was a

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

'' waka poet'' and Japanese nobleman. His daughter was the Heian poet and author

Sei Shōnagon , or , was a Japanese author, poet, and court lady who served the Empress Teishi (Sadako) around the year 1000, during the middle Heian period. She is the author of . Name Sei Shōnagon's actual given name is not known. It was the custom amon ...

, famous today for writing ''

The Pillow Book is a book of observations and musings recorded by Sei Shōnagon during her time as court lady to Fujiwara no Teishi, Empress Consort Teishi during the 990s and early 1000s in Heian-period Japan. The book was completed in the year 1002. The wor ...

''. He is designated a member of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals, and one of his poems is included in the famous ''Ogura

Hyakunin Isshu is a classical Japanese anthology of one hundred Japanese ''waka'' by one hundred poets. ''Hyakunin isshu'' can be translated to "one hundred people, one poem ach; it can also refer to the card game of '' uta-garuta'', which uses a deck compo ...

''. His court career included terms as governor of

Kawachi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the eastern part of modern Osaka Prefecture. It originally held the southwestern area that was split off into Izumi Province. It was also known as . Geography The area was radically different in th ...

and

Higo Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. It was sometimes called , with Hizen Province. Higo bordered on Chikugo, Bungo, Hyūga, Ōsumi, and Satsuma Provinces. History The cas ...

. As one of the , Kiyohara no Motosuke assisted in the compilation of the ''

Gosen Wakashū The , often abbreviated as ''Gosenshū'' ("Later Collection"), is the second imperial anthology of Japanese poetry, Japanese Waka (poetry), waka compiled in 951 in poetry, 951 at the behest of Emperor Murakami by the Five Men of the Pear Chamber ...

''. This group also compiled readings for texts from the ''

Man'yōshū The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...

''. His poems are included in several official poetry anthologies, including the ''

Shūi Wakashū The , often abbreviated as ''Shūishū'', is the third imperial anthology of waka from Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th empe ...

''. A personal collection known as the also remains.

External links

E-text of his poems
in Japanese
Brief biography in English
908 births 990 deaths 10th-century Japanese poets Hyakunin Isshu poets Deified Japanese men {{japan-writer-stub