Little is known about Egyō – the dates of both his birth and death remain a mystery – beyond the fact that he was apparently employed as a lecturer at the provincial state temple (kokubunji 国分寺) in Harima 播磨 to the west of the capital. He was on good terms with the Monk Anbō 安法 who, as the great-grandson of Minamoto no Tôru, resided at the Kawara Estate, and it was probably while visiting him that he composed this poem. He is also known to have been a frequent visitor to the palaces of a number of members of the imperial family and aristocracy (Retired Emperor Kazan 花山院, Minamoto no Taka’akira 源高明, Fujiwara no Michikane 藤原道兼 and others), probably on the strength of his skills as a poet.

He makes his first appearance in an imperial anthology in the Shūishū and has 19 of his poems included in it, while history has judged him to be one of the ‘36 Poetic Sages’(sanjūrokkasen 三十六歌仙).

On WakaPoetry.net, the following poems are by Egyō: