Ono no Komachi

Lore & Background

Almost nothing of Komachi's life is known for certain, save for the names of various men with whom she engaged in romantic affairs and whose poetry exchanges with her are preserved in the Kokin Wakashū. Extensive study has gone into trying to ascertain her place of birth, her family and so on, but without conclusive results. The Edo-period scholar Arai Hakuseki advanced the theory that there was more than one woman named Komachi and that the legends about her referred to different people, later expanded to conjecture that there were four 'Komachis'. It has been conjectured that she was a lady-of-the-bedchamber in the service of Emperor Ninmyō, and when the latter died in 850 she started relationships with other men. According to one tradition, she was born in what is now Akita Prefecture, daughter of Yoshisada, Lord of Dewa. The Noh play Sotoba Komachi by Kan'ami describes her as 'the daughter of Ono no Yoshizane, the governor of Dewa'. Her social status is also uncertain; she may have been a low-ranking consort or a lady-in-waiting of an emperor.

Reader's Guide

Ono no Komachi is significant as one of the earliest and most celebrated female poets in Japanese literature, and her work marks a transition from the direct style of the Man'yōshū to the verbal complexity of the Kokinshū. Almost all of her extant poems are melancholic, focusing on anxiety, solitude, or passionate love. In the Kokinshū, all but one of her poems were classified as either 'love' or 'miscellaneous' poems. She is the only female poet referred to in the kana preface of the anthology, which describes her style as 'containing naivety in old style but also delicacy'. Her legacy extends beyond poetry: legends about her developed as early as the eleventh century and were used extensively in Noh plays. These legends include tales of her beauty, her cruel treatment of lovers, and her wretched old age. She and her contemporary Ariwara no Narihira are considered archetypes of female and male beauty, respectively. Her name is used in modern Japan as a title for the most beautiful woman in a town or region, and the Akita Shinkansen is named Komachi in her honor.

Did You Know?

• Komachi is the only female poet referred to in the kana preface of the Kokinshū.
• The Edo-period scholar Arai Hakuseki theorized that there may have been more than one woman named Komachi.
• One legend says she promised to become the lover of Fukakusa no Shōshō if he visited her for a hundred nights; he died on the ninety-ninth night.
• The Akita Shinkansen is named Komachi in her honor.