Born: 976, Japan
Died: 1033 (possibly)
Country most active: Japan
Also known as: 和泉式部
Japanese poet Izumi Shikibu was one of the Thirty-six Medieval Poetry Immortals (中古三十六歌仙, chūko sanjurokkasen) chosen by Fujiwara no Kintō as the greatest of Japanese poets of the Asuka, Nara, and Heian periods. She is considered by many to have been the greatest woman poet of the Heian period (794-1185). She wrote at least 242 poems and two kashu (collections of waka poetry).
Izumi Shikibu was not her birth name; Shikibu is an honorific and she married the governor of Izumi when she was 20. While serving as an imperial courtier in Kyoto, she reputedly had a series of affairs before, during and after her marriage, including with two princes, the brothers Tametaka and Atsumichi. As a result of the scandal, she and her husband divorced not long after the birth of her daughter in 997 (Koshikibu no Naishi, who also became a poet). She was disowned by her family and he died soon after. Izumi began her affair with Atsumichi after Tametaka died in 1002, but Atsumichi also died young, at age 27, just a few years later in 1007.
Her semi-autobiographical “diary,” Izumi Shikibu Nikki, was written from the early days of Izumi’s relationship with Atsumichi 1003 and continues for about nine months. Written as a third person narrative, it contains waka poetry, with more than 100 poems including renga. Other renowned women writers at court at this time included Akazome Emon, Murasaki Shikibu, and Ise no Taifu.
She remarried in 1009 to a military commander, and later devoted herself to Buddhism.