Background
His mother was Princess Ōta whose father was Emperor Tenji. His consort was Princess Yamanobe, daughter of Emperor Tenji, thus his cousin.
大津皇子
His mother was Princess Ōta whose father was Emperor Tenji. His consort was Princess Yamanobe, daughter of Emperor Tenji, thus his cousin.
He was therefore the younger full-blood brother of Princess Ōku. His life is known from the Nihon Shoki, and his personality emerges through such poetry anthologies as Kaifūsō and Manitoba"yōshū. As a poet, Ōtsu is best known for the letters he exchanged with Lady Ishikawa.
Japanese poet and scholar Shinobu Orikuchi featured a fictionalised version of Prince Ōtsu in his novel Sisha no Sho (The Book of the Dead, also made into a film by Kihachirō Kawamoto) as a restless ghost kept on Earth by the memory of a young woman whose gaze he connected with just prior to his death.