late Heian period · 1139–1192Fujiwara no Sanesada

A late Heian statesman and poet, nephew of Fujiwara no Shunzei, who became Minister of the Left in 1189 and was called 'the later Tokudaiji minister' to distinguish him from his grandfather. Accomplished in waka, music and popular song, he appears in The Tale of the Heike lamenting his stalled career under the Taira and making a pilgrimage to Itsukushima. He took Buddhist vows late in life and left a diary. About seventy-five of his poems appear in imperial anthologies. His Hyakunin Isshu poem turns toward the cuckoo's cry only to find nothing left but the dawn moon.