was a Japanese waka poet of the early Kamakura period.Britannica Kokusai Dai-hyakkajiten article "Asukai Masatsune". 2007. Britannica Japan Co.Digital Daijisen entry "Asukai Masatsune". Shogakukan. He was also an accomplished kemari player.McMillan 2010 : 149 (note 94). and one of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.Suzuki et al. 2009 : 120.
He was a son of , and the ancestor of the Asukai family, who were known for their skill at both poetic composition and kemari. Being of Fujiwara stock, he was also known as . Among his grandchildren was the poet Masaari.Britannica Kokusai Dai-hyakkajiten article "Asukai Masaari". 2007. Britannica Japan Co.Digital Daijisen entry "Asukai Masaari". Shogakukan. He made a private collection, the Asukai-shū, which was posthumously edited by his grandson in 1292. Twenty-two of his poems were included in the Shin Kokin Wakashū, and a total of 134 in the imperial anthologies.
Political career
Masatsune served three emperors, Go-Toba, Tsuchimikado and Juntoku, in addition to working under the Kamakura shogunate.
Poetry Masatsune studied waka under Fujiwara no Shunzei and from 1201 served in the . He served as one of the compilers of the Shin Kokin Wakashū, along with Shunzei's son Teika. Some twenty-two of his own poems were included in the imperial collection. A total of 134 of his poems were included in it and later imperial collections. He also compiled a private waka collection, the , which was edited by his grandson Masaari in 1292.
The following poem by him was included as No. 94 in Teika's famous Ogura Hyakunin Isshu: Japanese textRomanized JapaneseMcMillan 2010 : 174.English translationMcMillan 2010 : 96.み吉野の 山の秋風 さ夜ふけて ふるさと寒く 衣うつなりMi-yoshino no yama no aki-kaze sa-yo fukete furu-sato samuku koromo utsu nariThe autumn wind blowing down the mountain brings on the night. At the old capital of Yoshino it gets colder, and I can hear pounding— cloth being fulled.
References
Bibliography McMillan, Peter. 2010 (1st ed. 2008). One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each. New York: Columbia University Press. Suzuki Hideo, Yamaguchi Shin'ichi, Yoda Yasushi. 2009 (1st ed. 1997). Genshoku: Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. Tokyo: Bun'eidō.