Born Sat? Norikiyo (雿?? 蝢拇?) in Kyoto to a noble family, Saigyo lived during the traumatic transition of power between the old court nobles and the new samurai warriors. After the start of the Age of Mapp? (1052), Buddhism was considered to be in decline and no longer as effective a means of salvation.

These cultural shifts during his lifetime led to a sense of melancholy in his poetry. As a youth, he worked as a guard to retired Emperor Toba, but in 1140 at age 22, for reasons now unknown, he quit worldly life to become a monk, taking the religious name En'i (????). He later took the pen name, 'Saigy?' meaning Western Journey, a reference to Amida Buddha and the Western paradise. He lived alone for long periods in his life in Saga, Mt Koya, Mt Yoshino, Ise, and many other places, but he is more known for the many long, poetic journeys he took to Northern Honsh贖 that would later inspire Bash? in his Narrow Road to the Interior.

He was a good friend of Fujiwara no Teika. Some main collections of Saigy?'s work are in the Sankash贖, Shin Kokin Wakash贖, and Shika Wakash贖. He died in Hirokawa Temple in Kawachi Province (present-day Osaka Prefecture) at age 72.