Kamo no Chōmei

Kamo no Chōmei (1153 or 1155–1216) is a Japanese author, poet (in the waka form), and essayist.

He witnesses a series of natural and social disasters, and, having lost his political backing, is passed over for promotion within the Shinto shrine associated with his family.

He decides to turn his back on society, take Buddhist vows, and become a hermit, living outside the capital.

This is somewhat unusual for the time, when those who turn their backs on the world usually join monasteries.

Along with the poet-priest Saigyō, he is representative of the literary recluses of his time, and his celebrated essay Hōjōki ("An Account of a Ten-Foot-Square Hut") is representative of the genre known as "recluse literature" (sōan bungaku).

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