Fujiwara no Sadayori

Fujiwara no Sadayori (藤原定頼, 995-1045^[1]) was a Japanese waka poet of the mid-Heian period. One of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.^[1] He produced a private collection.^[1]

Fujiwara no Sadayori, from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

Biography

He was the eldest son of Fujiwara no Kintō and, on his mother's side, a grandson of Emperor Murakami.^[1]

He served director for military affairs before becoming middle councilor.^[1] He was well known as both a poet and a calligrapher.^[1]

Poetry

Forty-five of his poems were included in imperial anthologies, and he was listed as one of the Late Classical Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry (中古三十六歌仙, Chūko Sanjū-Rokkasen).^[1]

The following poem by him was included as No. 64 in Fujiwara no Teika's Ogura Hyakunin Isshu:

Japanese text[2]	Romanized Japanese[3]	English translation[4]
朝ぼらけ 宇治の川霧 たえだえに あらはれわたる 瀬々の網代木	Asaborake uji no kawa-giri tae-dae ni araware-wataru se-ze no ajiro-gi	As the fog rises and thins in patches, in the shallows appear stakes of the fishing nets— Winter, dawn, the Uji river.