Abutsu-ni (阿仏尼, c. 1222 – 1283; the -ni suffix means "nun") was a Japanese poet and nun. She served as a lady-in-waiting to Princess Kuniko, later known as Empress Ankamon-in. In approximately 1250 she married fellow poet Fujiwara no Tameie. She had two children with him. Following his death in 1275, she became a nun. A dispute over her son's inheritance led her, in either 1277 or 1279, to travel from Kyoto to Kamakura in order to plead on her son's behalf. Her account of this journey, told in poems and letters, was published as Izayoi nikki (Diary of the Waning Moon or Journal of the Sixteenth-Night Moon), her most well-known work.
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Early life
Abutsu-ni's birth name and parentage are unknown. She was adopted at a young age by Taira no Norishige, the nominal governor of Sado Province. As his daughter she served in the court of Princess Kuniko later Empress Ankamon-in. During this time she was known as Ankamon-in no Shijō and Ankamon-in Emon no Suke. Also during her time at court, she gave birth to three children with unknown parentage: two sons, Ajari and Rishi, and a daughter, Ki Naishi. Both sons became Buddhist clergy members and Ki Naishi became a lady-in-waiting to a consort of Emperor Kameyama. From later correspondence compiled in the Izayoi nikki, it is revealed that she also had two sisters, one older and one younger.
Marriage and inheritance dispute
In or around 1250, Abutsu-ni married Fujiwara no Tameie, whom she likely met while working on a commissioned copy of The Tale of Genji. Together they had two sons: Tamesuke born in 1263, and Tamenori born in 1265. Tamesuke later took the surname of "Reizei", founding the Reizei family of poets. Following Tameie's death in 1275, she shaved her head and took on the monastic names of Abutsu and Hokurin-zenni.