Lady Ise

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Lady Ise (伊勢 or 伊勢の御息所 Ise no miyasudokoro (ca.875-ca.938)[1]) was a female Japanese poet in the Imperial court's waka tradition. Her grandfather Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu was also an important waka poet. 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 Kokin Wakashū.

[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.