Kamo no Chomei (鴨長明)
KAMO no Chomei (1155 - July 26, 1216) was a famous Japanese poet and essayist who lived from the late Heian period to the Kamakura period. His secular name was KAMO no Nagaakira. His birthplace was Kyoto.
He was born the second son of KAMO no Nagatsugu, who was in charge of Shinto rituals at the Kamomioya-jinja Shrine. He studied under Shune, and became a great poet. However, he could not assume the position of Negi (Shinto priest) in the Tadasu no yashiro Shrine, which he had aspired to, and gave up hoping for success in the Shinto priesthood. Later, he became a Buddhist priest and called himself Renin, but he is generally known as KAMO no Chomei, the Chinese-derived pronunciation of his secular name.
After he became a priest, "Hojoki" (An Account of My Hut) was completed in 1212, and it is known as a foundation of literature written in the mixed writing of Japanese and Chinese. It is also famous for one of the three major essays in Japan. Around the same time, he also wrote an essay on poetry, "Mumyosho (The Nameless Treatise)," "Hosshinshu (Tales of Awakening)" (written before 1216) and a collection of poems, "Kamo no Chomei shu" (1181).