A scholar-statesman of the early Heian period. A master of Chinese letters, he rose under Emperor Uda to Minister of the Right, but in 901 the slander of Fujiwara no Tokihira had him demoted to a post in Kyushu, where he died in exile. Calamities that followed were blamed on his angry spirit, and he was deified as Tenjin, the god of learning venerated at Tenmangū shrines throughout Japan. His Hyakunin Isshu poem offers autumn leaves as a travel offering on Mount Tamuke during an imperial excursion to Yoshino.
このたびは 幣も取りあへず 手向山
紅葉の錦 神のまにまに
Kono tabi wa nusa mo toriaezu Tamukeyama / momiji no nishiki kami no manimani
This journey came so suddenly that I could prepare no offerings. Accept instead this brocade of autumn leaves on Mount Tamuke, O gods, as your hearts see fit.