An early Heian statesman and poet, uncle of Emperor Daigo, who became Minister of the Right in 924 and was known by the name of his mansion on Third Avenue. A cultivated patron of music and poetry, he supported Ki no Tsurayuki and Ōshikōchi no Mitsune, the compilers of the Kokinshū. Through marriage alliances his family was linked to Fujiwara no Kanesuke and to the ancestors of Murasaki Shikibu. His Hyakunin Isshu poem asks the 'meeting-slope' vine to draw a lover to him unseen.
名にし負はば 逢坂山の さねかづら
人に知られで くるよしもがな
The sanekazura vine of Meeting Hill — if it lived up to its name, I wish there were a way to reel it in and reach you, unseen by anyone.
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