Kamo no Chōmei

Kamo no Chōmei was a Japanese poet and essayist, son of a Shinto priest at the Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto, who became a Buddhist recluse after losing hope of succeeding to his father's post. In 1212 he wrote An Account of My Hut (Hōjōki), a short prose work that describes the fire, whirlwind, famine and earthquake that struck the capital, and contrasts them with his life in a tiny hut in the hills at Hino. It opens with the image of a river whose water is never the same, a picture of a world in which people and houses do not last.

Key ideas

• Like the water of a flowing river, people and their dwellings are always passing away.
• Disaster and political upheaval show how foolish it is to invest one's life in houses, wealth and status.
• A simple, solitary life with few possessions offers a peace unavailable in the city.
• Even attachment to one's hut and quiet life is an attachment that the Buddhist path asks us to give up.

Major works

• An Account of My Hut (Hōjōki) (1212)
• Nameless Notes (Mumyōshō) (early 13th century)
• Tales of Awakening (Hosshinshū) (early 13th century)

In the Book corner

• An Account of My Hut (Hōjōki) 1212 · Beginner
  A short prose work finished in 1212 by Kamo no Chōmei, a poet who had failed to inherit his family's post at…

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