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I've mentioned before that one of the pleasures of working through the Kokinshu is getting to see stories cut in small slices. Sometimes, though, it's worth digging a little deeper. I knew something of Sugawara no Michizane from his being in One Hundred People, One Poem Each, but there's more to his tale than I'd realized.
In the mid-9th century, the Fujiwara clan solidified their control of Japanese politics, displacing previously dominant clans such as Tachibana and Ki. Fujiwara no Yoshifusa (see #52) married his daughter to Emperpor Montoku and had himself named regent for his grandson, Emperor Seiwa -- the first person outside the imperial family to hold the position. A string of weak (both physically and mentally) emperors allowed the Fujiwaras to continue their consolidation, so when the strong and determined Uda came to the throne in 887, he had to maneuver hard to take what power he did. One of his allies was Michizane.
Michizane was born in 845 to an academic family and made himself a name as the leading Chinese scholar of his generation. He rose through the official ranks as well, but it was under Uda's patronage he rapidly reached the highest offices -- largely because he wasn't a Fujiwara and, indeed, supported Uda (on Confucianist grounds) in the power struggle with Fujiwara no Mototsune, Yoshifusa's adopted son and heir, after Uda's accession. Once Uda's oldest son was old enough to rule without a regent, Uda abdicated in 897 in Daigo's favor, apparently to try running things behind the scenes without the constraints of imperial ritual. This left the reins of the government in the hands of Michizane as Minister of the Right and Fujiwara no Tokihira, Mototsune's son and current clan head, as Minister of the Left.
This was not an entirely stable situation, to say the least. In late 900, Tokihira and a few allies engineered a political scandal around Michizane, the details of which are obscure -- in no small part because Daigo later ordered the records burnt. The end result was Michizane's demotion in 901 on trumped-up charges to a distant provincial office, where he penned some of the best Chinese poetry written in Japan before dying in 903.
So far, so good. I should at this point mention that the Kokinshu was compiled around 905, so the rest of this story is not reflected in it. The editors included two poems each by Michizane (#272 + #420) and Tokihira (#230 + #1049) plus one by one of Tokihira's cabal-mates, Fujiwara no Sugane (#212).
Starting around 907, a series of disasters struck the capital -- storms, drought, plagues, deaths of important people, imperial palaces struck by lightning, and so on. By 909, Tokihira and his cabal were dead, most at early ages. Divinations eventually concluded that the cause was Michizane's vengeful spirit. Michizane's name was cleared,* his rank was restored with posthumous promotion, he was reburied in the capital with due funeral honors for his rank, and so on. These placations worked so well, he was later also deified as the kami Tenjin, initially a storm god but eventually a patron of scholars -- especially prayed to by students taking exams, with shrines devoted to him around the country.
And he's not the only deified poet. But he is the most important one.
History is so INTERESTING sometimes.
* This is when the records were burned, by way of erasing all mentions of being exiled.
---L.
In the mid-9th century, the Fujiwara clan solidified their control of Japanese politics, displacing previously dominant clans such as Tachibana and Ki. Fujiwara no Yoshifusa (see #52) married his daughter to Emperpor Montoku and had himself named regent for his grandson, Emperor Seiwa -- the first person outside the imperial family to hold the position. A string of weak (both physically and mentally) emperors allowed the Fujiwaras to continue their consolidation, so when the strong and determined Uda came to the throne in 887, he had to maneuver hard to take what power he did. One of his allies was Michizane.
Michizane was born in 845 to an academic family and made himself a name as the leading Chinese scholar of his generation. He rose through the official ranks as well, but it was under Uda's patronage he rapidly reached the highest offices -- largely because he wasn't a Fujiwara and, indeed, supported Uda (on Confucianist grounds) in the power struggle with Fujiwara no Mototsune, Yoshifusa's adopted son and heir, after Uda's accession. Once Uda's oldest son was old enough to rule without a regent, Uda abdicated in 897 in Daigo's favor, apparently to try running things behind the scenes without the constraints of imperial ritual. This left the reins of the government in the hands of Michizane as Minister of the Right and Fujiwara no Tokihira, Mototsune's son and current clan head, as Minister of the Left.
This was not an entirely stable situation, to say the least. In late 900, Tokihira and a few allies engineered a political scandal around Michizane, the details of which are obscure -- in no small part because Daigo later ordered the records burnt. The end result was Michizane's demotion in 901 on trumped-up charges to a distant provincial office, where he penned some of the best Chinese poetry written in Japan before dying in 903.
So far, so good. I should at this point mention that the Kokinshu was compiled around 905, so the rest of this story is not reflected in it. The editors included two poems each by Michizane (#272 + #420) and Tokihira (#230 + #1049) plus one by one of Tokihira's cabal-mates, Fujiwara no Sugane (#212).
Starting around 907, a series of disasters struck the capital -- storms, drought, plagues, deaths of important people, imperial palaces struck by lightning, and so on. By 909, Tokihira and his cabal were dead, most at early ages. Divinations eventually concluded that the cause was Michizane's vengeful spirit. Michizane's name was cleared,* his rank was restored with posthumous promotion, he was reburied in the capital with due funeral honors for his rank, and so on. These placations worked so well, he was later also deified as the kami Tenjin, initially a storm god but eventually a patron of scholars -- especially prayed to by students taking exams, with shrines devoted to him around the country.
And he's not the only deified poet. But he is the most important one.
History is so INTERESTING sometimes.
* This is when the records were burned, by way of erasing all mentions of being exiled.
---L.