Happy Women's Map 栃木県 伝説の近代女性歌人 石塚 倉子 女史
「吹き送る 風のたよりも 誰が里の庵に匂ふ 梅の初花」
"blow off A scent from Whose village first flower of plum"
石塚 倉子 女史
Ms. Kurako Ishizuka
1686 - 1758
栃木県栃木市藤岡町富吉 生誕
Born in Totigi-city, Totigi-ken
近代前期の代表的な在野の女性歌人です。家督を継ぎながら、和歌や紀行文を綴り、『室八嶋』『花短冊』を華麗に上梓しました。江戸期の浮世絵師・喜多川歌麿「近代七才女詩歌」で紹介されています。
Ms. Kurako Ishizuka is a representative out-of-field female poet of the early modern period. While taking over the family estate, he wrote waka poems and travelogues, and published "Muroyashima" and "Hanatanzaku" brilliantly. Introduced in Edo period ukiyo-e artist Utamaro Kitagawa's "modern seven-year-old female poetry".
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倉子は江戸時代中期に舟運でにぎわう巴波川下流の豪農の家に生まれます。先祖は皆川藩主（栃木県）の和歌の朋友になるほど代々和歌に通じ、倉子も若い時から和歌や文章を綴り親しんでいます。ならびに、実家は江戸の文人や画家がたびたび宿泊していたことから江戸花壇の重鎮の荷田在満や儒学者の服部南郭などと親交を深め、多くの作品を残しています。六人兄弟ながら、兄の貞基と倉子の二人を残して兄弟は若死にし、兄も家督を倉子に譲り佐渡に渡って没します。倉子は二十二歳で鈴木度易を婿に迎え、家督を継ぎながら、「春秋亭」と号して季節のうつろいを歌い続けます。３６歳と３７歳のときに旅日記、『日光 紀 行』 『 妙義紀行』を書き残します。７０歳の時に「室八嶋」を出版、水墨画の挿絵が添えられ、序文には荷田在満から田舎で和歌の道に励んだ才女を称賛する言葉が寄せられています。晩年の作品「花短冊」は和歌とともに春夏秋冬四季折々の花や鳥を色鮮やかに立体的にあしらった華麗な作品を出版。後に浮世絵師・喜多川歌麿「近代七才女詩歌」に「下野室八嶋倉子女」の美人画とともに倉子の和歌「吹き送る 風のたよりも 誰が里の 庵に匂 ふ 梅の初花」が添えられて残されています。Kurako was born into the prominent household of a wealthy farmer near the lower reaches of the Tomohe River, bustling with boat traffic, during the mid-Edo period. Her ancestors were well-versed in waka poetry, to the extent that they became friends with the lord of the Minakawa Domain (located in Tochigi Prefecture) and were skilled in waka generation after generation. Kurako herself also engaged in waka poetry and writing from a young age. Additionally, her family's home was frequented by Edo literati and artists, which allowed her to establish close relationships with figures such as Hotta Zaiman, a senior member of the Edo flower arrangement scene, and Fukudome Nankaku, a Confucian scholar. She left behind numerous works. Despite being one of six siblings, only Kurako and her brother Sadamasa survived into adulthood. Sadamasa eventually passed on the family leadership to Kurako and then passed away on Sado Island. At the age of twenty-two, Kurako married Suzuki Doyi and continued composing poetry under the pseudonym "Shunkiutei," depicting the changing seasons. At the ages of thirty-six and thirty-seven, she wrote travel diaries titled "Nikkō Kikō" and "Myōgi Kikō." At the age of seventy, she published "Muroya Shima," a collection that included ink and wash paintings as illustrations. The preface contained praises from Fukudome Nankaku, acknowledging her dedication to waka poetry in the countryside. In her later years, she published "Hana Tansaku," a splendid work adorned with vibrant depictions of flowers and birds for each season, combined with waka poetry. Later on, she left behind her waka poem, "First blossoms of plum fragrance, who sends them to the hermitage in the village? More reliable messengers, the winds blowing." This waka poem, along with a portrait of Kurako titled "Shimotsuke Muroya Kurako Onna" by the ukiyo-e artist Kitagawa Utamaro, was included in the "Modern Seven Talented Women of Poetry" collection.
-栃木市藤岡町歴史民俗資料館 Tochigi-Fujioka Historial Museum
-栃木市教育研究所 Tochigi municipal institute for education research
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