Shunzei's Daughter

Her grandfather was the noted poet Fujiwara no Shunzei, and her half-uncle was Fujiwara no Teika, who thought enough of her talents to seek her out for advice and criticism after Shunzei died, although she did not hesitate to castigate him when he completed the Shinchokusen Wakashū, for Teika had turned against his former ideal poetic style of yoen (ethereal beauty) while Shunzei's Daughter had not- thus she found Teika's previous efforts to be markedly inferior, and even according to Donald Keene, "declared that if it had not been compiled by Teika she would have refused even to take it into her hands." (in a letter sent to Fujiwara no Tameie, Teika's son). She and others also criticized it for apparently deliberately excluding any of the objectively excellent poems produced by the three Retired Emperors exiled in the aftermath of the Jōkyū War. Personal pique may also have played a role, since she saw 29 of her poems selected for the Shinkokinshū, while only nine were chosen for the Shin Chokusenshū. After giving birth to a son and a daughter, she took Buddhist vows in 1213.

• How can I blame the cherry blossoms • for rejecting this floating world • and drifting away as the wind calls them?

Her recorded language was Japanese. Her recorded confession was Buddhism. She was the child of Toshinari Fujiwara and Hachijō-in Sanjō. She married Minamoto no Michitomo.