Tajima no himemiko (但馬皇女)
Tajima no himemiko (year of birth unknown – July 21, 708) was a Princess of the Emperor Temmu. Her mother was HIKAMI no Otoji.
4 tanka (thirty-one syllables' poem) poems were seen in the Manyoshu (the oldest anthology of tanka), and a tanka poem was left in the Kakyo hyoshiki (a formulary for verse based on the canons of poetry). Since the poems in the Manyoshu showed that she had been in Prince Takechi's palace, it is said that that she might have been his wife, or that she would have been fed by her oldest brother, Prince Takechi. As a poet, she left tanka poems, including one longing for Imperial Prince Hozumi, etc., and was said to have had a relationship with this Prince from the content of the poem, however, all the theories above are only suppositions from the Manyoshu, and no history book records that she got married to someone.
She is said to have got married to Imperial Prince Hozumi after the death of Prince Takechi, however, a mokkan (a narrow strip of wood on which an official message is written) indicating that there had been a palace of her own was found in the remains of Heijokyo, and it is presumable that she would have had an independent palace.
She died on July 21, 708. There is a tanka poem left by Imperial Prince Hozumi lamenting her death which was thought to be composed in winter of the same year.
Tanka poems concerning Tajima no himemiko
Manyoshu, Vol.2 No.114 (a tanka poem composed by Tajima no himemiko longing for Imperial Prince Hozumi)
Just as all rice ears in autumn paddy fields hand in the same direction, I wish I were close to you no matter what anyone says.
Manyoshu, Vol.2 No.115 (a tanka poem composed by Tajima no himemiko when Imperial Prince Hozumi moved to Shiga in Omi Province)
I'd like to follow and catch up with you rather than be left alone and kept longing for you, so please leave some signs for me in the corners on your way.
Manyoshu, Vol.2 No.116 (a tanka poem composed by Tajima no himemiko when a secret meeting with Imperial Prince Hozumi came out)
Rumors pierced me in the heart badly, which would make me cross the river in the morning that I've never crossed in my life.
Manyoshu, Vo.8 No.1513 (a tanka poem composed by Imperial Prince Hozumi)
I heard wild geese singing in the morning, and I guess Mt. Kasuga might be colored with autumn leaves, however, which also hurts my heart very much.
Manyoshu, Vol.8 No.1515 (a tanka poem composed by Tajima no himemiko)
I would rather fly with the wild geese singing in the morning than stay in this noisy village full of people's rumor.
Manyoshu, Vol.2 No.203 (A Banka [Elegy] composed by Imperial Prince Hozumi; a tanka poem compose while seeing Tajima no himemiko's grave in the distance in a snowy day after the death of Tajima no himemiko)
If only it weren't snowing too much on Ikai hill in Yonabari, where she is sleeping; I wonder if she might feel cold.