Kakinomoto No Hitomaro - Family Background

Family Background

The Kakinomoto clan into which Hitomaro was born was an aristocratic court clan of middling prestige and rank. In the clan, he was referred to as Ason, signifying that he held the third highest title of eight. In earlier years, the clan served the court mainly by holding religious ceremonies with singing and reciting of poems. It had a deep relation to the Sarume clan whose legendary founder was Ame-no-Uzume, the dancer goddess.　It can be supposed Hitomaro grew up in an artistic atmosphere.

The Kakinomoto name can be traced to the 4th-century C.E. aristocratic Kasuga family, descended from Emperor Kōshō. According to the Sekishū Masuda family-tree diagram (石州益田家系図) from the Shoshikechō (諸氏家牒), his father was Kakinomoto no Ooba (柿本大庭) and his brother's name was Kakinomoto no Saru (柿本 猨/佐留). In a different document, Hitomaro (人万呂/人麿) is recorded as the Saru's son, but this remains doubtful. In the same document, Hitomaro's son is given as Ninomaro (蓑麿), whose mother is Yosami Koromoya-musumego (依羅衣屋娘子). His descendants established themselves in the Iwami province as local administrators of Mino, and from the Kamakura period became part of the regional warrior caste under the name of the Masuda clan. As there are no historical sources contemporary to Hitomaro's time, these historicity of these documents are difficult to verify.