Asukai Masatsune


Asukai Masatsune was a Japanese waka poet of the early Kamakura period. He was also an accomplished kemari player. and one of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
He was a son of Nanba Yoritsune, and the ancestor of the Asukai family, who were known for their skill at both poetic composition and kemari. Being of Fujiwara stock, he was also known as Fujiwara no Masatsune. Among his grandchildren was the poet Masaari. He made a private collection, the Asukai-shū, which was posthumously edited by his grandson in 1292. Twenty-two of his poems were included in the Shin Kokin Wakashū, and a total of 134 in the imperial anthologies.

Political career

Masatsune served three emperors, Go-Toba, Tsuchimikado and Juntoku, in addition to working under the Kamakura shogunate.

Poetry

Masatsune studied waka under Fujiwara no Shunzei and from 1201 served in the Waka-dokoro. He served as one of the compilers of the Shin Kokin Wakashū, along with Shunzei's son Teika. Some twenty-two of his own poems were included in the imperial collection. A total of 134 of his poems were included in it and later imperial collections. He also compiled a private waka collection, the Asukai-shū, which was edited by his grandson Masaari in 1292.
The following poem by him was included as No. 94 in Teika's famous Ogura Hyakunin Isshu: