Fujiwara no Yoshitaka

Fujiwara no Yoshitaka (藤原 義孝; 954–974) was a Japanese waka poet of the mid-Heian period. One of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. He produced a private waka collection, the Yoshitaka-shū.

Fujiwara no Yoshitaka, from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

Biography

Yoshitaka was born in 954, the son of Fujiwara no Koretada.^[1][2]

He served as captain of the right bodyguards (右少将, ushōshō).^[1][2] He was the father of the respected calligrapher Yukinari.^[1]　When his father died, Yoshitaka considered ordaining as a Buddhist monk. In the same year his son was born, which dissuaded him from pursuing a religious career.

He died in 974, at age twenty, of smallpox, on the same day as his twin brother.^[1][2]

Poetry

Twelve of his poems were included in imperial anthologies, and he was listed as one of the Late Classical Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry.^[1]

The following poem by him was included as No. 50 in Fujiwara no Teika's Ogura Hyakunin Isshu:

Japanese text[3]	Romanized Japanese[4]	English translation[5]
君がため 惜しからざりし 命さへ 長くもがなと 思ひけるかな	Kimi ga tame oshikarazarishi inochi sae nagaku mogana to omoikeru kana	I always thought I would give my life to meet you only once, but now, having spent a night with you, I wish that I may go on living forever.

He left a private collection, the Yoshitaka-shū (義孝集).^[1][2]