Yamanoue no Okura (山上 憶良) (660–733) was a Japanese poet, the best known for his poems of children and commoners. He was a member of Japanese missions to Tang China. He was also a contributor to the Man'yōshū and his writing had a strong Chinese influence. Unlike other Japanese poetry of the time, his work emphasizes a morality based on the teachings of Confucius. He was perhaps born in 660 because his fifth volume, published in 733, has a sentence saying "in this year, I am 74".
Yamanoue's father was a physician from the kingdom of Baekje, who fled to Japan after Baekje fell to Silla and Tang. Yamanoue came to Japan when he was a child. Yamanoue no Okura went on to accompany a mission to Tang China in 701 and returned to Japan in 707. In the years following his return he served in various official capacities. He served as the Governor of Hōki (near present day Tottori), tutor to the crown prince, and Governor of Chikuzen.[1]