Hojoki: Visions of a Torn World (Rock Spring Collection of Japanese Literature) - Softcover

Chomei, Kamo No

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1880656221 ISBN 13: 9781880656228

Publisher: Stone Bridge Press, 1996

Synopsis

Japan's capital city of Kyoto was devastated by earthquake, storm, and fire in the late 12th century. Retreating from "this unkind world," the poet and Buddhist priest Kamo-no-Chomei left the capital for the forested mountains, where he eventually constructed his famous "ten-foot-square" hut. From this solitary vantage point Chomei produced Hojoki, an extraordinary literary work that describes all he has seen of human misery and his new life of simple chores, walks, and acts of kindness. Yet at the end he questions his own sanity and the integrity of his purpose. Has he perhaps grown too attached to his detachment?

About this title

From the Publisher:

Stone Bridge Press is a leading English-language publisher of Japanese literature in translation. Our ROCK SPRING COLLECTION OF JAPANESE LITERATURE features absorbing and important translations of classical and contemporary Japanese fiction and poetry. We believe that literature is a window into culture and society, and an expression of what is most peculiarly, and universally, human.

About the Author:

Yasuhiko Moriguchi and David Jenkins are writers, teachers, and translators living in Kyoto.

About this edition

• Publisher: Stone Bridge Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1880656221
• ISBN 13: 9781880656228
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 96
• Illustrator: Hofmann Michael