As the compiler of the Man’yōshū, Ōtomo no Yakamochi (ca. 716 – 785) is possibly the most important literary figure of his day. He has 46 nagauta and 432 tanka in the anthology, comprising over ten per cent of its contents.

The son of Ōtomo no Tabito, Yakamochi went with his father to Kyûshû and, no doubt, was exposed to the literary circle Tabito formed there. He became head of head of his clan on his father’s death in 731 and, while he held a number of official positions, ended his career as a mere Middle Councillor, a lesser post than that held be Tabito. This was due partially to the decline in the fortunes of the Ôtomo family, and partially to the fact that, in the latter part of his life, Yakamochi became increasingly involved in the intrigues surrounding the throne and failed to back the winning side. Perhaps as a result of this, he seems to have abandoned poetry after 759 – or at least we have no poems by him from after that year.

Nevertheless, during his productive period of just over twenty years, Yakamochi showed himself to be a poet of great versatility, as at home with nagauta as he was with tanka: his poems mourning his concubine showed his human side, as did his many love poems to his wife, the Elder Maiden of Sakanoue. He was as capable of humour, advising a man who had lost weight to eat eels, as he was of empathy, writing on the sorrows of the frontier guards. It is, of course, also due to his efforts as a compiler that we have so many sakimori uta in the Man’yôshû.

On WakaPoetry.net, Yakamochi has the following poems: