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  3. Writing and Renunciation in Medieval Japan: The Works of the Poet-Priest Kamo no Chomei

Writing and Renunciation in Medieval Japan: The Works of the Poet-Priest Kamo no Chomei

Rajyashree Pandey 1998 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities / Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program
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This is the first monograph-length study in English of Kamo no Chōmei, one of the most important literary figures of medieval Japan. Drawing upon a wide range of writings in a variety of genres from the Heian and Kamakura periods, Pandey focuses on the terms kyōgen kigo (wild words and fancy phrases), shoji soku nehan (samsara is nirvana), hōben (expedient means), and suki (single-minded devotion to an art). She shows how these terms deployed by writers in an attempt to reconcile literary and artistic activities with a commitment to Buddhism. By locating Chōmei within this broad context, the book offers an original reading of his texts, while at the same time casting a light upon intellectual preoccupations that were central to the times.

Writing and Renunciation in Medieval Japan is an important contribution to a growing body of work that challenges the rigid distinction between the religious and literary—a distinction that would have made little sense to medieval writers, many of whom were poets as well as priests—and sheds light on the particular ways in which a religio-aesthetic tradition came to be articulated in medieval Japan. Through an examination of records left by Chōmei's contemporaries, the book also traces the life of Chōmei, particularly his activities as a court poet and the circumstances that led to his taking the tonsure.

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Series
  • Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies
ISBN(s)
  • 978-0-472-12793-1 (ebook)
  • 978-0-472-03828-2 (paper)
  • 978-0-472-90189-0 (open access)
  • 978-0-939512-86-7 (hardcover)
Subject
  • Asian Studies:Japan
  • Religion
  • Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Citable Link
  • Table of Contents

  • Stats

  • Cover
  • Series Page
  • Title Page
  • Copyright
  • Dedication
  • Contents
  • Preface
  • Introduction
  • Chapter One: “Wild Words and Fancy Phrases”: Debates on the Role of Literature in the Heian and Kamakura Periods
  • Chapter Two: Kamo no Chōmei: Court Poet and Buddhist Priest
  • Chapter Three: The Way of Poetry: Mumyōshō
  • Chapter Four: Suki and the Attainment of Religious Awakening: Hosshinshū
  • Chapter Five: The Sukimono as Recluse: Hōjōki
  • Appendix One: The Kamo no Chōmei Incident (An Excerpt from Minamoto Ienaga nikki)
  • Appendix Two: Selected Translations from Hosshinshū
  • Bibliography
  • Index
  • About the Author
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