Fujiwara no Akiuji

Fujiwara no Akiuji was born in 1207.^[1] A member of the Northern Branch (Hokke) of the Fujiwara clan,^[2] he was the second son of Fujiwara no Akiie [ja]^[2] and the younger brother of Fujiwara no Tomoie.^[1]

He reached the Junior Second Rank at court,^[2] and founded the Kamiyagawa lineage (紙屋河家 Kamiyagawa-ke) within the Rokujō branch of the Fujiwara clan.^[2] He is occasionally mentioned in the Azuma Kagami as a court envoy to Kantō (関東祗候).^[2]

He died on the eighth day of the eleventh month of Bun'ei 11 in 1274.^[2]

Akiuji was a central figure in the Kamakura waka poetic circle,^[2] and in Kyoto helped establish the anti-Mikohidari [ja] faction, along with his brother Tomoie and Fujiwara no Mitsutoshi.^[2] His poetry was a regular fixture in the uta-awase contests and other poetic gatherings organized by the members of this faction,^[2] but it was not highly appreciated.^[2]

His poems were included in the records of a large number of uta-awase,^[2] including the Kasuga Wakamiya-sha Uta-awase (春日若宮社歌合)^[2] and the Munetaka-shinnō-ke Hyakugojū-ban Uta-awase (宗尊親王家百五十番歌合),^[2] as well as in the Hōji On-hyakushu (宝治御百首).^[2] His poems were also included in private anthologies that collected the works of Kamakura poets,^[2] including the Tōsen Waka Rokujō (東撰和歌六帖),^[2] the Genzon Waka Rokujō (現存和歌六帖)^[2] and the Un'yō Wakashū.^[2]

Eleven of his poems were included in imperial anthologies from the Shoku Gosenshū on.^[2] He left a personal collection, the Akiuji-shū,^[2]