Nijō Yoshimoto Explained

, son of regent Nijō Michihira, was a Japanese kugyō (court noble), waka poet, and renga master of the early Nanboku-chō period (1336–1392).

Yoshimoto's wife gave birth to Nijō Moroyoshi. With another woman, he had sons Nijō Morotsugu and Ichijō Tsunetsugu.

Career as government official

Yoshimoto held the regent position of kampaku three times (from 1346 to 1347,[1] from 1363 to 1367, and in 1388), and that of sesshō twice (from 1382 to 1388, and in 1388).

Scholar-poet

Yoshimoto learned waka from Ton'a and renga from Gusai and Kyūsei. He regarded himself primarily as a waka poet;[4] he authored several treatises on the subject. It is for renga that he is best known. By the age of thirty, he was regarded as an authority on the subject. He authored a number of books including:

Historian

The author of Masukagami is unknown, but it is believed that Nijō Yoshimoto had a hand in its writing. The book is a Japanese historical tale describing events understood to have occurred between 1368 and 1376.[5]

His diary, Kuchi-ura, "gives considerable detail" of the Northern Court.[6]

References

Notes and References

  1. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 297.
  2. Titsingh, p. 316.
  3. Titsingh, p. 318.
  4. Miner, Earl Roy. (1980) Japanese Linked Poetry, p. 20.
  5. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric et al. (2005). "Masu-kagami" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 615.
  6. Book: Sansom, George . A History of Japan, 1334-1615 . Stanford University Press . 1961 . 0804705259 . 94.