SOCHO

born 1448, Suruga province [now in Shizuoka prefecture], Japan died April 11, 1532, Japan also called Sokan, or Saiokuken Japanese renga (linked-verse) poet and chronicler of the late Muromachi period (13381573) who, along with two other renga poets, wrote Minase sangin hyakuin (1488; Minase Sangin Hyakuin: A Poem of One Hundred Links Composed by Three Poets at Minase). Little is known of Socho's early years, but he spent many of his adult years as a disciple of the Buddhist monk and renga master Iio Sogi. In early 1488 Socho, Sogi, and another student, Shohaku, met at the village of Minase, between Kyoto and Osaka, and composed Minase sangin. The poem is considered to be one of the best examples of linked-verse poetry, which was at its peak during that time. After the death of Sogi in 1502, Socho wrote the narrative Sogi shuen ki (An Account of the Last Moments of Sogi) to commemorate his master. Later works included Socho shuki (152227; Memoirs of Socho), in which he used renga and haikai (comic renga) to describe his travels during that period, and Socho nikki (153031; Socho Diary).