Fujiwara no Aritsuna (藤原有綱)

FUJIWARA no Aritsuna (date of birth unknown -1082 or 1086) was a retainer of the Imperial Court, scholar, and Chinese-style poet in the late Heian period. He was from the Northern House of the Fujiwara clan, FUJIWARA no Manatsu line (the Hino family line) and a son of Shikibu no taifu (Senior assistant Minister of the Ministry of Ceremonial) FUJIWARA no Sanetsuna. His mother was a daughter of the Military Governor of Bingo Province, MINAMOTO no Michinari. FUJIWARA no Aritoshi, FUJIWARA no Arinobu, and FUJIWARA no Arisada were his younger brothers, and Saneyoshi and Shifumi were his sons.

In 1053 he passed Taisaku (governmental officer examination in the Heian Period) and became Saemon no jo (third-ranked officer of the Left Division of Outer Palace Guards). Since then, he served successively as Kurodo (Chamberlain), Sashoben (third ranked officer of the left), Chugu no suke (Assistant Master of the Consort's Household), Daigaku no kami (Director of the Bureau of Education), Monjo hakase (professor of literature), etc., and he was distinguished for the breadth of his learning. As he was Kanjinsha (the proposer) of the name of the era 'Otoku' as well, during the Otoku era, he was said to be one of the most highly recognized scholars. He was also famous as a Chinese style poet and a poet, and his Chinese poetries are included in "Honchomudaishi" (A collection of Chinese poems), "Beppon Wakan Kensaku Shu" (Special issue of a collection of Japanese-Chinese poems) and his waka poetries are found in "Mandaishu" and "Shufushu," etc. According to a record, in 1075 he organized a utaawase (poetry contest) at his residence.

His daughter married MINAMOTO no Yoshiie and became the mother of MINAMOTO no Yoshikuni and his younger brother MINAMOTO no Yoshitada..

[Original Japanese]