Sadafumi Taira - Sadafumi Taira

Japanese: 平貞文 - たいらのさだふん

Year of death: 27 September 1, Chosen (8 November 923)
Year of birth: Unknown. He was a government official and poet in the Heian period. He was also written as Sadabun. His common name was Heichu. He was the son of Kofu. His grandfather was Emperor Kanmu's grandson, Prince Moyo. In 874, he and his father became subjects and adopted the surname Taira. In 891, he served as a chamberlain, later as Mikawa no Suke, chamberlain, Uma no Suke, and eventually as Sahyoe no Suke, Junior Fifth Rank Upper. He was apparently stripped of his official position along the way, and the poem he wrote at that time, "Ukiyo ni mon sashiri to misenaku ni naught wa wa shinde ni ni wa wa shinde ni ni" (I can't see through the gates of this world, and I ... He was also famous for his love of women, and was called "Zaichu, Heichu" along with Ariwara no Narihira, the Chief Minister of the Chamber of Commerce. In one famous episode cited in The Tale of Genji, a woman noticed that Heichu had put water from a pitcher into her eyes and cried in an attempt to impress her, and had secretly mixed in ink, causing the area around his eyes to turn black. It is interesting to note that the prototype of Heichu's character, who would later be caricatured in tale collections such as the Konjaku Monogatarishu as a man at the mercy of uncontrollable love, can already be seen in The Tale of Genji. Although he is considered the protagonist of The Tale of Heichu, it is difficult to accept this story as a biography of the real Sadafumi. The book is a utamonogatari consisting of 39 chapters of waka poetry, and was compiled after the third year of the Tentoku era (959). It is noteworthy when considering the Heichu tales that there is no sign of any mocking attitude towards Heichu mentioned above. <References> Hagiya Boku, Heichu Zenko

(Shizuko Aoki)

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

Japanese:

没年：延長1.9.27(923.11.8)
生年：生年不詳
平安時代の官人,歌人。定文とも書く。通称は平中。好風の子。祖父は桓武天皇の孫茂世王。貞観16(874)年,父と共に臣籍に下り,平姓となった。寛平3(891)年内舎人,のち三河介,侍従,右馬助などを歴任,従五位上左兵衛佐に至った。途中剥官事件もあったらしく,そのときに詠んだ「うき世には門させりとも見えなくになどかわが身の出でがてにする」が『古今集』に載るが,詳細は不明。延喜5(905)年4月と翌6年1月に『貞文家歌合』を主催,凡河内躬恒も参加した。『古今集』の9首をはじめ,勅撰集に26首入集する。『夫木和歌抄』によると家集があったらしいが,現存しない。また色好みとして名高く,「在中,平中」と,在中将在原業平と並称された。『源氏物語』にも引かれた有名なエピソードに,彼が女の気をひこうと水差しの水を目につけてそら泣きするのに気づいた女が,こっそり墨汁を混ぜておいたので,目のまわりが黒くなってしまった,という話があるが,のちの『今昔物語集』などの説話集で,ままならぬ恋に翻弄される人物として戯画化されてゆく平中の人物像の原型が,すでに『源氏物語』にうかがえるのは興味深い。『平中物語』の主人公とされるが,この物語を実在の貞文の伝記とは認め難い。同書は39章段の和歌説話から成る歌物語で,天徳3(959)年以降の成立。上述した平中を嘲笑する姿勢がみられない点,平中説話を考えるうえで注目される。<参考文献>萩谷朴『平中全講』

(青木賜鶴子)

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

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