Sugawara no Takasue no Musume - Daughter of Sugawara no Takasue

Japanese: 菅原孝標女 - すがわらのたかすえのむすめ

Year of death: Unknown (Year of death unknown)
Year of birth: Kanko 5 (1008)
A poet and author from the Heian period. His father, Takasue, was a direct descendant of Michizane for five generations. His mother was the daughter of Fujiwara no Michiyasu, and the half-sister of Fujiwara no Michitsuna, the author of The Diary of Lady Murasaki. At the age of 10, he went to Kazusa, where his father was stationed. Influenced by his stepmother (the niece of Daini Sanmi) and older sister, he fell in love with The Tale of Genji, and after returning to Kyoto four years later, he continued to indulge in the story, dreaming of a life like that of Yugao and Ukifune, characters in The Tale of Genji. When he was in his 30s, he entered the service of the household of Princess Yuko, daughter of Emperor Gosuzaku, but soon left to marry Tachibana Toshimichi, and he keenly felt the difference between stories and reality. He later returned to the service and had the opportunity to enjoy exchanging waka poetry with Minamoto no Susumichi and others. After she became the mother of two children, she became enthusiastic about her faith, which she had previously been indifferent to, and often made pilgrimages to places of worship. However, in 1058, she lost her husband to illness, and spent her later years relying only on a dream she had of Amida Raigo. During this time, she wrote the autobiographical diary Sarashina Nikki. It contains her love and sympathy for her own life, with themes of her indulgence in storytelling in the first half of her life and her devotion to gods and Buddhas in the second half. It is an interesting document that conveys the state of reception of The Tale of Genji and folk faith at the time, and is a groundbreaking work that is unprecedented in diary literature in that it is a private recollection of the life of a woman who grew up in the countryside. She is also said to have written the stories Mijikarakareru and Asakura (no longer extant), and there is also a strong theory that she was the author of Yoru no Nezame (Yohan no Nezame) and Hamamatsu Chunagon Monogatari, and it is assumed that she was an active storyteller. A dozen of her waka poems have been collected in imperial anthologies such as the Shin Kokinshu and subsequent volumes.

(Yamamoto Norio)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：没年不詳(没年不詳)
生年：寛弘5(1008)
平安時代の歌人,作家。父の孝標は道真の5代の直系。母は藤原倫寧の娘で,『蜻蛉日記』作者藤原道綱母の異母妹。10歳のとき,父の任国である上総に下向。継母(大弐三位の姪)や姉の影響で『源氏物語』にあこがれ,4年後に帰京後も物語に耽溺し,『源氏物語』の登場人物である夕顔や浮舟のような人生を夢想した。30歳をすぎたころ,後朱雀天皇の皇女裕子内親王家に出仕したが,すぐに退出して橘俊通と結婚し,物語と現実の違いを痛感した。のちに再出仕して源資通などと和歌のやりとりに興じる機会を持ったりもした。2児の母となったころからそれまで無関心だった信仰に熱心になり,しばしば物詣に出かけたが,康平1(1058)年に夫を病で失い,阿弥陀来迎の霊夢を見たことだけを頼りに晩年を迎えたという。そのころ,自伝的日記文学である『更級日記』を執筆。そこには,前半生の物語耽溺と後半生の神仏への傾倒を主題に自らの人生への愛惜が綴られており,当時の『源氏物語』の享受や民間信仰の様子を伝える興味深い資料であるともに,田舎育ちの一女性の,人生の私的な回想という点で,それまでの日記文学に例をみない画期的な作品となっている。また物語『みづから悔ゆる』『朝倉』(現存しない)の作者と伝えられるほか,『夜の寝覚(夜半の寝覚)』『浜松中納言物語』の作者とする説も有力であり,物語作者として活躍したことが推測される。その和歌は『新古今集』以下の勅撰集に十数首が入集している。

(山本登朗)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

<<: Sugawara no Fumitoki

>>: Takasue Sugawara