was a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 nobleman, bureaucrat, and chronicler. He may have been the son of , a participant in the Jinshin War

Jinshin War

The was a succession dispute in Japan which broke out in 672 following the death of Emperor Tenji. The name refers to the jinshin or ninth year of the sixty-year Jikkan Jūnishi calendrical cycle, corresponding to the Western year 673....

 of 672.

He is most famous for compiling and editing, with the assistance of Hieda no Are

Hieda no Are

is primarily known for being instrumental to the compilation of the Japanese text Kojiki in 712. While birth and date are unknown, Are was active during the late 7th and early 8th century.-Background:Very little is known about Are's background...

, the Kojiki

Kojiki

is the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, dating from the early 8th century and composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Gemmei. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami...

, the oldest extant Japanese history. Empress Genmei (r. 707-721) charged Yasumaro with the duty of writing the Kojiki in 711 using the differing clan chronicles

Teiki

The is a historical text purported to have been compiled in 681. The text is no longer extant.-Background:According to the Nihon Shoki: On the seventeenth day, the emperor, residing in his place in the Daigokuden, commanded Prince Kawashima, Prince Osakabe [etc...] to record a definitive edition...

 and native myths

Kyuji

, also known as and , is an ancient Japanese historical text. Its existence is recorded in the Kojiki which claims to have been composed based on its contents...

. It was finished the following year in 712.

Yasumaro most probably also played an active role in compiling the Nihon Shoki

Nihon Shoki

The , sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki, the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical...

, which was finished in 720.

Yasumaro became clan head in 716, and died in 723.

Ō no Yasumaro Epitaph

On January 23 1979 the grave of Ō no Yasumaro was unearthed in a tea plantation in Konose Ward of Nara City, Nara Prefecture. This Engraving is an important example of 8th century Japanese Inscriptions. The Engraving reads: