Sakanoue no Korenori

Sakanoue no Korenori, from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

Sakanoue no Korenori (坂上是則) was a Japanese waka poet of the early Heian period.^[1] His exact dates of birth and death are unknown,^[1][2] but he was a fourth-generation descendant of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro.^[1]

He was one of the Thirty-six Immortals of Poetry^[1][2] and one of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.^[3][4] Forty-one of his poems were ultimately included in the imperial anthologies.^[2]

He was the father of the poet Mochiki (望城, ?-975).^[1][5]

During his own life he was known primarily as a champion kemari player.^[2] On March 2, 905, he and his colleagues kicked a ball 206 times without interruption at the Imperial Court, and were praised by the emperor.

He served as governor of Kaga Province.^[2]

Poetry

One of his poems was included as No. 31 in Fujiwara no Teika's Ogura Hyakunin Isshu:

Japanese text[4]	Romanized Japanese[6]	English translation[3]
朝ぼらけ 有明の月と みるまでに 吉野の里に ふれる白雪	Asaborake ariake no tsuki to miru made ni yoshino no sato ni fureru shira-yuki	The first light over Yoshino village— The snow has piled so deep, so white I cannot tell it from the dawn's pale moonlight

References

1. Daijisen entry "Sakanoue no Korenori". Shogakukan.
2. McMillan 2010 : 137.
3. McMillan 2010 : 33.
4. Suzuki et al. 2009 : 44-45.
5. Keene 1999 : 329 (note 4).
6. McMillan 2010 : 161.

Bibliography

• Keene, Donald (1999). A History of Japanese Literature, Vol. 1: Seeds in the Heart — Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11441-7.
• McMillan, Peter (2010). One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-14399-8.
• Suzuki, Hideo; Yamaguchi, Shin'ichi; Yoda, Yasushi (2009). Genshoku: Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. Tokyo: Bun'eidō. ISBN 4-578-10082-0.

External links

• E-text of his poems in Japanese