Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume - Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume

Japanese: 大伴坂上郎女 - おおとものさかのうえのいらつめ

Year of birth: Year of birth and death unknown. A poet from the Nara period. Her father was Otomo no Yasumaro and her mother was Ishikawa no Irorime. Her half-brothers were Tabito, Tanushi, and Sukunamaro, and her younger brother was Inano Kimi. There are various theories about her year of birth, including 698 (Bunmu 2) and 701 (Taiho 1), but it is clear that she composed poems up to 750 (Tenpyo Shoho 2). She was initially married to Prince Hozumi, and after the death of her son in 715 (Reiki 1), she was questioned by Fujiwara no Maro about her marriage, and then married her half-brother Sukunamaro, giving birth to Sakanoue no Ojo (Otomo no Ojo) and two other daughters. She lived in Sakanoue Village, so she is called Sakanoue no Ojo. After Tabito's wife Otomo no Irorime died of illness in 728 (Jinki 5), she seems to have taken on the role of the head priest of the Saho Dainagon family, which Tabito had succeeded. In addition, after Tabito's death in 731, he became the guardian of his nephew, Yakamochi, and had a great influence on his start as a poet, and he also married his daughter, Ojo, to Yakamochi. She herself wrote six choka, 77 tanka, and one tanka in twenty-odd years. She is the female poet in the Man'yoshu with the greatest number of poems, and her subjects are diverse, including songs to deities and elegies. Her style reflects the refined tastes of the time, and she fully displays her improvisational and witty talents, especially in love poems. She also tends to romanticize love in a sentimental way, as in "The love unknown to the princess lilies blooming in the thickets of the summer fields is painful." She also showed a delicate sensibility, as in "The moonlit night, shining with a soft mist, is sad to look at," and, along with King Yuhara, she can be said to be a representative poet of the transition to the delicate and elegant new style of the Tenpyo period. <References> Ikuko Aoki, "Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume" ("Japanese Poets Lecture 1/Ancient Poets")

(Norio Haga)

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

Japanese:

生年：生没年不詳
奈良時代の歌人。父は大伴安麻呂,母は石川郎女で,異母兄に旅人,田主,宿奈麻呂,同母の弟に稲公がいる。生年については,文武2(698)年,大宝1(701)年などの説が行われ,また天平勝宝2(750)年までの作歌が明らかである。初め穂積皇子に嫁し,霊亀1(715)年の皇子との死別後は,藤原麻呂の妻問いを受け,さらに異母兄宿奈麻呂と結ばれて,坂上大嬢(大伴大嬢),二嬢を生んだ。坂上里に住んでいたため,坂上郎女と呼ばれる。旅人の妻大伴郎女が,神亀5(728)年に病没したあとを受けて,旅人が継いだ佐保大納言家の家刀自の役割を担ったらしい。加えて,天平3(731)年の旅人薨去ののちは,甥の家持を後見し,歌人としての出発に多大な影響をおよぼすとともに,娘の大嬢をその妻として嫁がせた。自身でも,二十数年の間に,長歌6首,短歌77首,旋頭歌1首を残している。『万葉集』の女性歌人としては,最も歌の数が多く,題材も,祭神歌,挽歌など多岐にわたる。作風は,洗練の度を加えた時代的な好尚を反映して,とりわけ恋の歌において即興的・機知的な才を遺憾なく発揮しており,さらに「夏の野の繁みに咲ける姫百合の知らえぬ恋は苦しきものぞ」のごとく,恋を情趣的に美化する傾向にある。また「ぬばたまの夜霧の立ちておほほしく照れる月夜の見れば悲しさ」など,繊細な感覚をも示し,湯原王と並んで,天平の繊細優美な新風への移行期を代表する歌人といえる。<参考文献>青木生子「大伴坂上郎女」(『日本歌人講座1/上古の歌人』)

(芳賀紀雄)

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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