Shirome

{{Short description|Japanese poet}}

{{About||the 2010 Japanese film|Shirome (film)}}

Shirome (白女) was a minor female Japanese waka poet, who lived during the 10th century CE.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NwydOTn81ncC&dq=Shirome+waka&pg=PA449 |title=Brocade by Night: 'Kokin Wakashu' and the Court Style in Japanese Classical Poetry |date=October 1985 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-6645-6 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=McCullough |first=Helen Craig |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h8PjRkVxrrgC&dq=Shirome+waka&pg=PA92 |title=Kokin Wakashu: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry: With 'Tosa Nikki' and 'Shinsen Waka' |date=1985 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-1258-3 |language=en}}

She was born in Eguchi, Settsu Province (摂津国江口, modern day Osaka) and thought to be a daughter of a minor aristocrat Settsunokuni Tamabuchi (摂津国玉淵).{{Citation |last=Fiévé |first=Nicolas |title=Social Discrimination and Architectural Freedom in the Pleasure District of Kyoto in Early Modern Japan |date=2003 |work=Japanese Capitals in Historical Perspective |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315020662-4/social-discrimination-architectural-freedom-pleasure-district-kyoto-early-modern-japan-nicolas-fi%C3%A9v%C3%A9 |access-date=2024-04-14 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315020662-4 |doi-broken-date=10 January 2025 |isbn=978-1-315-02066-2}} Her occupation was an asobi/yujo (遊女), often translated as courtesan.{{Cite journal |last=Nikolaevna |first=Trubnikova Nadezhda |date=2019 |title=Once Again About the "Miraculous Power of Waka": Setsuwa Tales About Poets in the Jikkinshō |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/once-again-about-the-miraculous-power-of-waka-setsuwa-tales-about-poets-in-the-jikkinsh |journal=Russian Japanology Review |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=66–91 |issn=2658-6444}} Later in history the terms asobi/yujo frequently indicated someone who did sex work, however during the Heian period (794-1185) the terms often referred to a woman who was trained in the art of singing and dancing - similar to the latter day Geisha.{{Cite book |last=Goodwin |first=Janet R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95YBEAAAQBAJ&dq=Shirome+waka&pg=PA133 |title=Selling Songs and Smiles: The Sex Trade in Heian and Kamakura Japan |date=2006-12-31 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-6425-5 |language=en}} Her performance in front of an abdicated emperor is recorded in a book Okagami (大鏡), The Great Mirror, and other sources.{{Cite book |last=Seigle |first=Cecilia Segawa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4T-kJB8vKvcC&dq=Shirome+poetry&pg=PR9 |title=Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesan |date=1993-03-01 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-1488-5 |language=en}}

A poem of hers was included in the Kokin Wakashū:{{Cite journal |last=Sato |first=Hiroaki |date=1977 |title=Review of The Burning Heart: Women Poets of Japan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/489170 |journal=The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese |volume=12 |issue=2/3 |pages=281–284 |doi=10.2307/489170 |jstor=489170 |issn=0885-9884}}

:If I were only sure

:I could live as long as I wanted to,

:I would not have to weep

:at parting from you.

命だに心にかなふ物ならばなにか別れの悲しからまし