Henjō


Yoshimine no Munesada, better known as Henjō was a Japanese waka poet and Buddhist priest.
Thanks to a reference to him in the preface of Kokin Wakashū, he is listed as one of the six best waka poets and one of the thirty-six immortals of poetry.

Biography

Munesada was the eighth son of Dainagon Yoshimine no Yasuyo, a son of Emperor Kanmu who was relegated to civilian life. He began his career as a courtier, and was later appointed to the position of ', a sort of Chamberlain, of Emperor Ninmyō. In 849, he was raised to the Head of Kurōdo. After Emperor Nimmyō died in 850, Munesada became a monk out of his grief, taking the religious name Henjō.
He was a priest of the Tendai school. In 877 he founded Gangyō-ji in Yamashina, in the southeast part of Kyoto, but continued to be active in court politics. In 869 he was given another temple, Urin-in or Unrin-in, in the north of Kyoto and managed both temples. In 885 he was ranked high priest and was called Kazan Sōjō'.
He was rumored to have had a love affair with the famous female poet Ono no Komachi.
Thirty-five of his waka were included in the imperial anthologies of waka including Kokin Wakashū''. In the preface Ki no Tsurayuki criticized him: “he knows how to construct waka, but there is less real emotion. It is like when you see a picture of a woman and it moves your heart”.
His son, Sosei, was also a waka poet and a monk.

Poetry

Henjō was famous for the following poem from the Hyakunin Isshu: