Kamo no Chomei Biography | Poet

Kamo no Chomei ( , 1153 or 1155–1216) was a Japanese author, poet (in the waka form), and essayist. He witnessed a series of natural and social disasters, and, having lost his political backing, was passed over for promotion within the Shinto shrine associated with his family. He decided to turn his back on society, take Buddhist vows, and became a hermit, living outside the capital. This was somewhat unusual for the time, when those who turned their backs on the world usually joined monasteries. Along with the poet-priest Saigyo he is representative of the literary recluses of his time, and his celebrated essay Hojoki ("An Account of a Ten-Foot-Square Hut") is representative of the genre known as " recluse literature" (soan bungaku).