Viewed as the emperor's likely heir, Imperial Prince Ōtsu began attending to matters of state in 683, but was demoted in 685 when the court rank system was revised.
[1] The last days of his life are described in the Nihon Shoki and Man'yōshū; [2] his personality emerges through poetry anthologies including the Kaifūsō.
[2] Two examples of his work are below, including the death poem— Poem sent by Prince Ōtsu to Lady Ishikawa Gentle foothills, and in the dew drops of the mountains soaked, I waited for you – grew wet from standing there in the dew drops of the mountains.
Farewell poem Momozutau / iware no ike ni / naku kamo wo / kyō nomi mite ya / Kumokakuri nan.
Japanese poet and scholar Shinobu Orikuchi featured a fictionalised version of Prince Ōtsu in his novel Sisha no Sho (The Book of the Dead, also made into a film by Kihachirō Kawamoto) as a restless ghost kept on Earth by the memory of a young woman whose gaze he connected with just prior to his death.