Daini no Sanmi

Daini no Sanmi (大弐三位; dates unknown^[1] but born c. 999^[2]) was a Japanese waka poet of the mid-Heian period.^[1]

Daini no Sanmi
Daini no Sanmi, from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu
Born	c. 999
Occupation(s)	Lady-in-waiting to Empress Shōshi, poet, wet nurse to Emperor Go-Reizei
Spouse	Takashina no Nariakira
Children	Son by spouse, and daughter with Fujiwara no Kanetaka (unknown identity)
Parents	Fujiwara no Nobutaka (father) Murasaki Shikibu (mother)

Biography

She was the daughter of Murasaki Shikibu and Fujiwara no Nobutaka [ja].^[1][2] Her given name was Katako (賢子),^[1][2][3] although the kanji can also be read as Kenshi.^[4]

In 1017, she joined to the court and served as a lady-in-waiting for Grand Empress Dowager Shoshi, the mother of Emperor Go-Ichijo. She was married to Takashina no Nariakira [ja] and produced a son in 1038, and she had a daughter with Fujiwara no Kanetaka [ja] in 1026.^[1] She also served as the nurse of Imperial Princess Teishi and Emperor Go-Reizei. When Emperor Go-Reizei ascended the throne, she was promoted.

Poetry

Thirty-seven^[2] or thirty-eight^{[non-primary source needed]} of her poems were included in imperial anthologies from the Goshūi Wakashū onward.

One of her poems was included as the fifty-eighth in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu:

有馬山猪名の笹原風吹けば
     いでそよ人を忘れやはする
Arima-yama ina no sasahara kaze fukeba
ide soyo hito o wasure ya wa suru^[5]
At the foot of Mt. Arima the wind rustles through bamboo grasses wavering yet constant—there will never be a moment that I forget about you.^[6]
(Goshūi Wakashū 12:709)

She also produced a private collection called the Daini no Sanmi-shū (大弐三位集).^[1][2]

Possible partial authorship of The Tale of Genji

Some scholars have attributed the final ten chapters of her mother's magnum opus, The Tale of Genji, to her.^[2]