KAMO NO MABUCHI (1697–1769), Japanese scholar of classical studies in the Tokugawa period (1600–1868); he wrote classical poetry under the pen names Shōjyō, Moryō, Iyō, and Agatai.

Mabuchi was born on March 4, 1697, into the Okabe family, descendants of the overseers of Kamo Shrine in Kyoto, at Iba, Ōmi province (modern Shizuoka Prefecture). Mabuchi's father was a Shintō priest and part-time farmer who encouraged his son to write poetry. At the age of ten (eleven by Japanese count) Mabuchi, who received initial instruction from the poet Kada Masako and then from her renowned husband, Sugiura Kuniakira, began taking active part in poetry tournaments.

At the age of twenty-five, Mabuchi made the acquaintance of Kada Azumamaro (1668–1736), scholar of classical studies and headmaster of the school of National Learning (Kokugaku) in Kyoto. Through his association with Watanabe Myōan, a scholar of Ogyū Sorai's school of Ancient Rhetoric...