Ben no Menoto was the menoto (wetnurse)[1] of Princess Teishi. She was born in 995, with the personal name of Fujiwara no Akiko, though little other information is known about her childhood.[2] She began her service in 1013, and was supposedly on good terms with Suō no Naishi. She was also a poet, and her poems are collected in the Goshūi Wakashū[3] In 1027 the mother of Princess Teishi, Empress DowagerFujiwara no Kenshi (Known as Empress Dowager Biwadono in retirement) died.[4] After her death, Ben no Menoto wrote a stanza about seeing the withered iris scent bags still being hung above the old chambers where the Empress Dowager used to stay.[5][6]