Framed Image Of Yamabe no Akahito

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Yamabe no Akahito
700-740
Little is known of Yamabe no Akahito other than what we can gain from his fifty poems in the Manyoshu. His thirteen nagauta poems and thirty-seven tanka poems were all written between 724 and 737 AD. From these we can see Akahito served as a court poet, even accoumpanying the Imperial Emperor on several state visits. It was possibly in this role that he travelled widely across Japan, inclueding the east which few court poets visited at this time.
His acute use of words has caused him to be seen as one of the four great manyo poets. The ninth century poet and critic Ki no Tsurayuki placed him on a level with Hitomaro.