SOURCE: Hora, Karel Jan. “Notes on Kamo Chômei's Life and Work.” Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan 34a (1906): 45-8.

[In the following essay, Hora offers biographical information on Chōmei.]

In Vol. XX. Part II. of the Transactions (1893) there are two articles “Chōmei and Wordsworth—A literary parallel” and Description of my Hut both by Mr. J. M. Dixon, dealing with Kamo Chōmei and his Hōjōki—and these few lines are intended to add something to the information given by these articles.

CHōMEI'S LIFE

Concerning the time of Chōmei's birth nothing is known with certainty, even the Dai Nihon Jinmei Jisho is silent upon this point. But weighing carefully the references made by Chōmei in his Hōjōki, especially that alluding to the time of his removal from Kioto, it may be inferred that his birth occured within the period Kiyūan (1145-1151). His father Kamo no Nagatsugu as well as his grandfather occupied the position of negi¹ in the Kamojinsha in Kioto.—Chōmei whose name at that time was Kikudayū, had even in his childhood been a good player of the biwa and the flute and accompanied his father's songs with these instruments. In the first year of the period Ōhō (1161) he was appointed by the emperor Nijō Tennō, lower officer of the fifteenth rank.

Chōmei was a good student of poetry; his teachers were Minamoto no Toshiyori and the priest Eshun. Under their care he soon began to compose poems called “Waka” which made him so popular that the emperor Gotoba Tennō selected him for the registrar's position (Yoriudo), in the Waka office (Waka-Dokoro), an institution founded by the emperor Murakami Tennō in the fifth year of the period Tenryaku (951) and conducted for the purpose of collecting and registering popular poems of that day. To that position he was probably appointed in reward for this poem written for the emperor:

Yo mo sugara, hitori mi yama no, maki no ha ni,
                    Kumoru mo sumeru, ari ake no tsuki.

which freely rendered means: Through the whole night alone. On the distant mountain's leaf of maki appears a picture of the clouded moon. With a pure heart even this moon looks clear.

Shortly after Chōmei entered this position his father died and Chōmei asked the emperor for the appointment to the position of negi which was now vacant. But his youth and the influence of certain court officials were against him and the emperor though wishing to show favor to this talented youth was unable to satisfy his ambition. Depressed by this disappointment, Chōmei resigned from the Waka-Office and became a monk under the name Renin. He moved to the mountains North of Kioto where he built himself a hut at the foot of mount Ohara, and, after living there for almost thirty years, he left this dwelling and went to Soshū no Kamakura in Segami no Kuni to call upon his friend the Shōgun Minamoto no Sanetomo, a great admirer of his poetry. There he stayed a few years composing waka poems for his friend. Then he gave up the world entirely and built his tiny hut on Hino no Sotoyama where he lived until his death which occurred in the sixth month of the fourth year of Kenpō (1216).

Chōmei lived there a life of perfect seclusion and poverty, possessing nothing but his two beloved musical instruments and a few manuscripts; living only on such food as the forest afforded. The emperor Gotoba no Tennō wished him to return to his former office and sent a messenger into the mountains to plead with him. Chōmei now an aged man of sixty could no more part with the solitude of the forests which he loved—he refused the offer of the emperor with the following poem:

Sumiwabinu, geni ya mi yama no, maki no ha ni,
                    kumoru to iishi, tsuki wo miru beki.

Meaning:—Live satisfied: On the distant mountain's leaf of maki appears the former clouded moon. Let me remain and gaze at her.

ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME KAMO

There is a strange story added to the editor's introduction of the Hōjōki which I possess telling of the origin of the name Kamo. In the following lines I give the substance of its contents.

In olden times there lived a young girl in the village of Izumoji. One day while washing her clothes in the river, she observed an old arrow decorated with feathers of the wild duck (Kamo) floating on the waves. She caught it and after returning home hid it under a beam of the house-roof. A few weeks later she gave birth to a boy. Her parents in vain sought to know the name of the child's father. Weepingly she assured them that it had none, but the parents believed not, thinking that for shame she would not tell them.

When the boy was three years of age they invited all the men from the village to a party; Sake was offered to all. They also gave a cup to the boy asking him to place it in front of his father. The boy took the cup and went from one to the other but passed all and to the general astonishment lifted the cup and placed it in front of a beam under which there stuck the old arrow. In the same moment the boy and his mother rose toward the sky. …

Since that time the family in which the strange boy was born was called by the name “Kamo.”

CHōMEI'S WORK

Chōmei seems to have had a better reputation as poet than as writer. It is said that during his life a certain Fujiwara Shunzei was collecting poems of all the prominent men for a work called Senzai Wakashū. One of Chōmei's poems was selected for this collection, to the great joy of the author. Later a work named Shinkokin Wakashū was published containing, among songs of other poets, twelve of Chōmei's which were recognized as the best. Beside these, Chōmei wrote the following books:—

Keigyoku Shū The Jewell Collection.

Mumei Shō The Nameless Selection.

Hoshin Shū The Heart Reform Collection.

Monji Sō The Spear of Ideograms.

Shiki Monogatari The Four Seasons' Story.

Hōjōki Hermit's Hut Diary.

Of all these books I have obtained copies only of Hoshin Shū, Shiki Monogatari and Hōjōki. I posses two copies of Hōjōki both illustrated with primitive woodcuts and dating back to the third year of Keichiyo (1598). One of them has, strange to say, the title Kamakura Ki on the cover—though the contents is identical with that of Hōjōki. Some time ago I found another book written by Chōmei: the Kaidō Ki, describing a trip on foot along the old Tokaidō. It is perhaps Chōmei's trip to the residence of Minamoto no Sanetomo———but, whether this book is a partial copy of one of the books named above with its title changed or whether it is another book which escaped the eye of the compilers of the Dai Nihon Jinmei Jisho, I have been unable to ascertain.

Note

1. Shintō official superintending national shrines.