Kamo
Chōmei

Kamo Chōmei, also called Kamo no Chōmei (b.
1155, Japan—d. July 24, 1216, Kyōto), 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
Hōjō-ki (1212; The Ten Foot Square Hut), a
description of his life in seclusion.
The son of a Shintō
priest of Kyōto, Chōmei 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, Chōmei took Buddhist orders (1204)
and turned his back on the world. He lived first for
four or five years in the hills of Ōhara and then
built his tiny hermit’s hut in the Hino foothills
southeast of the capital and completed his Hōjō-ki.
The work is a series of brief accounts of the
disasters that had befallen Kyōto during Chōmei’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 Hōjō-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.
Chōmei, 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 kokinshū, the eighth imperial anthology of
court poetry. About 1208 or 1209 he began work on
his Mumyō shō (“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 shū (“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. Chōmei’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.