The detailed information on Otomo Yakamochi’s
life comes from his poetic journal and his contributions
to the poetry anthology Man’y¯osh¯u (The
collection for ten thousand leaves [pages], compiled
from 686 to 784). Otomo grew up in Dazaifu,
a city home to some of the most important Japanese
poets of the time.His father Tabito’s high place
in government and the tutoring of his aunt,
Otomo Sakanoue, prepared Otomo for a life as an
imperial official and a poet in his own right.
In 741 Otomo was made an attendant to the
emperor, and from 745 until his death he was promoted
continuously. In 777 he was made Daisi
(“Great teacher”) and became a chief imperial
counselor. Late in life he was implicated in a murder
trial but was pardoned.
Otomo lived at a time when Japanese culture
was greatly influenced by the Tang Chinese, and his
poetry reflects his efforts to reconcile tensions between
the older Japanese form of society, governed
by a warrior elite, and the modern forms of political
administration. As a young courtier he experimented
with the fashionable court styles, writing
occasional poetry to be recited at official occasions
or banquets and love poetry addressed to a series
of women.
In his mid-20s and 30s, Otomo produced most
of his mature verse and began editing the
Man’y¯osh¯u. This work, in its final form, spans 20
volumes and contains 4496 uta (song poems),
from elegies to poems on love, the seasons, travel,
and royal events. In 746, Otomo became the governor
of Etch¯u, where he wrote the majority of his
poems. His varied and original verses cover a wide
range of subjects, blending artful observations of
nature with a poignant undertone of melancholy
and yearning, as expressed in this poem, number
3967 in the Man’y¯osh¯u:
If I could show you but a glimpse
Of the cherries blooming
In the mountain gorges.
Translator Paula Doe notes that Otomo was “in
large part responsible for the preservation of the
ancient poetic tradition” and adds that “he laid the
foundation for Japanese poetry for centuries to
come.”
An English Version of Works by
Otomo Yakamochi
Written on Water: Five Hundred Poems from the
Man’y¯osh¯u. Translated by Takashi Kojima. Rutland,
Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle, 1995.
A Work about Otomo Yakamochi
Doe, Paula. A Warbler’s Song in the Dusk: The Life and
Work of Otomo Yakamochi (718–785). Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1982.