was a Japanese waka poet of the early Heian period.
He was included in the Late Classical Thirty-Six Poetic Geniuses, and thirty-three of his poems were included in poetry collections commissioned by the court.
His birth and death dates are unknown, and the details of his life are also uncertain, but he was the son of Ariwara no Muneyana (died 898), the first son of Ariwara no Narihira (825âÂÂ880). Who his mother was is also unknown.
According to the , he was adopted by his brother-in-law .
As a courtier, he held the Senior Fifth Rank, although the 14th century attributes to him the Sixth Rank.
He was listed as one of the Late Classical Thirty-Six Poetic Geniuses. Thirty-three of his poems were included in court anthologies: fourteen the Kokin Wakashà «, eight in the Gosen Wakashà «, two in the Shà «i Wakashà «, and nine more in later anthologies from the Shin Kokin Wakashà « on.
The following poem was included as the very first entry in the Kokin Wakashà «, indicating the high regard in which the compilers likely held his poetry.
Between one and three of his poems survive in the records of each of several uta-awase gatherings: the , the , the and the . Some of these overlap with the Motokata poems preserved in court anthologies.
In the middle ages there was apparently a private collection of his poems, the , but only a four-leaf fragment is known to exist today.
His poems are characterized by an intellectual style. They make frequent use of .
His poems clearly display the features of the so-called "Kokinshà « style".