Wayfaring Poet Profile: Kamo no Chōmei

Recreation of the mountain hut of Kamo no Chōmei

In this episode of The Poet’s Dreamingbody, we explore a Wayfarer from early Japan, Kamo no Chōmei (1155-1216), a townsman-turned-Buddhist hermit-poet, who eventually became a mountain recluse. In addition to his own poetry published as Kamo no Chōmei-shu, and two other texts, the Mumyōshō (a treatise on poetry) and Hosshinshū (a collection of tales about wandering holy people and hermits), Chōmei is the author of the famous Hōjōki: Record of a Ten Foot Square Hut.

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BOOKS MENTIONED

Hōjōki: Visions of a Torn World, translated by Yosubiko Moriguchi and David Jenkins

Four Huts: Asian Writings on the Simple Life, translated by Burton Watson

Hōjōki: A Hermit’s Hut As Metaphor, translated and annotated by Matthew Stravos

Kenkō and Chōmei: Essays in Idleness and Hōjōki, translated by Meredith McKinney

SOUNDSCAPES

Sacred Mountains, Louigi Verona

Shingetsu, Bronwyn Kirkpatrick

Kitsune, Jarguna and Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos

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