Priest Sosei

- Period: Heian Period
- Occupation: Waka Poet, Priest, Caligrapher
- Family: Henjo (father)
- Birth: fl. 9th/early 10th century.
- Death: –
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.
![]() | Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. | ![]() |
![]() | Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. | ![]() |
Find the website useful? |
