Minamoto no Hitoshi (源等)

MINAMOTO no Hitoshi (880 - March 951) was a noble who lived in the early to middle Heian Period. His father was MINAMOTO no Mare, who was Chunagon (Middle Counselor), and Hitoshi was a great-grandson of the Emperor Saga.

In 899, he was appointed to Omi no Gon no shojo (Provisional Junior Secretary of Omi Province) and, after that, successively held positions of various chihokan (a local official) including the lord of Mikawa Province, the lord of Tango Province and the lord of Yamashiro and, after working as Sachuben and Uchuben, he reached Sangi in 947 and, in 951, he was ranked at Shoshiinoge (Senior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade).

His career as a waka poet is not clear, and only four poems by him were left in 'Gosen Wakashu.'

Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (The Ogura's Sequence of One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets)
No. 39, "Asajifuno Ononoshinohara Shinoburedo Amaritenadoka Hitonokoishiki" (In the field of pseudsasa japonica in Ono where grasses grow, I suffer loneliness, but I miss my sweatheart.) ('Gosen wakashu' (Kinyo Collection of Japanese poems) Love - 578).

[Original Japanese]