Otomo no Yakamochi

(718 - 785)

Otomo no Yakamochi compiled the Man’yōshū, the oldest extant collection of Japanese poetry, and included in it works by, among others, himself, his father Ōtomo no Tabito, and his aunt Ōtomo no Sakanoue. The poet experienced his most prolific period while serving as the governor of Etchū between 746 and 751 and was later demoted to the same post in Inaba, where he composed his last known poem; none exist from his final twenty-six years, which were marred by court intrigue and failed rebellions.