A late Heian poet and scholar, great-grandson of Michinaga, who nevertheless rose no higher than a minor guards post and took Buddhist vows in old age. Learned in Chinese and Japanese letters, he studied the Man'yōshū and championed traditional style against the innovator Minamoto no Toshiyori, his great rival, earning a reputation as a sharp-tongued judge of poetry contests. As the teacher of Fujiwara no Shunzei he stands at the source of the Mikohidari school. About 105 of his poems are in imperial anthologies. His Hyakunin Isshu poem reproaches a patron who broke a promise to advance his son.
契りおきし させもが露を 命にて
あはれ今年の 秋もいぬめり
I clung to your promise, 'Rely on me as the dew relies on the sashimo grass,' as my very lifeline — and yet this year's autumn, too, seems to be passing in vain.
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