Kamo no Chōmei
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Kamo no Chōmei (鴨長明, 1155–1216) was a Japanese author, poet (waka), and essayist. He was born Kamo no Nagaakira. He experienced a series of disasters in his life, was passed over for promotion in the government, and lost his political backing as a result. He decided to turn his back on society and became a simple hermit, living simply. This is unusual because most people in Japan at the time, when they turned their backs on the world, joined monasteries, which were separate social systems and structures. Chomei is fairly unique because he did not join another establishment, merely moving from one system to another, but instead truly left much of the world behind when he became a hermit.
[edit] Works
- Hōjōki (方丈記) - Chomei tells of his getting fed up with society and going to live in the wilderness, in order to lose all of his attachments to this fleeting world.
- Mumyōshō (無名抄)
- Hosshinshū (発心集)
