, also known as Ise no Tayū or Ise no Ōsuke, was a Japanese '' waka'' poet active in the later

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

(early 11th century). She is one of the later

Thirty-six Poetry Immortals The are a group of Japanese poets of the Asuka, Nara, and Heian periods selected by Fujiwara no Kintō as exemplars of Japanese poetic ability. The oldest surviving collection of the 36 poets' works is '' Nishi Honganji Sanju-rokunin Kashu ...

, and one of her poems is included in the ''

Ogura Hyakunin Isshu is a classical Japanese anthology of one hundred Japanese ''waka'' by one hundred poets. ''Hyakunin isshu'' can be translated to "one hundred people, one poem ach; it can also refer to the card game of ''uta-garuta'', which uses a deck compos ...

''. Her contemporaries include Uma no Naishi,

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, Japanese poetry#Age of Nyobo or court ladies, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial Court in Kyoto, Imperial court in the Heian period. She was best known as the author of ''The Tale of Genji'', widely considered t ...

, and

Sei Shōnagon , or , was a Japanese author, poet, and court lady who served the Empress Teishi (Sadako) around the year 1000, during the middle Heian period. She is the author of . Name Sei Shōnagon's actual given name is not known. It was the custom amon ...

. A

diptych A diptych (, ) is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by a hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world was a diptych consisting of a pair of such plates that contained a ...

of her exists i
''Nihon Meijo Banashi'' (Stories of Famous Japanese Women)
implying that although little of her work exists into modernity, she was considered a critically important figurehead of the ''waka'' poetry movement, both as a Poetry Immortal and as a woman of renown. Her grandfather,

Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu , also , was a middle Heian period Japanese nobleman and '' waka'' poet. He is designated as a member of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals,Mostow, Joshua S. (1996) Pictures of the heart : the Hyakunin isshu in word and image p. 287 https://arch ...

, was also an important ''waka'' poet. Her mother, Kura no Myobu, served

Fujiwara no Yorimichi (992–1071) was a Japanese court noble. He succeeded his father Michinaga to the position of Sesshō in 1017, and then went on to become Kampaku from 1020 until 1068. In both these positions, he acted as Regent to the Emperor, as many of his ...

, the first son of the powerful Michinaga, so she could get a support and joined to the imperial court. She became friends with Murasaki Shikibu and Izumi Shikibu. She was talented in music, so she was very popular and noble

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting (alternatively written lady in waiting) or court lady is a female personal assistant at a Royal court, court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking nobility, noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was o ...

who moreover, could write poems and songs.

Poetry

Only a few of no Taifu's poems have survived into modernity, translated in part due to Waka poetry anthologies: One of her poems was included in the ''Ogura Hyakunin Isshu'': Below is another of her poems, translated in th
Asia-Pacific Journal

References

11th-century Japanese women writers 11th-century Japanese writers Japanese women poets 11th-century Japanese poets Hyakunin Isshu poets {{japan-poet-stub