Fujiwara no Michinobu

So, the fifth year of work in the Hyaku-nin Isshu Series gets under way this month with a portrait of Fujiwara no Michinobu. I am usually full of praise for Shunsho's portrayals of the poets, but this month I'm not so sure... My history books tell me that Michinobu died at the ripe old age of 22, and somehow this person seems just a little bit older than that ...

I thought that this poem was a rather straight-forward expression of a lover's feelings, but as usual when I started reading about it, I found it may not be so simple. It seems that in that period it was not unusual for a young man of the upper classes to continue spending his days in his father's home, and go to his wife only at night. He would not fully assemble his own household until he was older, or perhaps when his father passed away. Perhaps the couple in the poem are not lovers, but married!

I think that the 'long-time' collectors of my work among you were probably expecting to see a print of an emperor this month. It has been my custom to start each year with the royal member of the set (with the exception of the fourth set, which didn't have one). There is an emperor this year, Yozei In, but I've decided to put him last, and when you get that print in December you'll see why I've switched them and am sending this 'darker' print first. Patience please ...

This is the 41st print I have made in this series, and it brings me a small problem. As many of you know, I spend time every morning in the local swimming pool getting exercise before starting the day's work. I swim a kilometer each time, and as the pool is 25 meters long, this means that I do 40 lengths. How do I keep track? Well, I don't count, 'One ... two ... three ... and so on.' Instead I chant, 'Tenji Tenno ... Ono no Komachi ... Dainagon Tsunenobu ... etc.', the poets in the order that I carved them. But what should I do this month, now that I've reached number 41? I would like to continue my 'memory training', but I don't really want to swim more than a kilometer! It already takes an hour out of my day (getting there and back on my bicycle, 20 minutes in the water, getting dried, etc.), and I can't afford any more time. If you have any ideas on what I should do, please let me know!

Thank you for being with me for another year, and I hope you enjoy the prints this year. Coming up next, Inbu Mon-in no Taifu Sukeko.

February 1993

Translation: H.H. Honda Hokuseido Press Ltd. 1956