KAMO CHOMEI

born 1155, Japan died July 24, 1216, Kyoto also called Kamo No Chomei poet and critic of Japanese vernacular poetry, one of the major figures in the history of Japanese poetics. He is best known as a classic example of the man of sensibility turned recluse and as the author of Hojo-ki (1212; The Ten Foot Square Hut), a description of his life in seclusion. The son of a Shinto priest of Kyoto, Chomei was given a thorough artistic training. Despite his comparatively humble origin, his poetic gifts brought him grudging recognition from the court and, eventually, a court-appointed office. Shortly after his position was established, Chomei took Buddhist orders (1204) and turned his back on the world. He lived first for four or five years in the hills of Ohara and then built his tiny hermit's hut in the Hino foothills southeast of the capital and completed his Hojo-ki. The work is a series of brief accounts of the disasters that had befallen Kyoto during Chomei's lifetime, followed by a contrasting description of the natural beauty and peace of his hermit's life. The whole is dominated by a characteristic Buddhist view of the vanity of human endeavour and the impermanence of material things. The Hojo-ki bears a more than coincidental resemblance to the Chitei-ki (Account of My Cottage by the Pond) of Yoshishige Yasutane (934?997), a work in Chinese prose dating from 981. Chomei, in fact, kept in touch with the court and the poetic world after his retirement. In 1205, to his great delight, 10 of his poems were included in the first draft of the Shin kokin-shu, the eighth imperial anthology of court poetry. About 1208/09 he began work on his Mumyo sho (Nameless Notes), an extremely valuable collection of critical comments, anecdotes, and poetic lore. In 1214 or 1215 he is believed to have completed his Hosshin shu (Examples of Religious Vocation). His other works include a selection of his own poems (probably compiled in 1181) and the Ise-ki (Record of a Journey to Ise), no longer extant. Chomei's poetry is representative of the best of an age that produced many poets of the first rank. His poetry was unusual in its extreme difficulty but possessed great tonal depth and resonance.