late Heian period · dates unknown (late 11th c. – early 12th c.)Minamoto no Kanemasa

A late Heian poet of the Uda Minamoto line who held a minor post in the empress's household and later became a monk. Little is recorded of his life, but he took part in poetry contests of the early twelfth century, including those of the retired Emperor Horikawa and of Fujiwara no Tadamichi, and belonged to the circle of Minamoto no Toshiyori. Only seven of his poems appear in imperial anthologies. His Hyakunin Isshu poem, on the plovers crying from Awaji Island that wake the barrier-keeper at Suma, echoes the exile scenes of The Tale of Genji.