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. His exact dates of birth and death are unknown, but he was a fourth-generation descendant of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro.

He was one of the Thirty-six Immortals of Poetry and one of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. Forty-one of his poems were ultimately included in the imperial anthologies.

He was the father of the poet Mochiki (望城, d. 975).

During his own life he was known primarily as a champion kemari player. 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.

Poetry

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

Japanese text	Romanized Japanese	English translation
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

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