Fujiwara no Shunzei
Fujiwara no Toshinari or Shunzei was a Japanese poet, courtier, and Buddhist monk of the late Heian period. He was also known by his monastic name Shakua and when younger as Akihiro. He was noted for his innovations in the waka poetic form and compiling the Senzai Wakashū, the seventh imperial anthology of waka poetry.
Early life
Fujiwara no Shunzei was born in 1114. He was a descendant of the statesman Fujiwara no Michinaga and son of of the of the influential aristocratic and poetic Fujiwara clan. His father died when he was ten years old and he was adopted by. As Akiyori's adopted son, he took the name Akihiro, but in 1167, when he was 53, he returned to the house he had been born into and took the name Toshinari.Career
Shunzei attained at the imperial court the post of Kōtai Gōgū-daibu and held the Senior Third Rank.He was commissioned in 1183 to compile the Senzai Wakashū, the seventh imperial anthology of waka poetry, by the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, who despite Shunzei's low rank, admired him. Go-Shirakawa's trust in Shunzei is significant, as imperial anthologies were landmarks in the poetic circles of the court, second to no other events in significance; poets were willing to risk their lives just for the chance to have a poem included.
The Tale of the Heike relates that Shunzei was compiling the Senzai Wakashū during the Genpei War, and that Taira no Tadanori, who was on the opposing side, ventured into enemy territory to Shunzei's residence, asking him to include a particular poem of his. Tadanori then managed to successfully escape back to his own forces without being apprehended. Shunzei eventually did decide to include Tadanori's poem, but attributed it to "Anonymous".
Poetry
As Shunzei's father and grandfather and a number of other relatives were all men of literature and poetry, he began writing and composing poetry at a young age. He tended to hew to an older style of poetry such as that seen in the Man'yōshū and even wrote his first poetic commentary on Man'yōshū—''Man'yōshū Jidaikō—but he also drew upon recently imported and translated Tang dynasty Chinese poetry.From a literary criticism perspective, he notably was an early supporter of the Tale of Genji'', and after his 30s and 40s, he was especially known for his criticism and judgments at various poetry gatherings and contests, where he favored poems that displayed his preferred poetic style of yugen. His style was sometimes summarized as "old diction, new treatment". He wrote that poems "should somehow... produce an effect of both charm and of mystery and depth. If it is a good poem, it will possess a kind of atmosphere distinct from its words and their configuration and yet accompanying them." An example:
His style was disciplined, determinedly sensitive and emotional. The poet Shinkei wrote the following about his composition of poetry: