Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume

Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume was born c. 695 to the powerful and influential Ōtomo clan. A daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and Lady Ishikawa, she was the younger half-sister of Ōtomo no Tabito, Ōtomo no Tanushi, and Ōtomo no Sukunamaro. As is customary for the time period, her personal name is unknown, and her title is taken from Sakanoue, the village in which she resided; ‘Iratsume’ is an archaic moniker for ‘young lady,’ ‘maiden,’ or ‘daughter’. In her early teens, she married Prince Hozumi; after his early death in 715, she would go on to marry Fujiwara no Maro, son of Fujiwara no Fuhito. After the death of her second husband, she married her older half-brother, Ōtomo no Sukunamaro, and would have at least two daughters with him, Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Ōiratsume and Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Otōiratsume. Widowed for yet a third time, in 728 she would join the household of her eldest brother, Ōtomo no Tabito, then the administrator-commander of the Dazaifu, the regional government of Kyushu. Donald Keene and Yutaka Tsuchihashi both speculate that Tabito sent for Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue to educate his son, Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Other suggested reasons for her summons include becoming Tabito's mistress or spouse, or replacing Tabito's recently deceased wife in performing religious ceremonies for the Ōtomo clan. After her brother’s death in 731, Sakanoue became the de facto head of the Ōtomo house and would manage its affairs until her nephew Yakamochi came of age. Yakamochi would later go on to marry Sakanoue’s eldest daughter, Ōiratsume.

Parents • Father: Ōtomo no Yasumaro (大伴安麻呂, d. 21 June 714) • Mother: Ishikawa no Iratsume (石川 内命婦) Spouse(s) and issues • First Husband: Prince Hozumi (穂積親王, d. 30 August 715), son of Emperor Tenmu • First Son: Prince Kamido (上道王, d. 28 April 727) • Second Son: Prince Sakaibe (境部王) • Second Husband: Fujiwara no Maro (藤原 麻呂, 695 – 17 August 737), son of Fujiwara no Fuhito (藤原不比等) • Third Husband: Ōtomo no Sukunamaro (大伴宿奈麻呂), her half-brother • First Daughter: Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Ōiratsume (大伴坂上大嬢), Wife of Ōtomo no Yakamochi (大伴 家持) • Second Daughter: Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Otōiratsume (大伴坂上二嬢), Wife of Ōtomo no Surugamaro (大伴駿河麻呂)

Ōtomo no Sakanoue is the foremost female poet of the Man'yōshū, and the third-best represented overall, regardless of gender, having a total of 84 poems included in the collection. Her nephew, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, is thought to be one of the primary compilers of the Man’yoshu. Paula Doe suggests that, as his mentor, Sakanoue exerted considerable influence on his early poetry and literary sensibility, evident in his choice to include so many examples of her work. Sakanoue’s 84 extant poems are 77 tanka, 6 chōka, and 1 sedōka. Several of her poems are noted by epigraphs to have been composed while performing religious rites on behalf of her house. Her longest, a banka (an elegy in chōka form), was composed upon the death of the Korean nun Rigan, who had been a guest of the Ōtomo household since Sakanoue’s youth. Other poems of note are her collection of sōmon, tanka “poems conveying feelings to another,” which document her exchanges with some of her husbands, lovers, and friends. Finally, several of her poems were either addressed to or written about her daughters, touching upon the sentiments between parent and child. One of her longer works is addressed to Ōiratsume, expressing how much she missed her daughter.

Her recorded language was Japanese. She was the child of Yasumaro Otomo and Ishikawa no Iratsume. She married Hozumi-shinnō and Otomo no Sukunamaro. 3 children are recorded: Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Ō-otome, Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Otoiratsume and Kamimichi no O.

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