Minamoto no Tōru

{{Short description|Japanese poet and statesman}}

Image:Minamoto no Tohru.jpg]]

{{family name hatnote|Minamoto|lang=Japanese}}

{{nihongo|Minamoto no Tōru|源融||822 – September 21, 895}} was a Japanese poet and statesman. He was born the son of Emperor Saga and a member of the Saga Genji clan. He is sometimes mentioned as the model for Hikaru Genji in important Japanese literary classic The Tale of Genji.

Under his title {{nihongo|Minister of the Left of Kawara|河原左大臣|Kawara no Sadaijin}}, he is the author of poem 14 in the Hyakunin Isshu poetry anthology:

{{waka|陸奥のしのぶもぢずり誰ゆゑに |乱れそめにしわれならなくに|reading = Michinoku no shinobu-mojizuri tare yue ni
midare somenishi ware naranaku ni|translation = Like Michinoku prints of the tangled leaves of ferns, it is because of you,
that I have become confused; but my love for you remains.|source = based on Kokin Wakashū 14:724}}

Here is another translation:

: The dye with hare’s-foot-fern, of Michinoku—who else would have made me feel as disturbed?

The poet is also famous for making a replica of the uta-makura Shiogama, a poetic place name, in his garden.{{Cite book |last=Sato |first=Hiroaki |title=Legends of the Samurai |publisher=Overlook Duckworth |year=1995 |ISBN=9781590207307 |page=38}}

His tomb resides at the Seiryō-ji, a Buddhist temple situated on what was once Saga Moor in Kyoto.

We also see two of his poems included in the Gosen Wakashū.{{Cite web |title=Minamoto no Tōru • . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史 |url=https://historyofjapan.co.uk/wiki/minamoto-no-toru/ |access-date=2022-07-30 |website=. A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史 |language=en-GB}}