Ono no Komachi drawn by Kikuchi Yosai

Ono no Komachi (from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu)

Ono no Komachi (小野 小町 おののこまち approximate dates 825–900 A.D.) was a famous Japanese Waka poet, one of the Rokkasen—Six best Waka poets, in the early Heian period. She was noted as a rare beauty; Komachi is a symbol of a beautiful woman in Japan. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (867x1012, 389 KB) Ono no Komachi (小野 小町,825–900 A.D.) was a famous Japanese Waka poet, one of the Rokkasen—Six best Waka poets, in the early Heian period. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (867x1012, 389 KB) Ono no Komachi (小野 小町,825–900 A.D.) was a famous Japanese Waka poet, one of the Rokkasen—Six best Waka poets, in the early Heian period. ... Kikuchi Yōsai, self-portrait. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Categories: Japan-related stubs | Poetry anthology | Japanese literature | Japanese poetry ... Waka (和歌) or Yamato uta is a genre of Japanese poetry. ... The six most well known Waka poets (六歌仙 Rokkasen) were selected poets of Waka in the early Heian period. ... The following text needs to be harmonized with text in the article History of Japan#Heian Period. ...

Life and legends

The place of Komachi's birth and death is uncertain. According to one tradition, she was born in what is now Akita Prefecture, daughter of Yoshisada, "Lord of Dewa"^[1]. Her social status is also uncertain. She may have been a low-ranking consort or a lady-in-waiting of an emperor, possibly Emperor Nimmyō (r. 833-850). Akita Prefecture ) is located in the Tōhoku Region of northern Japan. ... Emperor Nimmyō (仁明天皇 Ninmyō Tennō) (810– March 21, 850) was the 54th imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. ... Events End of the reign of caliph Al-Mamun Nimmyo succeeds Junna as emperor of Japan Creation of Great Moravia Births Deaths October 10 - al-Mamun, Abbasid caliph of Baghdad Categories: 833 ... Events April 20 - Guntherus becomes Bishop of Cologne. ...

As a poet, Komachi specialized in erotic love themes, expressed in complex poems.^[2] Most of her waka are about anxiety, solitude or passionate love. She is the only female poet referred to in the preface of the Kokin Wakashū, which describes her style as "containing naivety in old style but also delicacy". Waka (和歌) or Yamato uta is a genre of Japanese poetry. ... The Kokin Waka ShÅ« ), usually abbreviated as KokinshÅ« ), is an early Heian waka Imperial anthology, conceived by Emperor Uda (r. ...

There are legends about Komachi in love. The most famous is a story about her relationship with Fukakusa no Shosho, a high-ranking courtier. Komachi promised that if he visited her continuously for a hundred nights, then she would become his lover. Fukakusa no Shosho visited her every night, but failed once towards the end. Despairing, he fell ill and subsequently died. When Komachi learned of his death she was overcome with sadness.

Ono no Komachi as an old woman, a woodcut by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Download high resolution version (662x954, 104 KB)Tsukioka Yoshitoshi; 100 Aspects of the Moon #7, Gravemarker Moon - The famous poetess Ono no Komachi meditates on the arrogance and heartlessness she displayed to her suitors as a young beauty; 1886, third month. ... Download high resolution version (662x954, 104 KB)Tsukioka Yoshitoshi; 100 Aspects of the Moon #7, Gravemarker Moon - The famous poetess Ono no Komachi meditates on the arrogance and heartlessness she displayed to her suitors as a young beauty; 1886, third month. ... Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839 - June 9, 1892) (Japanese: 月岡 芳年; also named Taiso Yoshitoshi 大蘇　芳年) was the last great master - and one of the great innovative and creative geniuses - of the Japanese woodblock print. ...

Legacy

Komachi sometimes features in later period literature, including three^[1] Noh plays, Sotoba Komachi and Komachi at Sekidera. These works tend to focus on her talent for waka and her love affairs and the vanity of a life spent indulging in romantic liaisons. Komachi's old age is also frequently protrayed: when she has lost her beauty, has been abandoned by her former lovers, and now regrets her life, wandering around as a lonely beggar woman^[1]. This is a fictional description influenced by Buddhist thought and there may be no factual resemblance between this portrait and the historical reality. Noh performance at Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Hiroshima Noh or Nō (Japanese: 能) is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. ... Komachi at Sekidera (Japanese: Sekidera Komachi) is a Noh play by Zeami Motokiyo. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by...

In honor of her, the Akita Shinkansen is nicknamed Komachi. Also, a variety of rice, Akita Komachi, bears her name. One of her 31-syllable poems was chosen by Fujiwara no Teika as an entry in the very popular anthology Hyakunin Isshu. Komachi at Omagari station. ... Monument to Fujiwara no Teika, Ogura, Kyoto Fujiwara no Teika or Sadaie (藤原定家: 1162–September 26, 1241) was a Japanese waka poet, critic, carigrapher, scribe and scholar of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. ... Monument commemorating 700th anniversary of Teikas death The Hyakunin Isshu (百人一首) is an anthology of waka poems. ...

Ono no Komachi is also the subject of a modern one-woman play, Call Me Komachi, produced by Lemon Tart Productions, written by Christie Nieman, directed by Miki Oikawa and starring Kaori Hamamoto. Call Me Komachienjoyed successful seasons at various venues in Australia from 2003 to 2006. The play compares and parallels the lives of traditional Geisha with contemporary Japanese schoolgirls in sponsored relationships, known as "Enjo kōsai". Enjo kōsai ), defined literally as supported dating but often used as a euphemism for prostitution, [1], is a practice in Japan where high school-aged girls are paid by older men to accompany them on dates and sometimes to render sexual services. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} 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.
2. ^ "Her beauty may be legendary but her rank as one of the greatest erotic poets in any language is not. Her poems begin the extreme verbal complexity which distinguishes the poetry of the Kokinshū Anthology from the presentational immediacy of the Man'yōshū. 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.

• Hirshfield, Jane, and Mariko Aratani, translators,The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Court of Japan, New York, Vintage Books, 1990