Fujiwara no Kanesuke



Fujiwara no Kanesuke (藤原兼輔), also known as the Riverbank Middle Counselor (堤中納言), was a middle Heian-period waka poet and Japanese nobleman. He is designated as a member of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals.

His great-granddaughter was Murasaki Shikibu, author of the well-known monogatari the Tale of Genji.

His father was Fujiwara no Toshimoto.

Poetry
Kanesuke's poems are included in several imperial poetry anthologies, including Kokin Wakashū and Gosen Wakashū. A personal poetry collection known as the Kanesuke-shū also remains.

The Tale of Heike contains "an almost direct quotation" of his poem in the Gosenshū (no. 1102). The passage goes, "...as clear as a father's understanding may be in all other matters, love blinds him when it comes to his own child."

One of his poems is included in the famous anthology Hyakunin Isshu: