Sesson Yūbai Explained

Birth Date:	1290
Birth Place:	Japan
Death Date:	14th day of the 1st month, 1347
Religion:	Zen Buddhism
School:	Rinzai
Roshi
Occupation:	priest poet

was a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk of the Rinzai sect. This priest and poet who is considered "the first important poet of the Five Mountains.^[1]

In China

Yūbai started studying Linji Ch'an under Chinese master Issan Ichinei in Japan and later moved to China where he studied with many other teachers. He lived in China for over twenty years (1307–1329). He was imprisoned in Chang'an during the period in which Zen Buddhists were persecuted. Many of the poems were created during or about this period survive; and they form the basis of his reputation.^[2] In Bingatshū, the collection of 242 poems includes this one:

I do not like praises and honours

Nor did I fear disdain

I just stayed away.

My mind, clear water,

My body bound and tied

For three years in Chang'an.

I sing what I feel in songs

In straight words, undecorated.^[2]

In Japan

With the patronage of the Akamatsu clan, Yūbai was able to become the founder of a number of provincial Buddhist temple-monasteries in Japan, including Hōun-ji and Hōrin-ji in Harima, Hyōgo.^[3] Some of these temples were ranked among the provincial jissatsu by Muromachi shogunate,^[3] which encouraged its vasssls shugo to found monetaries in the provinces.^[4]

Prominent among Yūbai's followers were Akamatsu Norimura (1277–1350) and his son Akamatsu Norisuke (1314–1371).^[3]

See also

• Buddhism in Japan
• List of Rinzai Buddhists
• Japanese Literature of the Five Mountains

References

• Book: Hall, John Whitney. The Cambridge History of Japan. Cambridge University Press. 1999. Cambridge. 978-0-521-22354-6.

OCLC 165440083

• Book: Katō, Shūichi. A History of Japanese Literature: From the Man'yōshū to Modern Times. RoutledgeCurzon . 1997. London. 978-1-873410-48-6.
• Book: Keene, Donald. Seeds in the heart : Japanese literature from earliest times to the late sixteenth century. Columbia University Press. 1999. New York. 978-0-231-11441-7.

• Book: Fischer-Schreiber, Ingrid. Franz-Karl Ehrhard . Michael H. Kohn . Michael S. Diener. The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen. Shambhala Publications. 1991. 0-87773-520-4.
• Book: Winther-Tamaki, Bert. Art in the Encounter of Nations. University of Hawaii Press. 2001. Honolulu. 0-8248-2077-0.

Notes and References

1. Keene, Donald. (1999). Seeds in the heart, p. 1064.
2. Katō, Shūichi. (1997). A History of Japanese Literature: From the Man'yōshū to Modern Times, p. 105.
3. Hall, John Whitney. (1999). The Cambridge History of Japan, pp. 600-603.
4. Hall, p. 602.