An early Heian statesman, a son of Emperor Saga who was given the surname Minamoto and rose to Minister of the Left in 872. He is remembered for his vast Kawara-in mansion on the bank of the Kamo River, where he recreated the salt-burning shore of Shiogama in the far north, having seawater carried in from the coast. His villa at Uji later became the site of Byōdō-in. He is often cited as a model for the hero of The Tale of Genji. His poem on the tangled patterns of Michinoku cloth is in the Kokinshū.
陸奥の しのぶもぢずり 誰ゆゑに
乱れそめにし われならなくに
Michinoku no shinobu mojizuri tare yue ni / midare-somenishi ware naranaku ni
My heart is in disarray, like the tangled patterns of Michinoku's shinobu-dyed cloth. And whose fault is that? No one's but yours.