Another popular poem in Japan, which shows Ryokan's concern for his friend Abe Sadayoshi. In the poem, it is finally spring with its longer daytime light (short winter days last for a long time in Niigata!), so Ryokan is happy that he has more time to play the temari game. Ryokan loved temari balls and his partner late in life, Teishin, also used to make them for him. The competition consisted in how long one could continue bouncing the ball without loosing it. In the past, children used to bounce the ball while singing songs. They are still sold in stores where traditional toys and souvenirs are available. A temari ball is made out of cloth bound together with various colored threads. In a head-note, Ryokan wrote "Early in spring I went to a place called Jizo Hall" - a temple that was located close to Ryokan's hut on Mt Kugami. "Playing by myself" is a humorous expression for the activities he undertook alone in his hut: reading and writing Japanese and Chinese poetry and doing calligraphy. One of Ryokan's most famous tanka, written by him on a self-portrait that shows him wearing a priest's hood and reading by a lantern. In his birthplace, Izumosaki, we find a Ryokan museum, and Entsuji temple, where he obtained enlightenment, has honored the poet by a statue. Ryokan's tomb is located in Shimazaki, and his hermitage still stands on Mount Kugami. But these are so many stories - Ryokan was above all a great poet in the East Asian tradition of the hermit poets and Zen eccentrics, capturing the pathos and beauty of human life in a way that still makes his poetry relevant. He loved playing with children so much that he often forgot about his begging round. He is said to have sneaked into these festivals disguised as a woman (see poem 9). It was atypical for a monk that he liked to take part in village festivals of the farmers and also drank sake. A special love for moonlight and pine trees is expressed in his poems. He loved the simple life in nature, surrounded by plants and animals, and did not even like to harm a louse. His nickname was Taigu, which means "Great Fool". Many stories were told about him - his eccentric character, his friendliness, his humility - and Ryokan became enormously popular - something which lasts to this day. Just as was the case with Japan's other two great Buddhist poets, Saigyo and Ikkyu, Ryokan's life soon becam the stuff of legend. Teishin recorded that Ryokan, seated in meditation posture, died "just as if he were falling asleep." She stayed with him until his death in 1831. She was 40 years younger than Ryokan, but when they met it was an instant heartfelt meeting (like that of Ikkyu and Mori). There he met Teishin, who became his student. Around 1826 health problems forced him to give up the hermit life and move to a house on the estate of a wealthy friend and sponsor in Shimazaki. His life was very hard, especially in the snowy winter, and there was always a risk of starvation. He lived in a hut (Gogoan, or "Five Scoop Hut") that belonged to the Shingon temple Kokujoji.įor a living he was dependent on friends and begging. After Kokusen died the following year, Ryokan left Entsuji on a five-year long pilgrimage before settling as a hermit on Mount Kugami, north of his hometown of Izumozaki. After a stay of twelve years at Entsuji, Ryokan attained satori and was presented with an Inka by Kokusen. He renounced the world at an early age to train at a nearby Soto Zen temple, where he met the visiting Zen master Kokusen of Entsuji in Tamashima (now Okayama Prefecture), and he was accepted as the master's disciple. Ryokan was born as Yamamoto Eizo in the village of Izumozaki in Echigo Province (now Niigata Prefecture) to the village headman. They also demonstrate the rich spiritual and intellectual life Ryokan enjoyed despite his poverty. His poems mainly record his daily activities - begging expeditions to town, chores like carrying his firewood, lonely snowbound winters (he lived in Niigata's snow country!), and meetings with friends. But Ryokan who was also a writer of unusual and highly personal poetry in Japanese ( tanka, haiku) and Chinese ( kanshi), and a master calligrapher. Ryokan (1758-1831) was a Soto Zen priest who never headed a temple but choose to live alone in a tiny mountain hut, begging his food, and playing games with the village children. Ura wo mise | omote wo misete | chiru momiji
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