Kenreimon-in Ukyō no Daibu (建礼門院右京大夫) was a Japanese noblewoman andwaka poet of the lateHeian and earlyKamakura periods.
She was a daughter ofFujiwara no Koreyuki [ja][1] and Yūgiri (夕霧), a daughter ofŌga no Motomasa [ja] and a renownedkoto player.[1] It has been postulated that she was born inHōgen 5 (1157).[1] In 1173, she entered the service ofTaira no Tokuko, then empress toEmperor Takakura.[1] She may have come to court under the patronage ofFujiwara no Shunzei.[1] Her mother had previously given birth to a son, Son'en (尊円), by Shunzei,[1] before marrying Koreyuki and taking Son'en with her into Koreyuki's house,[1] and Ukyō no Daibu's nickname (literally "Ukyō High Steward") comes from the political post held by Shunzei at the time she came to court.[1] She served less than six years as a lady-in-waiting,[1] but during this time she began a love affair withTaira no Sukemori [ja],[1] and also tookFujiwara no Takanobu as a lover.[1] Takanobu was the son ofFujiwara no Tametsune [ja] andBifukumon-in no Kaga [ja],[1] who later married Shunzei,[1] so it is possible that Takanobu's mother and foster-father were involved in the relationship.[1] In around the autumn of 1178, she left court and went to live with her mother,[1] but the following year her mother fell ill and died,[1] and Ukyō no Daibu went to live with her half-brother Son'en in theNishiyama district of the Capital.[1] Her relationship with Takanobu came to an end around this time,[1] and she came to rely on the love of Sukemori.[1] With the growing tensions between theTaira and their rivalMinamoto clan, however, their relationship was short-lived.[1] The Taira were driven from the Capital in the seventh month of 1183 (according to the traditionalJapanese calendar),[1] and Sukemori left her,[1] before drowning at theBattle of Dan-no-Ura in 1185.[1] Ukyō no Daibu heard the news of her lover's death,[1] and later entered religious orders along with her brother atHosshō-ji (ja).[1] She went on treasuring the memory of her lover Sukemori,[1] but around a decade later, in 1196 or 1197, she went back to the court ofEmperor Go-Toba,[1] and then entered the service of the empress dowagerShichijō-in.[1] She lived until at least 1233,[1] but her date of death is unknown.[1]
She left apersonal anthology, theKenreimon-in Ukyō no Daibu Shū (建礼門院右京大夫集).[2]
23 of her poems were included inimperial collections from theShin-chokusenshū on,[1] and her poems were also included in theFuboku Wakashō (夫木和歌抄), theGyokuyōshū and others.[1] The ten poems by her that were included in theGyokuyōshū are indicative of both her individual poetic style and the style of that anthology.[3] These poems can all duplicates of those in her personal collection,[4] but the two poems included inJien'sShūgyokushū (拾玉集) and theTsukimōde Wakashū (月詣和歌集) are not found in her personal anthology.[4]
It has been hypothesized thatYamaji no Tsuyu [ja], the unofficial sequel toThe Tale of Genji, was written by her.[4]
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