Fujiwara no Hamanari

Who was Fujiwara no Hamanari?

Fujiwara no Hamanari was a Japanese noble and poet of the Nara period. He was the son of Fujiwara no Maro, and, according to the genealogy book Sonpi Bunmyaku, his mother was Uneme of Yakami no Kōri, Inaba Province, who is probably the same person who had a famous affair with Aki no Ōkimi. The collection of Japanese poems Man'yōshū does not include his works. With an unknown woman he had a son Toyohiko, among other children with other women. The footnote of Sonpi Bunmyaku, however, notes that Toyohiko is actually the grandson of Hamanari.

For poetics, he is best known for Kakyō Hyōshiki, the oldest extant piece of Japanese poetic criticism. In it, he attempts to apply phonetic rules of Chinese poetry to Japanese poetry.