04/09/2023
The Great Warrior General, Statesman and Poet Otomo no Tabito died on this day, August 31, 731.
The Otomo clan were both warriors and bureaucrats serving the Nara period Yamato court. Otomo no Tabito, born in 665, was a military commander, statesman and acclaimed poet and scholar.
Tabito served as Governor of Yamashiro (Kyoto) and Settsu (modern-day Osaka, Kobe area) Provinces.
In 720, the Hayato people of southern Kyushu, in defiance of the Yamato Courts rule over the island, rebelled. According to the Imperial commissioned historical text, the Shoku Nihongi, several thousand Hayato warriors gathered in seven castles. The court sent over 10,000 troops under Otomo ni Tabito to quell this uprising. Three months later, the Yamato troops had brought down five of the castles, however the remaining two castles, Soonoiwaki Castle and Himenoki Castle proved more difficult to capture. Both castles held out for another year, with the battles ending in mid 721. This brought Kyushu under the control of the Imperial Court.
From 728 to 730, Otomo no Tabito served as Governor-General of the Imperial office at Dazaifu (Fukuoka Pref.) where he hosted foreign emissaries from Korea and China, governed Kyushu, and became renown for his poetry. His famed works include a series of 13 Tanka poems, being odes to sake.
As Governor, Tabito held a plum blossom viewing party at which he encouraged his many guests and followers to compose elegant poems in the then fashionable Chinese style. Tabito and his more famous son, Otomo no Yakamochi, both contributed to the compilation of poems known as the Man’yoshu.
Otomo no Tabito died August 31, 731 aged 66.