Sosei (, 844 – 910) was a Japanese waka

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

. He is listed as one of the

Thirty-six Poetry Immortals The are a group of Japanese poets of the Asuka, Nara, and Heian periods selected by Fujiwara no Kintō as exemplars of Japanese poetic ability. The oldest surviving collection of the 36 poets' works is '' Nishi Honganji Sanju-rokunin Kashu ...

, and one of his poems was included in the famous anthology ''

Hyakunin Isshu is a classical Japanese anthology of one hundred Japanese ''waka'' by one hundred poets. ''Hyakunin isshu'' can be translated to "one hundred people, one poem ach; it can also refer to the card game of '' uta-garuta'', which uses a deck compo ...

''. His father

Henjō , better known as , was Japanese waka poet and Buddhist priest. In the poetry anthology '' Kokin Wakashū'', he is listed as one of the six notable waka poets and one of the thirty-six immortals of poetry. Biography Munesada was the eighth son ...

was also a waka poet and monk. Sosei entered religious life sometime after his father, who took the tonsure after the death of

Emperor Ninmyō was the 54th emperor of Japan, Emperor Ninmyō, Fukakusa Imperial Mausoleum, Imperial Household Agency according to the traditional order of succession. Ninmyō's reign lasted from 833 to 850, during the Heian period. Traditional narrative Nin ...

in 850. His father is said to have pushed him into joining religion, and we can find a total of 36 poems by him in the

Kokin Wakashū The , commonly abbreviated as , is an early anthology of the '' waka'' form of Japanese poetry, dating from the Heian period. An imperial anthology, it was conceived by Emperor Uda () and published by order of his son Emperor Daigo () in abou ...

Waka Poems

Sokoi-naki fuchi-yawa-sawagu yamagawa-no asaki-seni-koso adanami-wa-tate (Kokin waka shu) Translation: The deep pools do not have waves, but the shallow rapids of mountain rivers often have waves. Interpretation of love: My deep love for you is unmoved. It is frivolous love that causes rumors. Interpretation of a life lesson: The fine man is quiet, but the petty man is noisy.

References

External links

E-text of Sosei's poems
840s births 910 deaths Year of birth uncertain Buddhist clergy of the Heian period Japanese Buddhist clergy Japanese male poets 9th-century Japanese poets Hyakunin Isshu poets {{Buddhist-clergy-stub