Essays in Idleness (Tsurezuregusa)

Kenko (Yoshida Kenko) · c. 1330

Overview

The essays of the monk Kenko: a preface and 243 sections, long and short, on impermanence, nature and taste, dwellings, love, court customs, people's blunders and anecdotes, and the wisdom of getting on in the world. It is marked by learning grounded in Japanese and Chinese classics and by observation of people mixing irony and humor.

Background

Kenko was born into a family of priests of Yoshida Shrine in Kyoto, served at court, and took vows around thirty. He lived as the Kamakura shogunate fell and the country moved toward the wars of the Northern and Southern Courts, and was known as a poet too. For a while after it was written the book drew little notice, but in the Edo period commentaries appeared one after another, it was widely read, and it became a book of culture for townspeople and samurai.

Highlights

  1. A monk of NinnajiHe thought he had worshiped at Iwashimizu Hachimangu, but had only prayed at the temples at the foot of the hill. "Even in small things, one wants a guide."Read “Iwashimizu Hachimangu” →
  2. The monk with the kettle on his headAt a party he put a tripod kettle on his head and danced, and it would not come off. Kenko as a master of the comic tale.Read “A Monk of Ninnaji” →
  3. Blossoms at their peak"Are we to look at cherry blossoms only in full bloom, the moon only when it is cloudless?" A sense of beauty not limited to full bloom and the full moon.
  4. The sea at KanazawaWhat he saw and heard at Kanazawa, Kamakura's outer port. The east through the eyes of a man of the capital.Read “Kanazawa, Shomyoji Temple” →