Emperor Monmu
Hitomaro was a court poet during the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu, with most of his dateable poems coming from the last decade or so of the seventh century. He apparently left a private collection, the so-called "Kakinomoto no Ason Hitomaro Kashū", which does not survive as an independent work but was cited extensively by the compilers of the "Man'yōshū".