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Ono no Takamura: Exiled to Oki, Recalled, Visited the Underworld
Ono no Takamura (802-852) refused to serve as deputy ambassador to Tang and was exiled to Oki. Recalled in just two years, he rose to senior court rank. Famous for his Hyakunin Isshu poem and a legend of nightly visits to the underworld via Rokudo Chinno-ji's well in Kyoto.
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Taketoki
| Samurai History
Ono no Takamura (802-852) refused to serve as deputy ambassador to Tang in 838 after a dispute over ship assignments and was exiled to Oki Island. Recalled after just two years, he rose to senior court rank as Sangi, Sadaiben, and Gyobukyo. His Hyakunin Isshu poem composed during the Oki exile — “Across the broad ocean / Toward many small islands / I row away — / Tell them in the capital, / O fishermen’s boats” — remains famous. A medieval legend has him traveling nightly to the underworld via a well at Rokudo Chinno-ji in Kyoto, where he served as a judge under King Yama (Enma). His case shows that Heian-period exile was not always lifelong.
Last updated: May 2, 2026
Rokudo Chinno-ji in Kyoto — preserves the well of Ono no Takamura's underworld journeys
Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Oki Island — exile site of Takamura, later Emperor Go-Toba and Go-Daigo
Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Hyakunin Isshu — Ono no Takamura's poem from Oki
Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
King Yama (Enma) — Takamura is said to have served as judge under him
Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Heian-period scholar — Takamura's world of letters and arms
Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
── 了 ──
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Taketoki（たけとき）
Samurai History
Toku editorial team — samurai history. Insists on primary sources and castle-layout diagrams, walking battlefields from Yoritomo's Izu exile sites to the late-Edo battlegrounds.
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