An early Heian scholar and poet, nephew of Ariwara no Narihira and Yukihira, who held middle-ranking posts in the bureaucracy. Deeply versed in Chinese learning, in 894 he presented to Emperor Uda a collection of waka each composed on a line of Chinese verse, mostly by Bai Juyi. Ten of his poems are in the Kokinshū. His Hyakunin Isshu poem, on the autumn moon that seems to bring sorrow to him alone, adapts a couplet from Bai Juyi's poem on the Yanzi Tower.
月見れば 千々に物こそ 悲しけれ
わが身ひとつの 秋にはあらねど
Tsuki mireba chiji ni mono koso kanashikere / waga mi hitotsu no aki ni wa aranedo
Gazing at the moon, a thousand sorrows fill my heart — though autumn did not come for me alone.