Shirome

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Shirome (白女) was a Japanese waka poet who lived in the early 10th century. She was born in Eguchi, Settsu Province (in modern Osaka) and is thought to be the daughter of a minor aristocrat. She worked as an asobi/yujo, a performer who sang and danced for noble audiences. In the Heian period, these terms could refer to courtesans, but they also described talented court entertainers.

Shirome is noted for performing before an abdicated emperor, an event recorded in The Great Mirror (Okagami) and other sources. One of her poems was included in the Kokin Wakashū: 命だに心にかなふ物ならばなにか別れの悲しからまし.