Priest Sosei

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Priest Sosei
Priest Sosei by Kanō Tan’yū.

Priest Sosei

Priest Sosei (素性 or 素性法師) was a waka poet, calligrapher and Priest who flourished around the end of the 9th and early 10th century.

Prior to taking the name Sosei he was known as Yoshimine no Harutoshi and was the son of Henjo. It is said his father was the one to urge him to enter into religion.

He was well renowned for his poems and calligraphy skill and was a favourite of Emperor Uda.

He was included in Fujiwara no Kintō’s Thirty Six Poetic Geniuses, had 36 of his poems in the kokinshū as well as a personal collection of poems known as the sosei hōshi-shū.

One of his poems (No.21) was included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, and goes as follows:1

Japanese text2
Romanized Japanese1
English translation1
今来むと
いひしばかりに
長月の
ありあけの月を
待ちいでつるかな
ima kon to
iishi bakari ni
nagatsuki no
ariake no tsuki o
machiidetsurukana
As you said, "I'm coming right away.'
I waited for you
through the long autumn night,
but only the moon greeted me
at the cold light of dawn.

Footnotes

1. MacMillan, P. (2018) ”One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Treasury of Classical Japanese Verse”. St. Ives: Penguin Classics.
2. Suzuki, H. et al. (1997) ”Genshoku: Ogura Hyakunin Isshu”. Tokyo: Bun’eidō.

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