Princess Nukata

Princess Nukata (額田王, Nukata no Ōkimi, c. 630–690 CE) (also known as Princess Nukada) was a Japanese poet of the Asuka period.

The daughter of Prince Kagami and supposed younger sister of Princess Kagami, Nukata became Emperor Temmu's favorite wife and bore him a daughter, Princess Tōchi (who would become Emperor Kōbun's consort). A legend claims that she later became consort to Emperor Tenji, Emperor Temmu's elder brother, but there is no evidence to support this claim.

Nukata was one of the great female poets of her time; thirteen of her poems appear in the Man'yōshū: #7–9, 16–18, 20, 112, 113, 151, 155, 488, and 1606. (#1606 is a repeat of #488.) Two of the poems are reprinted in the later poetry collections Shinchokusen Wakashū and Shinshūi Wakashū.

Poem #9 is known as one of the most difficult poems within the Man'yōshū to interpret.^[1]

The first two lines of the poem has already defeated modern scholarship to date. Some theories include:

• 紀の国の　山越えて行け (Ki no kuni no yama koete yuke...), Kada no Azumamaro
• 夕月の　仰ぎて問ひし (Yūzuki no aogite toishi...), Sengaku, Kimura Masakoto
• 夕月し　覆ひなせそ雲 (Yūzuki shi ōinaseso kumo...), Keitsū
• 三室の　山見つつ行け (Mimuro no yama mitsutsu yuke...), Mokichi Saitō
• 三諸の　山見つつ行け (Mimoro no yama mitsutsu yuke...), Kamochi Masazumi
• み吉野の　山見つつ行け (Miyoshino no yama mitsutsu yuke...), Tokujirō Oyama
• 静まりし　浦波さわく (Shizumarishi uranami sawaku...), Hisataka Omodaka
• 和まりし　相会ふそあけ (Nagomarishi aiau soake...)

First line only:

• (Yūgure no...)
• (Yūgure no...)

Notes

References