Ise (Poetess) (伊勢 (歌人))

Ise (around 872 - 938) was a Japanese poet who lived in the Heian period. She was one of the thirty-six major poets of the Heian period. She was a daughter of FUJIWARA no Tsugukage, who was Ise no kami (the governor of Ise Province). She was called Ise no Go or Ise no Miyasudokoro.

At the beginning, she served FUJIWARA no Onshi, who was a chugu (second consort) of the Emperor Uda and after going around with FUJIWARA no Nakahira and FUJIWARA no Tokihira, she was in the Emperor Uda's favor and gave birth to a Imperial Prince who died young. Then, she married the Imperial Prince Atsuyoshi, who was a son of the Emperor Uda, and gave birth to Nakatsukasa.

She was known for her passionate love poems and her poems were put in "Kokin Wakashu" (Collection of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poetry and one of her waka was put also in "Ogura Hyakunin Isshu"(Ogura Sequence of One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets). Collected poems of Ise is called "Ise-shu."

[Original Japanese]