A memoir ( / ˈ m ɛ m . w ɑːr / ; from French mémoire [me.mwaʁ] , from Latin memoria 'memory, remembrance') is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiography since the late 20th century, the genre is differentiated in form, presenting a narrowed focus, usually a particular time phase in someone's life or career. A biography or autobiography tells the story "of a life", while a memoir often tells the story of a particular career, event, or time, such as touchstone moments and turning points in the author's life. The author of a memoir may be referred to as a memoirist or a memorialist .
86-454: The Sarashina Diary ( 更級日記 , Sarashina Nikki ) is a memoir written by the daughter of Sugawara no Takasue , a lady-in-waiting of Heian-period Japan. Her work stands out for its descriptions of her travels and pilgrimages and is unique in the literature of the period, as well as one of the first in the genre of travel writing. Lady Sarashina was a niece on her mother's side of Michitsuna's mother , author of another famous diary of
172-426: A bad year. Don't make fun of me! What other stratagem does a poor old man have? ( Meigetsuki , 13th day of the 10th month, 1230) Starving people collapse, and their dead bodies fill the streets. Every day the numbers increase ... The stench has gradually reached my house. Day and night alike, people go by carrying the dead in their arms, too numerous to count. ( Meigetsuki , 2nd day of the 7th month, 1231) During
258-560: A banishment that would last for more than a year; this feud distressed devotees of poetry. Possibly another a factor in this estrangement was politics – Teika had had the good fortune of being selected in 1209 as a poetry teacher to the new and young shōgun , Minamoto no Sanetomo ; the Shogunate was a rival and superior authority to that of the Emperors and the Imperial court. It was probably to
344-586: A desire to produce something that would be worthy for her family line. This desire came from her knowledge that the autobiographical writing by women around her generation had achieved fame, which assisted the careers of the writers and their family lines. Her intention is demonstrated in her text as there is evidence of careful editing, aimed to be left for literary merits. Extracts from the work are part of Japanese high school students' classical Japanese studies. The daughter of Sugawara Takasue (also known as Lady Sarashina) wrote her memoirs in her later years. She
430-592: A genre of their own, including, from the First World War , Ernst Jünger ( Storm of Steel ) and Frederic Manning 's Her Privates We . Memoirs documenting incarceration by Nazi Germany during the war include Primo Levi 's If This Is a Man , which covers his arrest as a member of the Italian Resistance Movement , followed by his life as a prisoner in Auschwitz ; and Elie Wiesel 's Night , which
516-464: A government official, and from time to time seems to have served at court. At the end of her memoirs she expresses her deep grief at her husband's death. Heian literature conventionally expresses sorrow at the shortness of life, but Lady Sarashina conveys her pain and regrets at the loss of those she has loved with passionate directness. She stopped writing at some time in her fifties and no details about her own death are known. Lady Sarashina's birth name
602-523: A letter sent to Fujiwara no Tameie , Teika's son). She and others also criticized it for apparently deliberately excluding any of the objectively excellent poems produced by the three Retired Emperors exiled in the aftermath of the Jōkyū War This absence has been variously attributed to vengefulness on the part of Teika, or simply a desire to not potentially offend the Kamakura shogunate. In 1232, Teika
688-527: A literary work of art or historical document, are emerging as a personal and family responsibility. The Association of Personal Historians was a trade association for professionals who assisted individuals, families, and organizations in documenting their life stories. It dissolved in 2017. With the expressed interest of preserving history through the eyes of those who lived it, some organizations work with potential memoirists to bring their work to fruition. The Veterans History Project , for example, compiles
774-416: A man he greatly respected (the second time Shunzei had so interceded on Teika's behalf; the first time was in 1185 when Teika had lost his temper and struck a superior – the lesser general Masayuki – with a lamp). He allowed Teika, along with two other "young" poets, Fujiwara no Ietaka (1159–1237; 1158–1237, according to Brower ), adopted son of Jakuren and pupil to Shunzei, and Takafusa (1148–1209) to enter
860-497: A number of preeminent poets to compose some 100 waka in a particular thematic progression, known as the hyakushu genre of poem sequences. The first contest ( Go-Toba In shodo hyakushu 後鳥羽院初度百首 ; "Ex-Emperor Go-Toba's First Hundred-Poem Sequences") was considered a crucial political nexus; if a clan's poet did well and impressed the powerful (and youthful) Go-Toba, the clan would benefit considerably. Teika's diary records that he looked forward to this chance to improve himself. He
946-487: A period of Reizei ascendancy under Reizei Tamehide ( 冷泉為秀 , great-grandson of Teika) (b. 1302?, d. 1372), they suffered a decline and a consequent rise in the fortunes of the Nijō, as Tamehide's son, Iametuni, became a Buddhist monk. However, the Nijō soon suffered setbacks of their own under the wastrel Nijō no Tameshige (b. 1325, d. 1385), whose promising son, Nijō no Tametō (b. 1341, d. 1381), died comparatively young, killed by
SECTION 10
#17328519988241032-528: A person. The Sarashina Diary is considered unique among other Heian diaries because dreams are an important part in her work. There are eleven dreams identified in the Sarashina Diary . Some of the dreams are: The dreams in Sarashina Nikki are believed to convey Lady Sarashina's dissatisfaction with society. It is a work that portray her personal ways of coping with her social issues of her time, that
1118-431: A reason the anniversary of his mother's death 26 years previous, in 1194. Go-Toba and his officials sent several letters to him, strongly urging him to come, and Teika eventually gave in, arriving with only two waka. The headnote to the two poems reads: Having been summoned to the palace for a poetry gathering on the thirteenth day of the second month in the second year of Shokyu [1220], I had begged to be excused because of
1204-493: A ritual defilement, it being the anniversary of my mother's death. I thought no more about it, but quite unexpectedly in the evening of the appointed day, the Archivist Iemitsu come with a letter from the ex-emperor, saying that I was not the hold back on account of the defilement, but was to come in any case. I continued to refuse, but after the ex-emperor had sent two more letters insisting on my presence, I hastily wrote down
1290-410: A romance like those described in it. When her life does not turn out as well as she had hoped, she blames her addiction to tales, which made her live in a fantasy world and neglect her spiritual growth. These records are impressive memories of Lady Sarashina's travel and dreams, and of her day-to-day life. She spent her youth living at her father's house. In her thirties she married Tachibana Toshimichi,
1376-455: A situation it is no particular distinction for me to have forty-odd [46] poems chosen, or for Ietaka to have a score or more. The Ex-Sovereign's recent decisions make it appear he is choosing men rather than poems – a questionable procedure. Teika's displeasure manifested itself in more petty ways, such as refusing to attend a banquet in 1205 (300 years after the Kokinshū was completed) celebrating
1462-406: A thing as choosing only senior poets [writes Teika about the pretext used to exclude him]. I can just see Suetsune at the bottom of this, contriving by some bribe that I be left out. It has to be Suetsune, Tsuneie, that whole family. Well, I have no regrets, for there is no possible hope for me now. But I did write in confidence to Kintsune so this may all come out eventually. He has replied that there
1548-405: A way to record and publish their own account of their public exploits. Authors included politicians or people in court society and were later joined by military leaders and businessmen. An exception to these models is Henry David Thoreau 's 1854 memoir Walden , which presents his experiences over the course of two years in a cabin he built near Walden Pond . Twentieth-century war memoirs became
1634-500: A writer might use as a memory aid to make a more finished document later on. The Sarashina Nikki is an example of an early Japanese memoir, written in the Heian period . A genre of book writing, Nikki Bungaku , emerged during this time. In the Middle Ages , Geoffrey of Villehardouin , Jean de Joinville , and Philippe de Commines wrote memoirs, while the genre was represented toward
1720-511: Is a fulfillment of all my hopes and prayers for this life and the next. Teika furiously worked for more than two weeks to complete the full sequence, and when he finally turned his Shoji hyakushu in a day late, Go-Toba was so eager he read the poems immediately. Go-Toba's personal secretary, Minamoto Ienaga, kept a diary (the Minamoto Ienaga nikki ) which eulogistically concerned itself with Go-Toba's poetic activities, and he records that it
1806-460: Is based on his life prior to and during his time in the Auschwitz, Buna Werke , and Buchenwald concentration camps. In the early 1990s, memoirs written by ordinary people experienced a sudden upsurge, as an increasing number of people realized that their ancestors' and their own stories were about to disappear, in part as a result of the opportunities and distractions of technological advances. At
SECTION 20
#17328519988241892-400: Is both a fine example of the jukkai ("personal grievances" ) genre and as Minamoto no Ienaga first pointed out, also an allusion to the poem (preserved, along with Go-Shirakawa's reply, in the Imperial anthology Senzai Wakashū ) Shunzei had sent Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa 14 years previously, imploring him to forgive Teika for striking a superior with a candlestick; "the allusion conveys
1978-476: Is most commonly understood as private daily records of events. Rather than a diary with daily entries, Sarashina Nikki recorded mainly emotional events and poetic correspondences. She also left out or did not elaborate much of the events that would be normally incorporated in a ‘diary’, such as accounts of the author's marriage, the births of her children, or her own family connections. This diary consists largely of Lady Sarashina's struggle with romance, written in
2064-494: Is remembered as a reluctant heir, in youth inclining rather to court football at the encouragement of Go-Toba than to poetry), would carry on Teika's poetic legacy. Tameie's descendants would split into three branches: the conservative elder Nijō branch (founded by Tameie's elder son, Nijō Tameuji (1222–1286); the middle branch of the Kyōgoku founded by Fujiwara no Tamenori (1226–1279), which, before it became extinct in 1332 with
2150-526: Is still room for hope." I gather that it was probably not the Emperor who decided on the rules for the hundred-poem competition. It was due entirely to the machinations of Michichika. One feels like flicking him away in disgust. Teika's appeals to the unrelenting Michichika failed, and so Shunzei stepped in with an eloquent letter (the well-known Waji sojo ; "Appeal in Japanese" – writing in Japanese as opposed to
2236-580: Is the free memoir , a form of nonfiction that, in presenting the past, deviates from factual and literal accuracy. This play of truth distinguishes the free memoir from the memoir per se, the word 'free' meaning what it does in free translation , that is, 'not literal or exact.'” The term 'memoir' is used in some academic contexts to describe an essay on a learned subject. Examples include explanatory texts accompanying geologic maps . Fujiwara no Teika Fujiwara no Sadaie ( 藤原定家 ) , better-known as Fujiwara no Teika (1162 – September 26, 1241 ),
2322-584: Is to be submerged in dreams and neglecting reality. The most authoritative copy of Sarashina Nikki is one produced by Fujiwara no Teika in the 13th century, some two hundred years after Lady Sarashina wrote the original. Teika is one of the most famous poets during his day, and he was one of the members of the committee that compiled the Shinkokinshu , and was the sole compiler of the Shinchokusenshu . He played an important role in preserving and passing on
2408-415: Is unknown, and she is called either Takasue's daughter or Lady Sarashina. Sarashina is a geographical district never mentioned in the diary, but it is alluded to, in a reference to Mount Obasute, also known as Mount Sarashina, in one of the book's poems (itself an adaptation of a more ancient poem). This, and the fact that her husband's last appointment was to the province of Shinano (Nagano), probably led to
2494-539: The Meiji era . A member of a poetic clan, Teika's father was the noted poet Fujiwara no Shunzei . After coming to the attention of the Retired Emperor Go-Toba (1180–1239; r. 1183–1198), Teika began his long and distinguished career, spanning multiple areas of aesthetic endeavor. His relationship with Go-Toba was at first cordial and led to commissions to compile anthologies, but later resulted in his banishment from
2580-473: The lute , considered an authority on traditional learning and courtly precedent, excellent at playing Go , and fond of equestrian pursuits such as horseback archery, shooting at running dogs, and swordsmanship. Go-Toba regarded all these pursuits as hobbies, taking one up and dropping another. One of these was his support of poetry, especially the waka . Immediately after his abdication, he had announced that he would hold two poetry contests, each requiring
2666-545: The Emperor, using Michichika as a go-between – contrary to the Shōgun's usual policy of favoring Kujo Kanezane. The Shōgun's lack of confidence allowed Michichika to push Go-Toba into firing Kanezane as kampaku in 1196 ) became Go-Toba's concubine (making Michichika the Retired Emperor Go-Toba's father in law), and they had his first heir in 1195. The shame of this usurpation led Go-Toba's first wife, Ninshi, to retire from
Sarashina Nikki - Misplaced Pages Continue
2752-483: The Heian texts that have come to constitute the canon of Japanese classical literature. Teika copied Lady Sarashina's work once, but his first transcription was borrowed and lost; the manuscript he worked from was itself a second-generation copy of a lost transcription. To compound the problems, sometime in the 17th century Teika's transcription was re-bound, but the binder changed the order of the original in seven places, making
2838-576: The Hosokawa estate near the capital that Tameie had left Tamesuke). It is a testament to Teika's importance that the poetic history of the next centuries is in large part a story of the battles between the rival branches; indeed, it is this rivalry that is chiefly responsible for the great number of forgeries attributed to Teika. When the Reizei lost a court case concerning possession of the Hosokawa estate Tameie had willed to Tamesuke, they were ordered to hand over
2924-530: The Imperial court, claimed it was actually a horse, and saw that more of the officials sycophantically agreed with him, rather than the emperor who pointed out that the horse was actually a stag.) Donald Keene believes that as Teika grew more important, he resented Go-Toba's peremptory use of him. In his later years, Go-Toba took issue not merely with Teika's personality, but also with his poetry, complaining of Teika's more liberal style that Teika (among other things ) "by contrast, paid no attention whatsoever to
3010-609: The Japanese Preface only existed in rough drafts and because Go-Toba would continue revising the selection of poems for some time thereafter, only releasing the final edition approximately 6 years later, sometime after the ninth month of 1210; indeed, Go-Toba would continue revising it until his death, although the later revisions are not extant). In addition, there apparently were serious personality conflicts, which lead Go-Toba to write once, after praising Teika's poetry, that: The way Teika behaved, as if he knew all about poetry,
3096-674: The Miko, were a cadet branch of the Fujiwaras, through Fujiwara no Michinaga 's sixth son, Fujiwara no Nagaie (1005–1064); the Mikohidari were themselves aligned with the more senior Kujō branch of the original Fujiwara, who opposed the Rokujō family .) Teika's grandfather was the venerable poet Fujiwara no Toshitada . His father was Fujiwara no Shunzei (1114–1204), a well known and greatly respected poet (and judge of poetry competitions), who had compiled
3182-643: The Shogunate (the Jōkyū War ) which Go-Toba had long hated; Teika's political fortunes improved in this period, as it was after Go-Toba's exile that Teika was appointed compiler of the ninth imperial anthology, the Shinchokusen Wakashū ("New Imperial Collection"; completed c. 1234). While it was a great honor, it was poorly received except by conservatives. According to Donald Keene , Shunzei's Daughter "declared that if it had not been compiled by Teika she would have refused even to take it into her hands." (From
3268-584: The ancient times, as shown by Julius Caesar 's Commentarii de Bello Gallico , also known as Commentaries on the Gallic Wars . In the work, Caesar describes the battles that took place during the nine years that he spent fighting local armies in the Gallic Wars . His second memoir, Commentarii de Bello Civili (or Commentaries on the Civil War ) is an account of the events that took place between 49 and 48 BC in
3354-431: The castle of La Ferté-Vidame . While Saint-Simon was considered a writer possessing a high level of skill for narrative and character development, it was not until well after his death that his work as a memoirist was recognized, resulting in literary fame. Over the latter half of the 18th through the mid-20th century, memoirists generally included those who were noted within their chosen profession. These authors wrote as
3440-476: The civil war against Gnaeus Pompeius and the Senate . The noted Libanius , teacher of rhetoric who lived between an estimated 314 and 394 AD, framed his life memoir as one of his literary orations , which were written to be read aloud in the privacy of his study. This kind of memoir refers to the idea in ancient Greece and Rome , that memoirs were like "memos", or pieces of unfinished and unpublished writing, which
3526-518: The contest. Teika was overjoyed at this turn of events: Early this morning came a message from Lord Kintsune that last evening the Ex-Emperor ordered my inclusion among the participants for the hundred-poem sequences.....To have been added to the list for this occasion fills me with inexpressible joy. Though they can hinder me no more, I am still convinced that the trouble was all due to the machinations of those evil men. And that it has turned out this way
Sarashina Nikki - Misplaced Pages Continue
3612-415: The court by aligning itself with the Mikohidari family, and by specializing in artistic endeavors, principally poetry. Such specialization was not unusual; branches of extended clans were not in a position to compete directly in politics with the head branch of the clan (or indeed other clans because of their junior status), but could compete in more restricted aesthetic pursuits. (The Mikohidari, also known as
3698-414: The court). While his life was marked by repeated illness and wildly shifting fortunes – only partially moderated by his father's long-lasting influence in court (Shunzei would live to the advanced age of 90), the young and poetically inclined Retired Emperor Go-Toba 's patronage lead to some of Teika's greatest successes. The Retired Emperor Go-Toba announced, in the second year of his abdication (1200,
3784-469: The court. As Ninshi was the daughter of the Kujō's leader Kujō Kanezane , the Kujō's influence in court diminished considerably, even to the extent of Kanezane and Yoshitsune (d. 1206; once the regent and prime minister) being driven from the court in 1196; with the diminution of their influence, so dimmed Teika's prospects. Teika expressed his disappointment through poetry, such as this example, written when he
3870-423: The crane still be kept apart Even from the haze of a new spring? Teika and Go-Toba would have a close and productive relationship; Teika was favored in such ways as being appointed by Go-Toba as one of the six compilers (and de facto head compiler by virtue of his dedication and force of personality in addition to his already established reputation as a poet) of the eighth Imperial Anthology of waka poetry,
3956-506: The death of Fujiwara no Tamekane , merged with the Reizei at the prompting of Nun Abutsu-ni ; and the younger, more liberal Reizei branch, founded by Tameie' younger son Fujiwara no Tamesuke (b. 1263) by Abutsu (d. circa 1283; a poet and a great diarist , especially remembered for her diary Isayoi Nikki ("Diary of the Waning Moon") chronicling her legal battles to get the Kamakura shogunate to stop Tameuji from disinheriting Tamesuke of
4042-408: The diary less valuable and more difficult for scholars to understand. In 1924, Nobutsuna Sasaki and Kōsuke Tamai, two classical literature scholars, examined the original Teika manuscript and finally discovered what had happened, leading to a reevaluation of Sarashina's work. It is from this correctly re-ordered version that all modern versions are made. Memoir Memoirs have been written since
4128-574: The end of the Renaissance , through the works of Blaise de Montluc and Margaret of Valois , that she was the first woman to write her Memoirs in modern-style. Until the Age of Enlightenment encompassing the 17th and 18th centuries, works of memoir were written by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury ; François de La Rochefoucauld , Prince de Marcillac of France; and Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon , who wrote Memoirs at his family's home at
4214-547: The esteemed Shin Kokinshū (c. 1205, "New Collection of Japanese Poetry, Ancient and Modern") which Go-Toba ordered to be written after the success of the hundred-poem sequences (which furnished a base for the collection). In order to compile it, Go-Toba had resurrected the defunct institution, the Poetry Bureau in the seventh month of 1201, with fifteen yoryudo , or "contributing members", and three added later), who participated in
4300-482: The following two poems and took them with me. The first waka was critical of Go-Toba but otherwise fairly innocuous, but the second was quite pointed, obliquely attacking Go-Toba both for forcing Teika to attend Go-Toba's contest when Teika was memorializing his mother and also for insufficiently promoting Teika (the final line is a variation on a phrase dealing with "double griefs"): Michinobe no Nohara no yanagi Shitamoenu Aware nageki no Keburikurabe. Under
4386-425: The form of prose and poetry. The prose focused on the narration of events, scenery, or retrospective reflection, while the poetry had a central emotional element and acted as a secondary narrative. Themes consisted of infatuation in literature, and how this can delude a person - by giving false information on life expectations, how it can interfere with Buddhist salvation, as well as a theme on how literature can console
SECTION 50
#17328519988244472-411: The hope that just as Shunzei's poem obtained his erring son's restoration to rank and office under Go-Shirakawa, now Teika's own poem will win him admission to Go-Toba's Court despite his connection with the "disgraced" Kujō faction." Ashitazu no Kumoji mayoishi Toshi kurete Kasumi o sae ya Hedatehatsubeki Now that the year Has closed in which it lost its way Upon the cloudland path, Must
4558-450: The impression that the mountain is wearing a white jacket over a dress of deep violet. The Sarashina Diary recorded her life from the age of 12 to her fifties. Her memoirs start with her childhood days, when she delighted in reading tales, and prayed to be able to read the Tale of Genji from beginning to end. She records her joy when presented with a complete copy, and how she dreamed of living
4644-579: The inner workings of how an imperial anthology was created) were chosen to compile the Shin Kokinshū in the eleventh month of 1201. As if the honor of helping to compile the Shin Kokinshū and of having a remarkable 46 of his poems (including three from the Shoji hyakushu ) included were not enough, Teika was later appointed in 1232 by the Retired Emperor Go-Horikawa to compile – by himself –
4730-557: The later portions of his life, Teika experimented with refining his style of ushin , teaching and writing it; in addition to his critical works and the manuscripts he studied and copied out, he experimented with the then-very young and immature form of renga – "They are an amusement to me in my dotage." He died in 1241, in Kyoto , and was buried at a Buddhist temple named "Shokokuji". One of his 27 children by various women (and one of two legitimate sons), Fujiwara no Tameie (1198–1275; he
4816-551: The like, the poems were usually in one of several groups (the four seasons were common ones, as was love); the poems generally formed an integrated sequence in which they dealt with the same subject matter, proceeding from stage to stage (for instance, a sequence on Love might proceed from loneliness, to falling in love, to a mature relationship, and then the sorrow when it ends) or which refer to elements of previous poems (a technique later central to renga sequences). Go-Toba used such techniques consistently and often, whereas Teika's use
4902-596: The many poetry contests and similar activities that soon began taking place in the Bureau; of the Fellows, six ( Minamoto Michitomo , Fujiwara Ariie , Teika, Fujiwara Ietaka, Fujiwara Masatsune and Jakuren, who would not live to finish the task, and was not replaced. Minamoto Ienaga was apparently detached from being Go-Toba's personal secretary to instead serve as the secretary for the compilation committee; his and Teika's diaries have survived, affording an unprecedentedly good view of
4988-568: The memoirs of those who have served in a branch of the United States Armed Forces – especially those who have seen active combat. Memoirs are usually understood to be factual accounts of people's lives, typically from their early years, and are derived from the French term mémoire , meaning "reminiscence" or "memory." However, some works, which may be called free memoirs, are less strictly bound to remembered facts: "One type of life story
5074-419: The minimal notice for the contest and the lack of time for composing the poems (he had to turn them in two days after he was first informed of the contest), began complaining about Go-Toba and attacking his poetic judgement, both with regard to the Shin Kokinshū and the poems selected from the screens. Nothing came of this incident, but nevertheless, the damage had been done. The second incident took place in
5160-486: The ninth Imperial Anthology, the Shinchokusen Wakashū (c. 1235; "New Imperial Collection"). Teika was the first person to have ever been a compiler of two Imperial anthologies. This favorable patronage and collaboration eventually soured even as Teika's relation with Emperor Juntoku and Minamoto no Sanetomo deepened, over many things such as differences in how one should use "association and progression" (as Brower terms it) in poetic sequences. In 100-poem sequences and
5246-526: The official Chinese was considered a mark of sincerity ) addressed to Go-Toba, arguing that such an exclusion was without precedent, and motivated by base jealousy on their opponent's part: Of late the people who call themselves poets have all been mediocrities. The poems they compose are unpleasant to hear, wordy and lacking in finesse. As Keene writes, "He denounced by name Teika's enemy Suetsune, calling him an ignoramus, and urged Gotoba not to be misled by his machinations." Gotoba relented at this appeal from
SECTION 60
#17328519988245332-462: The official completion of the Shin Kokinshū because there was no precedent for such a banquet (apparently he was not convinced by the precedent of the banquet celebrating the completion of the Nihon Shoki ); Go-Toba reciprocated by cutting Teika out of the process of continually revising the Shin Kokinshū (while it was officially complete by the date of the banquet, it was de facto incomplete as
5418-648: The period, the Kagerō Nikki (whose personal name has also been lost). Other than the Sarashina Diary , she may also have authored Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari , Mizukara kuyuru ( Self-reproach ), the Tale of Nezame ( Yoru no Nezame or Yowa no Nezame ), and the Tale of Asakura. This work is one of the major six literary memoir/diaries written in the mid-Heian period, roughly from 900 to 1100. Lady Sarashina wrote her work while being conscious of her distinguished lineage. She had
5504-481: The precipitating events were two incidents, one in 1207 and the next in 1220. In 1207, Go-Toba decided to organize the creation of 46 landscape screens for the Saishō Shitennō Temple which he had built in 1205 (apparently "in order to enlist divine aid in the overthrow the feudal government"). Each of these screens would also have a waka on the landscape depicted, composed by a leading poet, who would compose
5590-416: The priest Jakuren or "Sadanaga" c. 1139–1202 was successful as a poet although his career was cut tragically short; he had been adopted by Shunzei when Shunzei's younger brother "retired from the world". Teika's goals as the senior male of his branch were to inherit and cement his father's position in poetry, and to advance his own reputation (thereby also improving the political fortunes of his own clan in
5676-545: The requisite 46, with the best poems for each landscape selected. Of course, Teika was asked to contribute, but one (on the "Wood of Ikuta", a picturesque woodland attached to the Ikuta Shrine of Settsu Province , modern-day Kobe ; it was also a battlefield between the Minamoto and Taira clans ) was rejected by Go-Toba; not because it was a bad poem, but because it was a "poor model", as Keene puts it. Teika, already annoyed by
5762-567: The retired emperor's court. His descendants and ideas would dominate classical Japanese poetry for centuries afterwards. Teika was born to a minor and distant branch of the aristocratic and courtly clan, the Fujiwara , in 1162, sometime after the Fujiwara regents had lost their political pre-eminence in the Imperial court during the Hōgen Rebellion . His branch of the clan sought prestige and power in
5848-402: The same time, psychology and other research began to show that familiarity with genealogy helps people find their place in the world and that life review helps people come to terms with their own past. With the advent of inexpensive digital book production in the first decade of the 21st century, the genre exploded. Memoirs written as a way to pass down a personal legacy, rather than as
5934-517: The second month of 1220 and is described in a preface to the two poems concerned as recorded in Teika's personal anthology, the Shū gusō ; during the six-year period covering such events as Teika's banishment from Go-Toba's court and Go-Toba's participation in the Jōkyū War of 1221, Teika's diary is silent. Teika was asked to participate in a poem competition on the 13th of the second month; Teika declined, citing as
6020-450: The second year of the Shōji era) that he would be conducting a poetry contest. Retired Emperors frequently became more influential after their retirement from the office of Emperor rather than as the actual Emperor, since they were free from the highly restricting ceremonial requirements and politics of the court. Go-Toba was 20 when he abdicated; he was the consummate amateur, skilled at playing
6106-440: The sequences Go-Toba commissioned were included in the Shin Kokinshū than from any other source except the enormous "Poetry Contest in 1,500 Rounds"). Kimi ga yo ni Kasumi o wakeshi Ashitazu no Sara ni sawabe no Ne o ya nakubeki. In our Lord's gracious reign, Will I still have cause to cry aloud As cries the crane That now stalks desolate in reedy marshes Far from its former cloudland of spring haze? This poem
6192-455: The seventh Imperial anthology of waka (the Senzai Wakashū ). His niece became a well-respected poet of waka and renga , known as Kengozen or Shunzei's Daughter , whom he occasionally sought out for poetic advice. His elder brother, Fujiwara no Nariee (sometimes romanized as "Nariie"; 藤原成家 ), was somewhat successful in court, but not nearly as much as his niece. Teika's foster-brother,
6278-466: The sky at dawn. In fact, Teika was initially not invited, the instigation of the rival Rokujō clan's leader, Suetsune and the connivance of Michichika. Suetsune and Teika were bitter enemies; just a few months before, Teika had humiliated Suetsune by calling him "that fake poet" and publicly refusing to participate in a poetry competition with Suetsune. His revenge was well-done; Teika was furious, writing in his Meigetsuki : :"I never heard of such
6364-399: The topic. For this reason in recent times even beginners have all come to be like this. It is outrageous. Only when one concentrates very hard upon a compound topic and composes a poem which centers upon the topic is the result of any interest. This modern style is sheer carelessness. It is absolutely essential to practice composing poems on compound topics in the correct way." In any event,
6450-528: The unhappy Sanetomo that Teika addressed the prefatory essay to his didactic collection, Kindai shūka ("Superior Poems of Our Time"), and his treatise on poetry Maigetsusho ("Monthly Notes"). Go-Toba would become an enemy of the then-bedridden Teika. Fortunately for Teika, Go-Toba would be exiled by the Kamakura shogunate in 1221 for the rest of life to the Oki Islands after Go-Toba led a failed rebellion against
6536-521: The use by later scholars of "Sarashina" as a point of identification of the text and its author. Although the term ‘ nikki ’ means ‘diary’ in English’, there is a discourse whether the Sarashina Nikki should be classified as a ‘diary’ or as other forms of literature, mainly ‘journal’ or ‘memoir’. The reason is because the content of Sarashina Nikki does not perfectly fit to the term ‘diary’ in English, which it
6622-403: The valuable manuscripts and documents inherited from Teika and Tameie over to the Nijō; they outwardly complied, but along with the few genuine documents whose existence the Nijō had already learned of, they mostly included forgeries which the Nijō had little choice but to accept. In retaliation, the Nijō manufactured a number of forgeries of their own, the better to buttress their claims. After
6708-427: The willows In the field by the roadside The young sprouts burgeon In competition as to which, Alas, has most to bewail. Go-Toba saw this attack as both ingratitude of the rankest sort and the culmination of a series of affronts, this latest being petty resentment at what Go-Toba would have seen as a flimsy pretext for attempting to get out of the poetry competition. Accordingly, he banished Teika from his court,
6794-402: Was "passed over for promotion in the spring list" in 1187 (he would eventually be promoted in 1190, but as his good and encouraging friend Saigyō died that year, it was cold comfort): toshi furedo kokoro no haru wa yoso nagara nagamenarenuru akebono no sora Another year gone by And still no spring warms my heart, It's nothing to me But now I am accustomed To stare at
6880-827: Was 38, and had reached middle age. While he was recognized as a talented poet, his career was stagnant; he had been in the Palace Guards of the Left for twenty years, and had not been promoted for nearly 10. He was "Lesser Commander of the Palace Guards of the Left" with little prospect of further advancement. Teika had wider political problems: the influence of his patrons, the Kujōs, over the Emperors had declined drastically. Minamoto no Michichika (d. 1202) had insinuated himself into Imperial circles through Go-Toba's former nursemaid; with this leverage, Michichika's adopted daughter (the then-Shōgun's daughter, who had decided to marry his daughter off to
6966-495: Was Teika's hundred-poem sequence, and more specifically, poem number 93 which was directly responsible for Teika's being granted the special permission necessary to be admitted to the Retired Emperor's court (distinct from the reigning emperor's court; this special admittance was crucial to any future patronage); this is scarcely surprising as the 100-poem sequences submitted were of uniformly high quality (more poems originating in
7052-464: Was a Japanese anthologist, calligrapher, literary critic, novelist, poet, and scribe of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods . His influence was enormous, and he is counted as among the greatest of Japanese poets , and perhaps the greatest master of the waka form – an ancient poetic form consisting of five lines with a total of 31 syllables . Teika's critical ideas on composing poetry were extremely influential and studied until as late as
7138-434: Was advanced at the age of 70 to the court rank of "Gon Chūnagon" ( Acting Middle Counselor ). But even Teika's improved fortunes could not insulate him entirely from the various famines and disasters that wracked the country in this period, and which greatly exacberated his illnesses: Today I had my servants dig up the garden (the north one), and plant wheat there. Even if we only grow a little, it will sustain our hunger in
7224-471: Was born in 1008 CE and in her childhood traveled to the provinces with her father, an assistant governor, and back to the capital some years later. Her remembrances of the long journey back to the capital (three months) are unique in Heian literature, if terse and geographically inaccurate. Here she describes Mount Fuji , then an active volcano : It has a most unusual shape and seems to have been painted deep blue; its thick cover of unmelting snow gives
7310-455: Was more erratic. During the compilation of the Shin Kokinshū , there were other differences, apparently over how wide-ranging a net to throw for poems: In a situation like the present, where he [Go-Toba] has included poems by a great many people one has never heard of, whose names have remained in almost total obscurity for generations, and persons who have only recently begun to attract attention had as many as ten poems apiece included – in such
7396-408: Was really quite extraordinary. Especially when he was defending his own opinion, he would act like the man who insisted a stag was a horse. He was utterly oblivious of others, and would exceed all reason, refusing to listen to anything other people had to say. (The stag and horse anecdote refers to the ancient Chinese Zhao Gao (d. 207 BCE), who revolted after an incident in which he brought a stag to
#823176