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Saigyo
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Saigyō Hōshi (西行法師) | |
|---|---|
 Saigyō Hōshi in the Hyakunin Isshu | |
| Born | Satō Norikiyo (佐藤義清) 1118 |
| Died | 1190 (aged 71–72) |
| Pen name | Saigyō |
| Occupation | Poet |
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"Beside the roadway
"a flowing of clear water
"in a willow's shade
"I thought for just a short while
"to linger and take a rest." (07/31/2022)
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Saigyō (1118–1190) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and one of the greatest masters of tanka poetry, whose works deeply influenced Japanese literature and culture.
Saigyō, born Satō Norikiyo in Kyoto to a noble family, initially trained for a military career but found it unsatisfying. At the age of 22, he renounced worldly life and became a Buddhist monk, taking the religious name En’i and later adopting the pen name Saigyō, meaning “Western Journey,” a reference to Amida Buddha and the Western paradise . His life coincided with the turbulent transition from the Heian period to the Kamakura period, marked by civil wars and the decline of courtly culture, which influenced the melancholic and reflective tone of his poetry .
Life and Travels
Saigyō spent much of his life traveling across Japan, living in mountains, sacred sites, and hermitages. He visited places such as Mt. Koya, Mt. Yoshino, Ise, and Northern Honshū, often composing poetry inspired by nature and Buddhist principles . His journeys and solitary lifestyle allowed him to interact with people from various social backgrounds, enriching his poetic perspective .
Poetry and Works
Saigyō is celebrated for his mastery of tanka, a traditional Japanese poetic form. His major collection, Sankashū (Collection of a Mountain Home), contains poems on love, nature, and seasonal themes . Another notable work is the Mimosusogawa utaawase (“Poetry Contest at Mimosusu River”), where he creatively pitted his own poems against each other . Many of his poems were later included in imperial anthologies such as the Shin Kokin Wakashū and the Shika Wakashū . His poetry often explores themes of solitude, impermanence, and the beauty of nature, using imagery like pine trees, plum blossoms, and cherry blossoms to convey emotion .
Influence and Legacy
Saigyō’s poetic style, emphasizing personal experience, melancholy, and engagement with nature, influenced later Japanese poets, most notably Matsuo Bashō, the master of haiku . He is considered one of the four giants of waka poetry, alongside Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, Fujiwara no Teika, and Bashō . His works continue to be studied and admired for their emotional depth, spiritual insight, and elegant expression.
Later Life
Saigyō spent his final years at Tenryuji Temple in Arashiyama, Kyoto, living a life of asceticism and poetry. He passed away on March 23, 1190, at Hirokawa Temple in present-day Osaka Prefecture . His calligraphy and poems remain on display in temples and anthologies, preserving his legacy as a poet and monk who bridged the spiritual and literary worlds .
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Saigyō (born 1118, Japan—died March 23, 1190, Ōsaka) was a Japanese Buddhist priest-poet, one of the greatest masters of the tanka (a traditional Japanese poetic form), whose life and works became the subject matter of many narratives, plays, and puppet dramas. He originally followed his father in a military career, but, like others of his day, he was oppressed by the sense of disaster that overwhelmed Japan as the brilliant imperial court life of the Heian era passed into a period of civil wars in the latter half of the 12th century.
At the age of 23 Saigyō became a priest. His life was spent in travel throughout Japan, punctuated by periodic returns to the capital at Kyōto to participate in imperial ceremonies. Saigyō’s poetry is largely concerned with a love of nature and devotion to Buddhism. Among his many works are the anthology Sankashū and the Mimosusogawa utaawase (“Poetry Contest at Mimosusu River”)—a poetic masterpiece in which he pitted his own poems against each other. Many of his poems are included in the imperial anthology Shin kokin-shū. Saigyō’s influence was reflected in poets of later ages, particularly the haiku master Matsuo Bashō.
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Saigyō Hōshi (西行 法師; Japanese pronunciation: [saꜜi.ɡʲoː, -ŋʲoː],[1] 1118 – March 23, 1190) was a Japanese poet of the late Heian and early Kamakura period.
Biography
Born Satō Norikiyo (佐藤義清) in Kyoto to a noble family, he lived during the traumatic transition of power between the old court nobles and the new samurai warriors. After the start of the age of Mappō, Buddhism was considered to be in decline and no longer as effective a means of salvation. These cultural shifts during his lifetime led to a sense of melancholy in his poetry. As a youth, he worked as a guard to retired Emperor Toba, but in 1140 at age 22, for reasons now unknown,[2] he quit worldly life to become a monk, taking the religious name En'i (円位).
He later took the pen name Saigyō (西行), meaning "Western Journey", a reference to Amida Buddha and the Western paradise. He lived alone for long periods in his life in Saga, Mt. Koya, Mt. Yoshino, Ise, and many other places, but he is more known for the many long, poetic journeys he took to Northern Honshū that would later inspire Bashō in his Narrow Road to the Interior.
He was a good friend of Fujiwara no Teika.
Sankashū (山家集; "Collection of a Mountain Home") is Saigyō's personal poetry collection. Other collections that include poems by Saigyō are the Shin Kokin Wakashū and the Shika Wakashū.
He died at Hirokawa Temple in Kawachi Province (present-day Osaka Prefecture) at age 72.
Style
In Saigyō's time, the Man'yōshū was no longer a big influence on waka poetry, compared to the Kokin Wakashū. Where the Kokin Wakashū was concerned with subjective experience, word play, flow, and elegant diction (neither colloquial nor pseudo-Chinese), the Shin Kokin Wakashū (formed with poetry written by Saigyō and others writing in the same style) was less subjective, had fewer verbs and more nouns, was not as interested in word play, allowed for repetition, had breaks in the flow, was slightly more colloquial and more somber and melancholic. Due to the turbulent times, Saigyō focuses not just on mono no aware (sorrow from change) but also on sabi (loneliness) and kanashi (sadness). Though he was a Buddhist monk, Saigyō was still very attached to the world and the beauty of nature.
Poetry examples
Many of his best-known poems express the tension he felt between renunciatory Buddhist ideals and his love of natural beauty. Most monks would have asked to die facing West, to be welcomed by the Buddha, but Saigyō finds the Buddha in the flowers:
| Japanese | Rōmaji | Translation |
願はくは | Negawaku wa | |
To be "heartless" was an ideal of Buddhist monkhood, meaning one had abandoned all desire and attachment:
| Japanese | Rōmaji | Translation |
心無き | Kokoro naki | |
Saigyō travelled extensively, but one of his favorite places was Mount Yoshino, famous for its cherry blossoms:
| Japanese | Rōmaji | Translation |
吉野山 | Yoshino-yama | I'll forget the trail I marked out |
Legacy
- Saigyō's journeys were an inspiration for the court lady Lady Nijō, who records in her Towazugatari that she dreamed of writing a similar travel book after reading Saigyō's work at age 8. Nijō later followed in Saigyō's footsteps when she became a Buddhist nun, visiting many of the places he recorded.[6]
- Bashō subsequently looked back to Saigyō for artistic inspiration.[7] For example, quoting Saigyō's poem on the pine tree at Shiogoshi, he wrote "Should anyone dare to write another poem on this pine tree, it would be like trying to add a sixth finger to his hand".[8]
In popular culture
- 2003: Though her precise relation to Saigyō is unclear, Touhou Project's Saigyōji Yuyuko is certainly inspired by Saigyō; aside from sharing a name, Yuyuko is a ghost sealed to the Saigyō Ayakashi, a youkai cherry tree that was born when a "divinely talented poet" who loved nature chose to die under its blossoms. This is a direct reference to Saigyō's own stated preferences: "Offer up cherry blossoms to the honored dead, those that might mourn my death."[9]
- 2016: The Great Passage, anime, episode 7
See also
Resources
- Meredith McKinney. Gazing at the Moon: Buddhist Poems of Solitude, Shambhala Publications, 2021 ISBN 978-1611809428.
- Saigyô, Poems of a Mountain Home, translated by Burton Watson, Columbia University Press, 1991 ISBN 0-231-07492-1 cloth ISBN 0-231-07493-X pbk [233 pp.]
- Saigyô, Mirror for the Moon: A Selection of Poems by Saigyô (1118-1190), translated by William R. LaFleur, New Directions 1978.
- William R. LaFleur. Awesome Nightfall: The Life, Times, and Poetry of Saigyō. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2003 ISBN 0-86171-322-2 pbk [177 pp] This is an expanded and matured reworking of the material in Mirror for the Moon.
References
- NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, ed. (24 May 2016). NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典 (in Japanese). NHK Publishing.
- Stoneman, Jack (February 2010). "Why Did Saigyō Become a Monk? An Archeology of the Reception of Saigyō's Shukke". Japanese Language and Literature. 44 (2): 69–118.
- Watson, Burton. Saigyo: Poems of a Mountain Home. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991. p. 40
- Watson, Burton. Saigyo: Poems of a Mountain Home. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991. p. 81
- Watson, Burton. Saigyo: Poems of a Mountain Home. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991. p. 35
- Whitehouse, Wilfrid; Yanagisawa, Eizo (1974). Lady Nijo's Own Story: The Candid Diary of a Thirteenth-Century Japanese Imperial Concubine. Rutland and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle.
- Makoto Ueda, Matsuo Bashō (Tokyo 1970) p. 86 and p. 176
- Nobuyuki Yuasa trans., The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Penguin 1983) p. 138
- Touhou Gumon Shiki: Perfect Memento in Strict Sense (in Japanese). Ichijinsha. 2006. pp. 84–86.
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Saigyo Quotes
- "Tightly held by rocks Through winter, the ice today Begins to come undone: A way-seeker also is the water, Melting, murmuring from the moss."
These quotes showcase Saigyo's ability to convey deep emotions and thoughts through simple yet profound language. His poetry continues to inspire readers and poets alike, reminding us of the beauty and complexity of life. - 6 Sources
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