manyoshu
...ns of public events, but the rest were primarily personal. The compiler of the anthology was Otomo no Yakamochi (718-785), and two of the most interesting woman poets in the Manyoshu are connected to him. One of whom was his aunt, who was also his poetic mentor, and later his mother-law. The other one was one of his lovers. Yakamochi’s aunt went by the name Otomo no Sakanoue. In about 728, Sakanoue went to live with her brother to help educate his son Yakamochi; when her brother died two years later, she continued to look after her nephew and to develop his skill at poetry. Sakanoue continued to write poetry throughout her life. When her nephew came to prepare his anthology, he included 79 of her poems, which was more than of any other woman. Kasa no Iratsume is the other woman connected to Yakamochi. She was one of 14 named women to whom Yakamochi wrote love poetry. She responded and sent him 29 poems, which he included in his book. The two poets mentioned are some of the very few women with their works in the Manyoshu. As mentioned earlier, the higher class people took up the majority of the poets. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro is recognized as the greatest poet represented in the Manyoshu. He has 19 nagauta (long poems) and around 75 tanka (short poems) in the Manyoshu. Hitomaro was a middle-ranking courtier in Yamato and served as court poet to three sovereigns: Emperor Temmu (673-686), Empress Jito (690-697) and Emperor Mommu (697-707). Many of his poems were written for public occasions. One of Hitomaro's most public poems which, is also the longest single poem in the Manyoshu is the Lament for Prince Takeshi. This poem is remarkable for the way he describes a battle, as well as expressing grief and sorrow over the prince's death. He also had an extraordinary range of poems from personal love to death and sorrow. Some of which I will mention are the ones written on occasions in his life when he was particularly moved for instance, the times when he was parting from his wife, or seeing a corpse. In these poems Hitomaro is never just an observer in the poem, but he portrays himself to be a participant in the poem. In the poems where he parts from his wife he shows his gentler side. All of these features serve to make him one of Japa...