Fujiwara no Akihira (藤原明衡)
FUJIWARA no Akihira (c.989-November 8, 1066) was a Confucian scholar and a man of literature in the mid-Heian period. His father was FUJIWARA no Atsunobu of the Ceremonial House of the Fujiwara clan. His azana (adult males nickname) was Kirai and Anran. He had children including FUJIWARA no Atsumoto, FUJIWARA no Atsumitsu, and Meisen (a master of fue (Japanese flute)). He also adopted FUJIWARA no Akinari, a son of FUJIWARA no Akito (明任), as his son.
Since he did not come from a Confucian family in the first place, it took him a long time to pass Taisaku (an exam to be Monjo tokugosho (Distinguished Scholars of Letters)). He finally passed in 1032 and was assigned to Saemon no jo (third-ranked officer of the Left Division of Outer Palace Guards), but was punished for revealing the answer for Taisaku to his junior fellow secretly. Later, he successively held various positions such as Shikibu shoyu (Junior Assistant of the Ministry of Ceremonial), Monjo hakase (professor of literature), Togu gakushi (Teacher of the Classics of the Crown Prince) and Daigaku no kami (Director of the Bureau of Education) in the reign of Emperor Goreizei and reached Jushiinoge (Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade).
He excelled in prose and poetry, edited 'Honcho monzui' (Anthology of waka poems and prose written in classical Chinese) and 'Honcho shuku' (Exemplary Lines by Japanese Poets) and wrote 'Shinsarugoki' (a kind of textbook about manners and cultures of Kyoto in the Heian period), 'Meigo Orai' (Meigo's Correspondence) and so on.