Kamo Chomei

Kamo Chomei

 

Born 1153; died 1216. Japanese writer.

Kamo Chomei lived at a time when the power of the Japanese aristocracy was crumbling under the assaults of military feudal families. An aristocrat by birth, he was a court poet; he later took monastic vows. He became famous after writing the book of essays Notes From a Ten-foot-square Hut (1212), which is permeated by Buddhist ideas about the fragility of the world and is considered a model of prose in the classic Japanese style of zuihitsu. His poems are included in imperial anthologies. He was also the author of Nameless Notes (1210—12), which contained comments on poets, poetry, and prosody.

WORKS

In Russian translation:
“Zapiski iz kel’i.” Translated by N. I. Konrad. In N. I. Konrad, Iapon-skaia literatura v obraztsakh i ocherkakh. Leningrad, 1927.