An early Nara-period poet who accompanied Emperor Shōmu on imperial progresses to Yoshino, Kii and Naniwa. The Man'yōshū preserves thirteen of his long poems and thirty-seven short poems, celebrated for their clear, tranquil depictions of landscape. His view of Mount Fuji from Tago Bay is among the most famous poems in Japanese. Ki no Tsurayuki ranked him with Hitomaro as a 'saint of poetry', and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortals.
田子の浦に うち出でて見れば 白妙の
富士の高嶺に 雪は降りつつ
Tago no Ura ni uchiidete mireba shirotae no / Fuji no takane ni yuki wa furitsutsu
Coming out onto Tago Bay and looking up, I see the pure white peak of Fuji, where even now the snow keeps falling and falling.