- Yoshida Kenkō
s.
Life and work
Kenko was probably born in 1283, the son of an administration official. His original name was Urabe Kaneyoshi (卜部兼好). He became an officer of guards at the Imperial palace. Late in life he retired from public life, changed his name to Yoshida Kenkō, and became a Buddhist monk and
hermit . The reasons for this are unknown, but it has been conjectured that either his unhappy love for the daughter of theprefect ofIga Province or his mourning over the death ofEmperor Go-Uda caused his transformation.Although he also wrote poetry and entered some poetry contests at the imperial court (his participation in 1335 and 1344 is documented), Kenkō's enduring fame is based on "Tsurezuregusa", his collection of 243 short essays, published posthumously. Although traditional translated as "Essays in Idleness," a more accurate translation would be "Notes from Leisure Hours" or "Leisure Hour Notes." Themes of the essays include the beauty of
nature , the transience of life, traditions, friendship, and other abstract concepts. The work was written in the "zuihitsu " ("follow-the-brush") style, a type of stream-of-consciousness writing that allowed the writer's brush to skip from one topic to the next, led only by the direction of thoughts. Some are brief remarks of only a sentence or two; others recount a story over a few pages, often with discursive personal commentary added.The "Tsurezuregusa" was already popular in the 15th century and was considered a classic from the 17th century onward. It is part of the modern Japanese high school
curriculum , as well in someInternational Baccalaureate Diploma Programme schools.See also
*Chance, Linda H (1997). "Formless in Form: Kenko, "Tsurezuregusa," and the Rhetoric of Japanese Fragmentary Prose." Stanford: Stanford UP.
*Keene, Donald (1967). "Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko".External links
* [http://essays.quotidiana.org/kenko/ Essays by Yoshida Kenko at Quotidiana.org]
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