Kokamonin no Betto (皇嘉門院別当)
Kokamonin no Betto (year of birth and death unknown) was a poetess of the late Heian period. Her father was MINAMOTO no Toshitaka. She was the granddaughter of the Okura-kyo (Minister of the Treasury) MINAMOTO no Morotaka.
She served Kokamonin FUJIWARA no Seishi (the daughter of the Regent FUJIWARA no Tadamichi), the empress of the Emperor Sutoku. As Kokamonin Seishi was the daughter of Tadamichi and the older sister of FUJIWARA no Kanezane, Kokamonin no Betto composed poems on occasions related to Kanezane, such as the "Udaijin Kanezane ke uta-awase" (poetry contest sponsored by the Minister of the Right Kanezane) in 1175 and the "Udaijin-ke Hyakushu" (Hundred-Poem Sequence sponsored by the Minister of the Right's family) in 1178. Kokamonin Seishi had already become a Buddhist nun when she died in 1182.
Her poems were selected for "Senzai Wakashu" (Collection of Japanese Poems of a Thousand Years) and other subsequent Chokusen wakashu (anthologies of Japanese poetry compiled by Imperial command).
From Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (the Ogura Anthology of One Hundred Tanka-poems by One Hundred Poets)
No. 88: Will I have to sacrifice myself for the night I spent with you away from home at Naniwa Bay, and to keep loving you for the rest of my life? ("Senzai Wakashu", Love-3, 806)