Fujiwara no Ietaka

• Born: 1158
• Died: 1237
• Japanese: 藤原家隆 (Fujiwara no Ietaka)

Fujiwara no Ietaka was a major poet of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. He is was one of the compilers of the Shin-kokinshû (1206), and is known as well for his personal poetry collection, the Minishû.

One of his poems from the latter collection appears in the Noh play Tatsuta, warning against crossing the Tatsuta River in winter and breaking the ice, for that would break the brocade of red autumn leaves frozen in river which is sacred to the god of Tatsuta. It references an earlier poem from the Kokinshû (905), which warns against wading across in autumn and breaking the brocade of autumn leaves floating down the river.

References

• Royall Tyler, Japanese Nô Dramas, Penguin Classics (1992), 300.