Uma no Naishi

Uma no Naishi (馬内侍, 949 - 1011) was a Japanese Waka poet and noble from the middle Heian period. She is enumerated as one of the Thirty-Six Female Immortals of Poetry alongside famous authors, poets, and contemporaries Sei Shōnagon and Murasaki Shikibu.

Naishi, as a contemporary and follower of Shōnagon,[1] was a lady of the same court in Heian period Japan, and bettered her knowledge of Waka poetry through her connection to Shōnagon, who was famously known for her Waka poetry as well as her novel of courtly observations, The Pillow Book (枕草子makura no sōshi). Shōnagon was a notorious rival of fellow Immortal of Poetry, Murasaki Shikibu, author of The Tale of Genji.

Her poems are included in the Japanese imperial poetry anthology Shūi Wakashū. She also has a personal collection entitled Uma no Naishi-shū (馬内侍集).

At some point in her life, she had a love affair with Major Captain of the Left Asamitsu, writing a poem for him. Of the Waka poems she wrote, only three have survived into modernity. Near the end of her life, Naishi took Buddhist vows and withdrew to a temple to serve as a monk.

Writing
いかなれば知らぬにおふるうき蓴苦しや心人知れずのみ[2]
ikanareba

siranu ni oFuru uki nunaFa kurusi ya kokoro Fito sirezu nomi

 Why is that

All unnoticed grows

A floating water shield?

How pained is a heart

That no one knows at all...

うつろふは下葉ばかりと見しほどにやがても秋になりにけるかな[3]
utsuroFu Fa

sitaba bakari to

misi Fodo ni

yagate mo aki ni

narinikeru kana

 Change has touched

The under-leaves alone –

When I saw that

At last, our autumn

Had arrived!

ちはやぶるかものやしろの神もきけ君わすれずはわれもわすれじ[4]
tiFayaburu

kamo no yasiro no kami mo kike kimi wasurezu Fa ware mo wasurezi

 Puissant

Kamo Shrine's

Deity, hear me!

If my love forsakes me not,

Then never will I forsake him!

This poem was written in response to a confession of love by Asamitsu, Major Captain of the Left.[4]

References
  1. "Uma No Naishi (fl. 10th c.) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  2. "GSIS XI: 606 | Waka Poetry". www.wakapoetry.net. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  3. "SIS XIII: 840 | Waka Poetry". www.wakapoetry.net. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  4. "SZS XV: 909 | Waka Poetry". www.wakapoetry.net. Retrieved 2018-10-17.


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