was a Japanese waka poet of the mid-Heian period. One of his poems was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. He produced a private waka collection, the Yoshitaka-shū.
Biography Yoshitaka was born in 954, the son of Fujiwara no Koretada.McMillan 2010 : 140 (note 50).Daijirin entry "Fujiwara no Yoshitaka". Sanseidō.
He served as . He was the father of the respected calligrapher Yukinari. When his father died, Yoshitaka considered ordaining as a Buddhist monk. In the same year his son was born, which dissuaded him from pursuing a religious career.
He died in 974, at age twenty, of smallpox, on the same day as his twin brother.
Poetry Twelve of his poems were included in imperial anthologies, and he was listed as one of the Late Classical Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry.
The following poem by him was included as No. 50 in Fujiwara no Teika's Ogura Hyakunin Isshu: Japanese textSuzuki et al. 2009 : 65.Romanized JapaneseMcMillan 2010 : 165.English translationMcMillan 2010 : 52.君がため 惜しからざりし 命さへ 長くもがなと 思ひけるかなKimi ga tame oshikarazarishi inochi sae nagaku mogana to omoikeru kanaI always thought I would give my life to meet you only once, but now, having spent a night with you, I wish that I may go on living forever.
He left a private collection, the .
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.
External links List of Yoshitaka's poems in the International Research Center for Japanese Studies's online waka database. Minamoto no Yoshitaka on Kotobank. Fujiwara no Yoshitaka on the Japanese History Database.