![[Kamo-no-Chomei.jpg|300]]
- Known for: [[Japanese]] [[author]], [[poet]], and [[essayist]]
- Lived: [[1153]] or [[1155]] to [[1216]]
Originally a court poet. Around the age of 50 he lost favour with the court and instead took [[Buddhist]] vows and became a [[hermit]].
He lived during a time of great upheaval in [[Japan]]. There was:
1. The transition from the aristocratic [[Heian period]] to the more tumultuous [[Shōgun]] rule
2. A series of natural disasters and social calamities that struck Kyoto
3. The rise of pessimistic [[Buddhism]] in response to these changes
He's best known for Hōjōki ("An Account of My Hut"), a "philosophical essay that describes his life as a recluse and reflects on the impermanence of worldly things against the backdrop of various disasters that struck [[Kyoto]]". It's an example of "[[Recluse literature]]" (sōan bungaku).