Priest Jakuren
(c. 1139–1202)

Priest Jakuren was born Fujiwara Sadanaga in Japan. He was the son of Shunkai, but more importantly, he was the nephew of Fujiwara Shunzei, the leading poet at court in the late twelfth century. Shunzei's own sons showed no great poetic promise, so Shunzei decided to adopt his brother's son, Sadanaga, to become the heir to his court poet position. Sadanaga worked hard at his poetry. When his cousin, Teika, suddenly showed himself to be an accomplished poet, Shunzei made his own son the heir to the court poet position. Sandanaga entered the Buddhist priesthood, taking the name Jakuren.

Jakuren was recognized as a major court poet. Although he did not write many poems, he composed some of the finest poems of the time. He was one of the poets commissioned by emperor Gotoba to work on compiling the eighth imperial anthology. Unfortunately, he died before it was completed.

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