A female poet of the mid-Heian period. She is known by the sobriquet "Izumi Shikibu," combining her husband Tachibana no Michisada's provincial title (Governor of Izumi) with her father's court rank (Secretary of the Ministry of Ceremonies). She became famous for passionate love affairs with imperial princes Atsumichi and Tametaka, and her memoir of those years—the Izumi Shikibu Diary—is celebrated as a masterpiece of Heian women's diary literature. She later served as a lady-in-waiting to Fujiwara no Shōshi, consort of Emperor Ichijō, sharing a literary salon with Murasaki Shikibu and Akazome Emon. Her poem selected for the Hyakunin Isshu—"Before I vanish from this world, let there be one more meeting, to keep as a memory in the next"—conveys an intensely sensual yearning for a final tryst in the face of death. She is counted among the Thirty-Six Poetry Sages and was called a "genius of poetry."

A passionate poet of emotional depth and bold expression. She prioritized the truth of love over social convention, transforming heartbreak and grief into beautiful verse. Though Murasaki Shikibu reportedly called her a "frivolous woman," her poetic genius was universally acknowledged.

The Izumi Shikibu Diary stands as one of the pinnacles of Heian women's literature. Her love poetry exerted profound influence on later waka and tanka, and she is celebrated today as the poet who captured romantic emotion most lyrically. Several sites in Kyoto are traditionally identified as her grave.