Eigai Noin was born in 1000. He was a descendant in the 10th generation of Tachibano-no-Moroe, sadaijin (Minister of Left), and the son of Tatami-no-Kami (Governor of the Province of Totomi) Tadamochi and became an adopted son of his elder brother, Gengai.
While young Eigai Noin was officially made Monjo-sei (student of literature) and got himself the pseudonym of Higo Shinshi (Advancing Man of the Province of Higo). During the eras of Choho and Kanko he studied waka under Naganori Fujiwara and this supposedly marked the beginning of the practice known as waka-shisho, in which a teacher through clo·se tutorship hands down the secret formula of waka composition to his most trustworthy disciple. After taking his tonsure, he assumed the religious name of Noin and took up his abode at Kosobe in the province of Settsu and he thenceforth was generally known as Kosobe Nyiido or Priest at Kosobe.
