The Six Poetic Sages were designated by name in the prefaces to the Kokinshu, the first imperial anthology of Japanese poetry, compiled in 905. Two of the six, Ariwara no Narihira and Ono no Komachi, a woman, are among Japan's greatest poets. The other four, Bishop Henjo, Fun'ya (or Bun'ya) no Yasuhide, Otomo no Kuronushi, and the monk Kisen are competent court poets of the ninth century. Here they are treated with some humor, tightly grouped as though in conference.