The Thirty-Six Immortal Women Poets (女房三十六歌仙, Nyōbō Sanjūrokkasen) names a lineage of court women whose poetry defined classical Japanese refinement. Compiled in the Kamakura period from Heian precedents, the canon preserves voices for whom poetry functioned as correspondence, reputation, and survival within the imperial court.

Each plate is a poised pairing: on the left, a portrait of one of the thirty-six poets active during the Heian (794–1185) and Kamakura (1185–1333) periods; on the right, one of her poems. From the ninth through the twelfth centuries, their verse shaped court culture and was later imitated across painting, calligraphy, and design.

The Thirty-Six Immortal Women Poets

Five poets—Ono no Komachi, Lady Ise, Nakatsukasa, Saigū no Nyōgo, and Kodai no Kimi—had already been canonized in Fujiwara no Kintō’s Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry (1113), affirming women’s foundational role in court literature. Later figures, including Michitsuna no Haha and Fujiwara no Shunzei no Musume, extend that legacy into the Kamakura era.

Together, the poems and portraits preserve a tradition at its height—before changing power structures narrowed women’s access to literary authority—leaving a visual and textual record of wit, restraint, longing, and authorship forged within the exacting world of the court.

Images: MET Museum, public domain

Princess Shikishi (Shikishi Naishinnō) 式子内親王