A nobleman and poet of the early Kamakura period. After his father was exiled for siding with Minamoto no Yoshitsune, he spent his youth in Kamakura in the service of the shoguns, then returned to the capital, where the retired Emperor Go-Toba recognized his talent. Appointed to the Bureau of Poetry in 1201, he served as one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshū and rose to Councillor. A master of kemari football, he founded the Asukai house, which became hereditary custodians of both football and poetry. About 135 of his poems appear in imperial anthologies. His Hyakunin Isshu poem hears fulling-blocks at Yoshino in a cold autumn wind.
み吉野の 山の秋風 さ夜更けて
ふるさと寒く 衣打つなり
The autumn wind blows through the mountains of Yoshino, and as the night deepens, the sound of cloth being beaten on fulling blocks drifts coldly through the old capital.
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