Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a Japanese waka poet and aristocrat of the late Asuka period. He was the most prominent of the poets included in the Man'yōshū, the oldest waka anthology, but apart from what can be gleaned from hints in the Man'yōshū, the details of his life are largely uncertain. He was born to the Kakinomoto clan, based in Yamato Province, probably in the 650s, and likely died in Iwami Province around 709.
Kanō Tan'yū: Hito-maru (人丸), 1648
Hitomaro by Kikuchi Yōsai
Ukiyo-e print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi that depicts Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro from Ogura Hyakunin Isshu
Waka is a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature. Although waka in modern Japanese is written as 和歌, in the past it was also written as 倭歌, and a variant name is yamato-uta (大和歌).
The Kokin Wakashū is an early (c. 900) anthology of waka poetry which fixed the form of Japanese poetry.