Fujiwara no Hamanari

Fujiwara no Hamanari 藤原ふじわら浜はま成しげる
Born	724
Died	March 12, 790
Family	Fujiwara Kyōke
Father	Fujiwara no Maro

In this Japanese name, the surname is Fujiwara.

Fujiwara no Hamanari (藤原ふじわら 浜はま成しげる, 724 – March 12, 790) was a Japanese noble and poet of the Nara period. He was the son of Fujiwara no Maro, and, according to the genealogy book Sonpi Bunmyaku, his mother was Uneme of Yakami no Kōri, Inaba Province, who is probably the same person who had a famous affair with Aki no Ōkimi. The collection of Japanese poems Man'yōshū does not include his works. With an unknown woman he had a son Toyohiko (豊彦とよひこ), among other children with other women. The footnote of Sonpi Bunmyaku, however, notes that Toyohiko is actually the grandson of Hamanari. Hamanari achieved the court rank of ju san-mi (従したがえ三さん位い) and the position of sangi.

Life

As the heir of his father Maro, the founder of the Kyōke, Hamanari was a central figure of that clan. However, he was almost a generation younger than the second heads of the Nanke, Hokke, and Shikike, and this left him always a step behind their advancement.

Hamanari was conferred the rank of ju go-i no ge (従したがえ五ご位い下か) in 751. Under Empress Kōken, he held high-level positions in various ministries, but his promotion stagnated at this rank until Fujiwara no Nakamaro's rebellion in 764. He supported Empress Kōken's side in the conflict, and was promoted to ju shi-i no ge (従したがえ四よん位い下か) a month later. He held a position as director of the gyōbu-shō, and in 772 was promoted to ju shi-i no jō (従したがえ四よん位い上じょう) and sangi, joining the ranks of the kugyō.

In 773, Emperor Kōnin's heir Crown Prince Osabe (他た戸と親王しんのう) was disinherited, and according to the rekishi monogatari Mizukagami, Hamanari opposed Fujiwara no Momokawa's candidate Prince Yamabe, the future Emperor Kanmu, in favor of his brother by another mother, on the grounds that Yamabe's mother was descended from immigrants from Baekje.

Still, Hamanari was steadily promoted in Kōnin's court: in 774 to shō shi-i no ge (正せい四よん位い下か), in 775 to shō shi-i no jō (正せい四よん位い上じょう), and in 776 to ju san-mi (従したがえ三さん位い).

In 781, after Emperor Kanmu assumed the throne, Hamanari was assigned away from the capital as director of the Dazaifu. Two months later, he was demoted within that body, had his retainers reduced from ten people to three and his stipend reduced by two-thirds, and was commanded to stop performing his actual duties and leave them to his supposed subordinate. This was likely intended by Kanmu to set an example for his opposition, and perhaps also as retribution. In 782, Hamanari's son-in-law Higami no Kawatsugu rebelled, and Hamanari was implicated and stripped of his high position as sangi. He was never able to return to the center of government. Hamanari died in the Daizaifu in 790, at the age of 67.

Personality

Hamanari was well-read, and practiced divination and onmyōdō. He held positions in various ministries, but was unable to produce any impressive results. According to the Shoku Nihongi, this brought suffering to his subordinates and the people.

For poetics, he is best known for Kakyō Hyōshiki, the oldest extant piece of Japanese poetic criticism. In it, he attempts to apply phonetic rules of Chinese poetry to Japanese poetry.

See also

• 8th century in poetry
• Japanese poetry

References

• 水垣みずがき 久ひさ. 藤原ふじわら浜はま成しげる (in Japanese). Retrieved 2007-09-23.
• Itō, Yoshinobu (1969). 天てん応おう元年がんねん六ろく月がつの政変せいへん [The Coup of the Sixth Month of the First Year of Ten'ō]. Politico-Economic History (政治せいじ経済けいざい史学しがく) (in Japanese) (74).
• Yamaguchi, Hiroshi (1975–1976). 藤原ふじわら浜はま成なり論ろん（上うえ・下した） [Fujiwara no Hamanari (Parts 1 and 2)]. Ancient Culture (古代こだい文化ぶんか) (in Japanese). 27 and 28 (12 and 1).
• Satō, Makoto (1993). "藤原ふじわら浜はま成なりとその時代じだい" [Fujiwara no Hamanari and his Times]. 歌うた経けい標しるべ式しき－注釈ちゅうしゃくと研究けんきゅう－ [Kakyō Hyōshiki -Annotation and Research-] (in Japanese). Ōfūsha (桜さくら楓かえで社しゃ).
• Kimoto, Yoshinobu (2006). 氷上ひかみ川がわ継つぎ事件じけんと藤原ふじわら浜はま成しげる [The Higami no Kawatsugu Incident and Fujiwara no Hamanari]. The Culture and Information Science Research Report (文化ぶんか情報じょうほう学科がっか研究けんきゅう報告ほうこく) (in Japanese) (1).

Further reading

• JSTOR Wasp Waists and Monkey Tails: A Study and Translation of Hamanari's Uta no Shiki (The Code of Poetry, 772), Also Known as Kakyo Hyoshiki (A Formulary for Verse Based on The Canons of Poetry) - Judith Rabinovitch - Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 51, No. 2 (Dec., 1991), pp. 471–560 - doi:10.2307/2719287 (Fujiwara no Hamanari is mentioned in the first sentence of the first of the 90 pages of this article. This first page is at this link and is free.)