Background
Mifune no Ōmi was born in 722.
淡海三船
Mifune no Ōmi was born in 722.
In his youth he became a Buddhist monk, assuming the name Genkai, but he later returned to lay life and took up a position at court.
In 756, however, he was penalized for speaking out in criticism of the court.
In 764, when Emi no Oshikatsu rose up in revolt, Omi no Mifune condemned his actions and was rewarded by promotion in rank, Along with Isonokami no Yakatsugu, he was famous as one of the outstanding scholars of the time, and in 772 he was appointed head of the daigaku, a school of higher learning set up by the state, which was somewhat comparable to a modern university but restricted in enrollment to sons of the aristocracy.
In conjunction with Ishikaw'a no Natari and others he was engaged in the compilation and editing of historical materials, and in 779 he wrote a biography of Ganjin, a Chinese priest who came to Japan, entitled Todai- wajo loseiden. In addition he is said to have been the one who selected and assigned the Chinese style posthumous names such as Jimmu, Suizei, etc. by which the early Japanese rulers are now known.
