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Blossom Awakening: The Life and Poetry of Wandering Monk Saigyo
The essential introduction to Saigyō, one of Japan’s greatest and most enduring poets.
Born in the twelfth century during a time of great political upheaval and warfare, Saigyō made the shocking decision in his youth to resign from his respectable post as a guard to the emperor’s family and pursue a life of Buddhist renunciation, wilderness wandering, and poetry. Over his lifetime he became one of Japan’s most celebrated poets, and his aesthetics of spiritual longing and aching identification with the natural world left an indelible imprint on his country’s literary culture for centuries to come.
With 193 poems on 11 themes like the moon, journeys, mountain abodes, love, and the dreamlike world, Blossom Awakening collects Saigyō’s most poignant and impactful work, revealing him as a spiritual seeker whose perceptivity and insight remains an inspiration to this day. Translators Kazuaki Tanahashi and Peter Levitt present the poems with their original Japanese text and provide an introduction and commentary that illuminate the political, religious, and literary dimensions of Saigyō’s life and work.
Born in the twelfth century during a time of great political upheaval and warfare, Saigyō made the shocking decision in his youth to resign from his respectable post as a guard to the emperor’s family and pursue a life of Buddhist renunciation, wilderness wandering, and poetry. Over his lifetime he became one of Japan’s most celebrated poets, and his aesthetics of spiritual longing and aching identification with the natural world left an indelible imprint on his country’s literary culture for centuries to come.
With 193 poems on 11 themes like the moon, journeys, mountain abodes, love, and the dreamlike world, Blossom Awakening collects Saigyō’s most poignant and impactful work, revealing him as a spiritual seeker whose perceptivity and insight remains an inspiration to this day. Translators Kazuaki Tanahashi and Peter Levitt present the poems with their original Japanese text and provide an introduction and commentary that illuminate the political, religious, and literary dimensions of Saigyō’s life and work.
312 pages, Paperback
Published July 15, 2025
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About the author
Saigyō
33 books31 followersSaigyō Houshi (西行 法師, 1119 – March 23, 1190) was a famous Japanese poet of the late Heian and early Kamakura period.
Born Satou Norikiyo (佐藤 義清) in Kyoto to a noble family, he lived during the traumatic transition of power between the old court nobles and the new samurai warriors. After the start of the Age of Mappō (1052), Buddhism was considered to be in decline and no longer as effective a means of salvation. These cultural shifts during his lifetime led to a sense of melancholy in his poetry. As a youth, he worked as a guard to retired Emperor Toba, but in 1140 at age 22, for reasons now unknown, he quit worldly life to become a monk, taking the religious name En'i (円位). He later took the pen name, "Saigyo" meaning Western Journey, a reference to Amida Buddha and the Western paradise. He lived alone for long periods in his life in Saga, Mt Koya, Mt Yoshino, Ise, and many other places, but he is more known for the many long, poetic journeys he took to Northern Honshuu that would later inspire Basho in his Narrow Road to the Interior. He was a good friend of Fujiwara no Teika. Some main collections of Saigyo's work are in the Sankashuu, Shin Kokin Wakashuu, and Shika Wakashū. He died in Hirokawa Temple in Kawachi Province (present-day Osaka Prefecture) at age 72.
Born Satou Norikiyo (佐藤 義清) in Kyoto to a noble family, he lived during the traumatic transition of power between the old court nobles and the new samurai warriors. After the start of the Age of Mappō (1052), Buddhism was considered to be in decline and no longer as effective a means of salvation. These cultural shifts during his lifetime led to a sense of melancholy in his poetry. As a youth, he worked as a guard to retired Emperor Toba, but in 1140 at age 22, for reasons now unknown, he quit worldly life to become a monk, taking the religious name En'i (円位). He later took the pen name, "Saigyo" meaning Western Journey, a reference to Amida Buddha and the Western paradise. He lived alone for long periods in his life in Saga, Mt Koya, Mt Yoshino, Ise, and many other places, but he is more known for the many long, poetic journeys he took to Northern Honshuu that would later inspire Basho in his Narrow Road to the Interior. He was a good friend of Fujiwara no Teika. Some main collections of Saigyo's work are in the Sankashuu, Shin Kokin Wakashuu, and Shika Wakashū. He died in Hirokawa Temple in Kawachi Province (present-day Osaka Prefecture) at age 72.
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