, an

imperial prince Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (, , cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised by the Holy Roman Emperor. Definition Originally, possessors of the princely title bore it as immediate vassal ...

(the eighth son of

Emperor Godaigo Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇 ''Go-Daigo-tennō'') (26 November 1288 – 19 September 1339) was the 96th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')後醍醐天皇 (96) retrieved 2013-8-28. according to the traditional order o ...

) and a poet of the

Nijō poetic school The refers to descendants of Fujiwara no Tameie's eldest son, Nijō Tameuji (1222–86). The family name took after Nijō district of Kyoto where the family had resided. This hereditary house of Japanese waka poetry is generally known for its con ...

Nanboku-chō period The , also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period, was a period in Japanese history between 1336-1392 CE, during the formative years of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate. Ideologically, the two courts fought for 50 ...

, mostly known for his compilation of the ''

Shin'yō Wakashū The is a Nanboku-chō period collection of Japanese poetry compiled by Munenaga Shinnō ca. 1381. Although commissioned by Emperor Chōkei (r. 1368-83) of the Southern Court, it is not included in the '' Nijūichidaishū'', i.e., the twenty-one ...

''. His mother was the poet Nijō Tameko. Prince Munenaga led a turbulent life, which quite likely served as an impetus for his poetic sensibility. In 1326 he took tonsure as a

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...

priest on

Mount Hiei is a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto, lying on the border between the Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures, Japan. The temple of Enryaku-ji, the first outpost of the Japanese Tendai (Chin. Tiantai) sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mount Hiei by ...

and swiftly advanced in his studies of the Buddhist doctrine. In 1330 Prince Munenaga became the head priest of

school, but was soon after banished to Sanuki in

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

for his participation in the

Genkō War The , also known as the , was a civil war fought in Japan between the Emperor Go-Daigo and the Kamakura Shogunate from 1331 to 1333. The Genkō War was named after Genkō, the Japanese era corresponding to the period of 1331 to 1334 when the wa ...

, where he had fought for his father's cause of imperial restoration. After three years of exile he marched his troops into

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

. Subsequently, when the imperial army lost to

Ashikaga Takauji also known as Minamoto no Takauji was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. ...

in 1336, Prince Munenaga took refuge on Mount Hiei with his father,

. In 1338, when one of his relatives suggested that Prince Munenaga abandon resistance and return to Kyoto, the prince replied with this poem: Thus in an elegant poetic form Prince Munenaga replied that he would not abandon his father and stayed in the mountains of Yoshino to continue the fight despite all the hardships. For the rest of his life, Prince Munenaga was at the head of resistance against the Muromachi bakufu and the

Northern Court The , also known as the Ashikaga Pretenders or Northern Pretenders, were a set of six pretenders to the throne of Japan during the Nanboku-chō period from 1336 through 1392. Even though the present Imperial House of Japan is descended from the ...

. The date of his death is uncertain, but some historians believe it to be around 1385 CE.

Notes

1311 births 1380s deaths 14th-century Japanese poets Deified Japanese men Buddhist clergy of the Kamakura period Japanese Buddhist monarchs Sons of Japanese emperors {{japan-hist-stub