Kamo no Chamo - Hojoki

Hojoko, ("An Account of My Hut" or "The Ten Foot Square Hut") was written in 1212. It shows the diversity of Japanese medieval life. For a book that old it appears very up to date as many of its topics sound all too familiar to modern man: politics, social problems and natural disasters. People faced problems similar to ours today and so we have to ask ourselves: has mankind learned at all?

Hojoki (An Account of My Hut) is one of the most important works of Japanese literature. Its new sino-japanese style became the basis for modern literature in Japan. It is especially well known for his opening:

The current of the flowing river does not cease, and yet the water is not the same water as before. The foam that floats on stagnant pools, now vanishing, now forming, never stays the same for long. So, too, it is with the people and dwellings of the world

Kamo no Chamo was born as Kamo no Nagaakira in 1153 or 1155. His father was head of Shimogamo Jinja, one of the most important Shinto shrines in Kyoto. Therefore the family had a good relationship with the Tenno which brought forward the father's career. Even the boy received a rank at court at the age of seven.
After the 12th century change of regimes the father lost his position in 1170. Soon after that the father died and Kama no Chamo's hope to succeed his father at the shrine vanished.

For the following thirteen years he lived at his family's estate, probably the hut mentioned in the book was placed here. During this period, he focused on music and poetry solely, which was quite typical for the Heian time). In his late twenties he became a student of the famous poet and Buddhist priest Shun'e. He released a collection of 106 poems and established himself among the poets of his time.
After being pretermitted of becoming the head of the Tadasu shrine he was able to become the head of a marginal shrine which provided him with a save income and rank.

From 1204 to 1209 he lived in Ohara, north of Kyoto in an established refuge for lords who were tired of their lives. Here they could rest for a while or step out of their official lives and become monks of the Tendai sect. But Chamo left Ohara in 1209 and retreated to a small hut in the mountains that a friend of the family offered him. Only in 1211 he was ready to leave his life in solitude behind, when he had the possibility to become the poetry teacher of the young Shogun. But negotiations weren't successful and he returned to the mountains where he wrote the following works:

mountains. There in Hino, he wrote his marginal writings.

- 1211 Mumyosho

- 1212 Hojoki

- 1214-1215 Hosshinshu - Collection about religious awaking.