was a Japanese tanka poet and scholar of Japanese literature of the Meiji Era. He was born as Ayukai Morimitsu and was the biological elder brother of the Korean scholar Ayukai Fusanoshin.
Ochiai was born in what was then Motoyoshi County, Mutsu Province, as the second son to Ayukai Tarà  Tairamorifusa (é®Âè²Â太æÂÂå¹³çÂÂæ¿), a high-ranking retainer of the Sendai Domain. From the ages 11 to 13, he studied, among other things, kangaku (Chinese studies), at the Sendai Private School (ä»Âå°ç§Â塾), and in 1874 was adopted by the kokugaku scholar Ochiai Naoaki (è½åÂÂç´亮). His adopted father's research took him to Ise, where he studied in the Jingà « Kyà Âin (ç¥Âå®®æÂÂé¢; later to become Kogakkan University).
In 1881, he moved to Tokyo, and the following year entered the School of Literature at Tokyo Imperial University. In 1884 he dropped out, and began three years of military service.
From 1889 onward, he taught at various academic institutions including Dai-ichi Kà Âtà  Chà «gakkà  (第ä¸Âé«ÂçÂÂä¸Âå¦校) and the Tà Âkyà  Senmon Gakkà  (the predecessor to modern Waseda University). One of his students at the Dai-ichi Kà Âtà  Chà «gakkà  was the tanka poet and calligrapher Saishà « Onoe.
In 1889, he joined Mori à Âgai in forming the literary society Shinsei Sha (æ°声社), and in August of that year they jointly translated and published the poetry anthology Omokage (æ¼æ¯Âå½±) which was to have a significant impact on contemporary Japanese poetry.
In 1893, he formed another literary society, the .
Donald Keene called him "[t]he first distinctively new poet of the Meiji period" but commented that while he attempted to update tanka for the modern era, his attempts were "halfhearted". (Keene 1999, p. 12)
The is named after him.