the branches of a green
Willow tree,
The spring rain
Is a
Thread of pearls. (Composed on the topic "Thread of Pearls"[3])

Even for a time
Short as a piece of the reeds
In Naniwa's marsh,
We must never meet again:
Is this what you are asking me? -(from the Hyakunin Isshu)

[edit] References

^ pg 141 of Woman poets of Japan, 1977, Kenneth Rexroth, Ikuko Atsumi, ISBN 0-8112-0820-6; previously published as The Burning Heart by The Seabury Press.