Taira no Tadanori
{{family name hatnote|Taira|lang=Japanese}}
{{Infobox person
| name = {{nihongo|Taira no Tadanori|平 忠度|}}
| image = Taira no Tadanori onder een kersenboom, RP-P-1989-176.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Tadanori resting under a cherry tree
by Kobayashi Kiyochika
| image_size = 250px
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1144
| birth_place =
| death_date = 1184
| death_place =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Poet and military leader
| known_for =
}}
{{nihongo|Taira no Tadanori|平 忠度|}} (1144–1184) was a poet and military leader of the late Heian period of Japan. He was the brother of clan head Taira no Kiyomori, and one of his generals in the Genpei War against the Minamoto.{{Cite book|last=Miner|first=Earl Roy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dc3xDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA244|title=The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature|last2=Morrell|first2=Robert E.|last3=Odagiri|first3=Hiroko|date=2020-09-01|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-21838-0|pages=244|language=en}}
Career
Tadanori was the governor of Satsuma and a general in the Genpei War. He was also a well versed poet and a student of the famous poet Fujiwara no Shunzei.{{Cite book|last=Wells|first=D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_-HDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA50|title=The Russo-Japanese War in Cultural Perspective, 1904–05|last2=Wilson|first2=S.|date=1999-08-24|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-230-51458-4|pages=50|language=en}}
Genpei War
File:Taira_no_Tadanori.jpg|upright]]
Tadanori took part in the Battle of Fujigawa of the Genpei War. He also fought against Minamoto no Yoshinaka in the Battle of Kurikara.{{Cite book|last=Turnbull|first=Stephen|title=Battles of the Samurai|publisher=Arms and Armour Press|year=1987|ISBN=0853688265|page=13}} According to the Tale of the Heike, before fleeing the capital after a loss to the Minamoto, he visited Fujiwara no Shunzei to deliver a "hundred or so" poems. Shunzei included one anonymously in the Senzaishu. The poem read:{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/talesheiketransl00wats|title=The Tales of the Heike|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2006|ISBN=9780231138031|pages=[https://archive.org/details/talesheiketransl00wats/page/n84 72]–77|translator=Burton Watson|url-access=limited}}
{{Poem quote|text=In ruins now, the old capital Shiga by the waves,
yet the wild cherries of Naga still bloom as before.|source=}}
Death
He died in the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani.{{Cite book|last=Sansom|first=George|title=A History of Japan to 1334|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=1958|ISBN=0804705232|page=299}}{{Cite book|last=Sato|first=Hiroaki|title=Legends of the Samurai|publisher=Overlook Duckworth|year=1995|ISBN=9781590207307|page=123}} His body was identified by a signed poem that was fastened to his quiver. The poem read:{{rp|96}}
{{Poem quote|text=Evening drawing on, I'll take lodging in the shade of this tree,
and make its blossoms my host for the night.|source=}}
See also
- Zeami Motokiyo – playwright who wrote the Noh play Tadanori which focuses on Tadanori's spirit and his desire to have his anonymous poem attributed.{{Cite book|last=Fraleigh|first=Matthew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LXvnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA105|title=Plucking Chrysanthemums: Narushima Ryūhoku and Sinitic Literary Traditions in Modern Japan|date=2020-05-11|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-1-68417-565-9|pages=105|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Noh Plays DataBase : Tadanori : Synopsis and Highlight|url=https://www.the-noh.com/en/plays/data/program_072.html|access-date=2021-09-19|website=www.the-noh.com}}
References
- Turnbull, Stephen (1998). The Samurai Sourcebook. London: Cassell & Co.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taira no, Tadanori}}
Category:Japanese warriors killed in battle