Ariwara Narihira (在原 業平: from 825 to 880) (role 825 – 880)

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Biography:

In Tōkaidō Texts and Tales: Tōkaidō gojūsan tsui by Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, and Kunisada, edited by Andreas Marks, 2015, #40, p. 122 it says: "Ariwara Narihira (825-880), a noted poet and courtier, was grandson to two emperors, the ex-emperor Heizei and Emperor Kanmu. Thirty of his poems appear in the Kokinshū, and many others in other imperial anthologies. The Tales of Ise, an anonymous collection of stories and poems, is thought to have originated in Narihira's personal collection of waka....

Narihira was said to be quite handsome, and one who devoted his energies to love affairs and poetry rather than to achievement of high rank in public service. Few actual facts are known of his life, but he is reputed to have eloped with Yoshifusa's adopted daughter Fujiwara Kōshi (842-910), who later became a consort to Emperor Seiwa and bore the future Emperor Yōzei. After the elopement, Kōshi's brothers went to bring her back, and Narihira was forced to go to eastern Japan for some time. It was supposedly during this eastern journey that Narihira [composed the poem about Yatsuhashi or the Eight Bridges.]"