Katō Enao

Katō Enao (加藤 枝直, 1693–1785) was a Japanese waka poet of the mid-Edo period. His real surname was Tachibana (橘), and his original given name was Tamenao (為直); he later changed it to Enao, which he also wrote as 要南甫. His nickname was Matazaemon (又左衛門), and he used various art names including Nanzan (南山), Tokoyoan (常世庵) and Hagizono (芳宜園).

Biography

He was born on the eleventh day of the twelfth month of Genroku 5 (1692) according to the traditional Japanese calendar, and died on the tenth day of the eighth month of Tenmei 5 (1785). His grave is in Ekō-in. He was the father of the waka poet and kokugaku scholar .

He was born in Matsusaka, Ise Province. According to tradition, he was a distant relative of Tachibana no Moroe and a descendant of Nōin, and that their descendants had become retainers of the Kitabatake clan in Ise. His father Naoyuki (尚之) had served the , but became a rōnin and settled in Matsusaka before taking up waka composition. Enao, too, started composing waka at age seven or eight.

In 1718 Enao went to Edo and entered the service of the Tokugawa shogunate, and in 1720 became a yoriki under Ōoka Tadasuke. The following year he became a ', a position he held until 1731. He left his position for a time before entering the service of the governor of Shimotsuke Province (稲生下野守).

His real surname was Tachibana (橘), and his original given name was Tamenao (為直); he later changed it to Enao, which he also wrote as "要南甫". His nickname was Matazaemon (又左衛門), and he used various art names including Nanzan (南山), Tokoyoan (常世庵) and Hagizono (芳宜園).

Enao was a waka prodigy from a young age, and when he arrived in Edo he is said to have studied under the Dōjō school (堂上派) poet Oshiko Yoshinari (鴛氷由也). He maintained his love of waka for his whole life, and composed several karonsho (books of waka poetic theory), including Uta no Sugata Inishie e Ima o Agetsurau (歌の姿古へ今を論らふ詞), Uta no Oshie (歌のおしへ), Ko ni Atauru Fumi (子に与ふる文) and Kōshun Jō no Sho (答俊仍書). He also left a personal anthology, Azuma-uta (東歌), which in print appeared in six books divided into three volumes, as well as a handwritten manuscript of the same.