SHOHAKU

born 1443, Japan died May 4, 1527, Japan also called Muan Japanese scholar and author of waka and renga (linked-verse) poetry during the late Muromachi period (13381573). Along with two other renga masters, he composed Minase sangin hyakuin (1488; Minase Sangin Hyakuin: A Poem of One Hundred Links Composed by Three Poets at Minase). Little is known of his early life, but at some time he became a student of the Buddhist monk and poet Iio Sogi. In early 1488 Shohaku, Sogi, and another student, Socho, met at Minase, a village between Kyoto and Osaka, and wrote Minase sangin. The poem, which was written at the height of the renga's popularity, is considered to be one of the best examples of the genre. Shohaku assisted Sogi in editing Shinsen tsukubashu (1495; Newly Selected Tsukuba Collection), an anthology of renga that included revised rules for their composition. His own works include Ise monogatari shobunsho, a commentary on the Tale of Ise; and Shohaku koden, a scholarly treatise on renga.