Shua (周阿)

Shua (year of birth unknown - c. 1377) was a renga poet (linked-verse poet) in the period of the Northern and Southern Courts (Japan) who belonged to the ordinary people class. His secular name was Saka no Kojiro.

He learned renga from Gusai (or Kyuzai) (renga poet) and was regarded as his successor. He was involved in the compilation work of 'Oan Shinshiki,' which established the rules of renga selected by Yoshimoto NIJO. He once went to the eastern region of Japan in an unknown year and went to Kyushu in his last years. His intellectual and people-surprising style of renga was popular in the renga society in the early Muromachi period.

His renga was selected for 'Tsukubashu' as well as 'Murasakino Senku' and 'Jiko Shua Hyakuban Uta-awase' etc.

[Original Japanese]