Hojoki: Poems on Solitude, Imperfection and Transcendence: By a Zen Buddhist Monk (Bilingual English and Japanese Texts)

Discover the tranquil wisdom of Chomei’s 13th-century masterpiece, Hojoki, as it unveils the beauty of imperfection and the serenity of a simple life amidst the chaos of existence.

Kamo no Chomei was a Japanese poet, Buddhist thinker, and musician. After being passed over for a prestigious promotion in Kyoto, he became a recluse, moving to Mount Hiei outside the city and then to Hino where he built a tiny hut and spent the rest of his life writing and contemplating. He died in 1216.

Matthew Stavros has a PhD from Princeton University and is senior lecturer in Japanese and Asian Studies at the University of Sydney and former director of the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies. He is the author of Kyoto: An Urban History of Japan’s Premodern Capital and In Praise of Solitude: Two Japanese Classics on Reclusion. He teaches courses on Japanese history, modern and classical Japanese, and the histories of East and Southeast Asia.

Reginald Jackson is an artist and associate professor of pre-modern Japanese literature and performance at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Textures of Mourning: Calligraphy, Mortality, and the Tale of Genji Scrolls and A Proximate Remove: Queering Intimacy and Loss in The Tale of Genji.