Jien

• • Period: Heian Period / Kamakura Period
  • Occupation: Buddhist Monk, daisōjō
  • Family: Fujiwara no Tadamichi (father) Kanoe no Motozane (brother) Fujiwara no Motofusa (brother) Kujō no Kanezane (brother) Fujiwara no Kanefusa (brother) Fujiwara no Masako (sister) Fujiwara no Ikushi (adopted sister) Fujiwara no Teishi (adopted sister)
  • Birth: c.1155AD
  • Death: 1225AD

Jien

Jien (慈円), also known as Fujiwara no Yoshimizu was a member of the Fujiwara Clan living from c.1155-1225. He was the son of Fujiwara no Tadamichi.

At the age of 11 he joined the Tendai Sect, quickly finding himself becoming Tendai-zasu (superior), a role known as daisōjō. During his life he studied under the monk Myōun and became chaplain to the retired Empeor Go-Toba. He was also master to Jigen and admitted Shinran into the Shōren-in monastery.

He is known to be the author of the Gukanshō and a collection of waka called the Shūgyoku-shū. We can also find some of his poems in Imperial Anthologies such as the Senzai wakashu and the shin kokin wakashu. He is included as one of the New Thirty-Six Poetic Geniuses.

Jien also went by the names of Yoshimizu Sō Jō and Jichin.¹

Footnotes

1. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.

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