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mid-Heian period · 995–1045Fujiwara no Sadayori

藤原定頼(ふじわらのさだより)

A mid-Heian nobleman and poet, eldest son of Fujiwara no Kintō, who rose to Provisional Middle Counselor. He inherited his father's gifts in poetry, music and calligraphy and was admired for his sutra-chanting voice. He is remembered for teasing Koshikibu no Naishi about her mother writing her poems, only to be silenced by her brilliant retort. He also exchanged poems with the poet Sagami. One of the Late Classical Thirty-Six Immortals, he has about forty-five poems in imperial anthologies. His Hyakunin Isshu poem describes fishing weirs emerging from the dawn mist on the Uji River.

Poems by Fujiwara no Sadayori

1 poem

Hyakunin Isshu No. 64 Senzai Wakashū

朝ぼらけ 宇治の川霧 たえだえに
あらはれわたる 瀬々の網代木

At daybreak, as the mist over the Uji River lifts in patches, the fishing stakes set in the shallows appear one after another.

Hyakunin IsshuSenzai WakashūWinterAdmirationUji River (Kyoto)

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