Hachijō-in no Takakura

Who They Were

Hachijō-in no Takakura (八条院高倉; はちじょういん たかくら) was a Japanese noblewoman, waka poet and Buddhist nun whose career spanned the end of the Heian period and the early Kamakura period. She is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Women Poets, a canonical grouping of the most admired female poets in the Japanese tradition. She is also designated a member of the New Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry (新三十六歌仙, Shinsanjūrokkasen), a later list compiled in the Kamakura period to honour poets the older canon had missed.

Her dates are given as 1176 to 1300. She was born in Japan, the daughter of Chōken, a Buddhist priest, and Shushi-naishinnō, a princess. She served as a lady-in-waiting to Akiko-naishinnō, the princess known as Hachijō-in, and it is from that household that she takes her name.

Life and Career

Takakura was born in Angen 2 (1176), the second year of the Angen era. According to accounts that circulated at the time and appear in some documents, she was the secret daughter of Princess Yoshiko — a daughter of Emperor Go-Toba and the widow of Emperor Nijō — and the Buddhist priest Chōken. Princess Yoshiko died very soon after Takakura's birth. Takakura's aunt, Hachijō-in, may then have sent the infant to be raised by the poet Fujiwara no Shunzei. Once she was old enough, she entered Hachijō-in's service as a lady-in-waiting.

Her reputation rests on her poetry. Emperor Go-Toba read one of her poems and was struck by it, and he encouraged her to write for the competitions and ceremonies of the court. She was noted for her ability to read both Japanese and Chinese, and she was known for her intelligence — a rare combination for a woman of her rank and time.

After her mistress Hachijō-in died, Takakura took religious vows and became a nun. She adopted the name Kunyo and lived chiefly at Shokutei-in, on the grounds of the Daigoji temple complex in Kyoto, later moving to Hokkeji. There she formed a close friendship with Jizen, a fellow nun and fellow former lady-in-waiting.

Why They Matter

Takakura's importance lies in two places. The first is the poetry itself: a body of waka composed for the court competitions and events that Emperor Go-Toba himself encouraged her to enter. The second is her place in the canon. Inclusion among the Thirty-Six Immortal Women Poets and among the New Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry means her work was transmitted, copied and taught long after her death.

Her life also records something about how the Heian and Kamakura courts worked. A woman of uncertain parentage, raised in the household of a great poet and then placed in the service of a princess, could rise through sheer literary skill. Go-Toba's decision to promote her work is a concrete example of imperial patronage shaping a woman's career.

Her later years show the other standard path for such a woman: the taking of vows, the move to a temple, the new religious name, and a community of former court women living together. That arc — court service, poetic fame, then the cloister — is one of the defining shapes of a woman's life in this period.

The Name in Japanese

The name is written 八条院高倉.

• Romaji: Hachijō-in no Takakura
• Kana: はちじょういん の たかくら
• Hiragana breakdown: はちじょういん (hachijōin) + の (no) + たかくら (takakura)

The element の (no) is a possessive particle, so the whole name means roughly "Takakura of Hachijō-in" — the poet attached to the Hachijō-in household.

Character by character:

八 — read hachi. Meaning: eight. It is one of the most basic numerals in Japanese.

条 — read jō. Meaning: article, clause, or a strip or line. In the old capital it was used to count the numbered east–west streets of the grid plan, which is why so many Kyoto place names contain it.

院 — read in. Meaning: temple, or the cloister of a retired emperor or imperial princess. When it follows a name, it often marks a person who has taken Buddhist vows or a residence associated with one.

Together 八条院 (Hachijō-in) is the name by which the princess Akiko was known. It refers to a cloister or residence, and it became her standard title.

高 — read taka. Meaning: high, tall, elevated. It carries the sense of both physical height and high rank or excellence.

倉 — read kura. Meaning: storehouse, granary, or treasury. It appears in many place names and family names.

Together 高倉 (Takakura) is a common place name and surname in Japan, literally "high storehouse". As a woman's name in this period it is a court name rather than a family surname, and it is the name by which this poet is known.

Legacy

Takakura's poems survive through the anthologies and competition records that preserved the work of the Thirty-Six Immortal Women Poets and the New Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry. Her designation in the latter list is the clearest statement of how later generations rated her.

The name Kunyo, which she took on becoming a nun, is also recorded, and she is believed to be the same person referred to elsewhere as Takakura-dono. Her residence at Shokutei-in within the Daigoji complex, and later at Hokkeji, places her within the network of religious houses in and around Kyoto where former court women lived after taking vows. Her friendship with the nun Jizen is one of the small, human details that survives alongside the poetry.