Background
Kiyomaro no Wake was born in 733 in the province of Bizen, present-day Okayama Prefecture.
和気 清麻呂
Kiyomaro no Wake was born in 733 in the province of Bizen, present-day Okayama Prefecture.
His elder sister Hiromushi became lady- in-waiting to Empress Shotoku (formerly Empress Koken), and through her introduction he entered court service around 765. Sometime after, Empress Shotoku was informed that the god of the Usa Hachiman Shrine in the province of Bungo had conveyed word through one of his attendants that it would be all right for the empress to turn over the throne to her favorite, the priest Dokyo.
In the eighth month of 769 the empress dispatched Wake no Kiyomaro to the Usa Hachiman Shrine to consult the god for confirmartion, but he returned with word that the god would not give premission for any such action. For this answer Kiyomaro was subjected to punishment and exiled to the province of Osumi. After the death of Empress Shotoku in 770, however, Dokyo was stripped of power and Kiyomaro was pardoned and recalled to service at the court. In 781 Emperor Kdnin died and Emperor Kammu came to the throne, and in 784 he moved the capital from Heijo-kyo in Nara to Nagaoka-kyo in the province of Yamashiro and set about creating a new political regime. Kiyomaro was active in the creation of the new capital, but when the man who had planned the move, Fujiwara no Tane- tsugu, was assassinated, and other difficulties and obstacles developed, Kiyomaro suggested that the capital be moved once more, this time to a site in Yamashiro to be called Heian-kyo, the present city of Kyoto.
The emperor adopted his suggestion, and the capital was accordingly moved in 794. As a result of the services rendered on this occasion Kiyomaro was awarded land and won the confidence of the emperor. In 798 he asked to be relieved of court duties, but the request was denied and he died the following year.