late Heian period · 1055–1135Archbishop Gyōson

A late Heian monk of the Tendai school, great-grandson of Emperor Sanjō. Ordained at twelve, he spent years as an ascetic in the sacred mountains of Ōmine and Katsuragi and became famous for the efficacy of his prayers, serving as spiritual protector to three successive emperors. He rose to head of the Tendai school and Archbishop, and was also abbot of Onjō-ji. About fifty of his poems appear in imperial anthologies. His Hyakunin Isshu poem, addressed to a mountain cherry found unexpectedly in flower deep in the Ōmine range, asks the tree to share his loneliness, since no one else knows him there.