, variously translated as "An Account of My Hut" or "The Ten Foot Square Hut", is an important short work of the Kamakura period

Kamakura period

The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....

 (1185–1333) in Japan by Kamo no Chōmei

Kamo no Chomei

was a Japanese author, poet , and essayist. He witnessed a series of natural and social disasters, and, having lost his political backing, was passed over for promotion within the Shinto shrine associated with his family. He decided to turn his back on society, take Buddhist vows, and became a...

. Written in 1212, it describes disasters that befall the people of Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

 from earthquakes to famine and fire. Chōmei becomes a Buddhist monk and moves farther and farther into the mountains, eventually living in a 10-foot square hut. It belongs to the zuihitsu

Zuihitsu

is a genre of Japanese literature consisting of loosely connected personal essays and fragmented ideas that typically respond to the author's surroundings...

 genre.

The opening sentence of Hōjōki is famous in Japanese literature

Japanese literature

Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan...

 as an expression of mujō

Impermanence

Impermanence is one of the essential doctrines or three marks of existence in Buddhism...

, the transience of this world:

The current of the flowing river does not cease, and yet the water is not the same water as before. The foam that floats on stagnant pools, now vanishing, now forming, never stays the same for long. So, too, it is with the people and dwellings of the world. (Chambers)

Compare with the "panta rhei" (everything flows) characterizing Heraclitus

Heraclitus

Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor. He was of distinguished parentage. Little is known about his early life and education, but he regarded himself as self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom...

, which uses the same image of a changing river, and the Latin adages Omnia mutantur

Omnia mutantur

Omnia mutantur is a Latin phrase meaning "everything changes".It is most often used as part of two other phrases:* Omnia mutantur, nihil interit , by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, and...

and Tempora mutantur

Tempora mutantur

Tempora mutantur is a Latin adage meaning "times change", or more precisely "the times are changed" . It is also stated as the longer hexametric Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis, meaning "Times change, and we change with them", or more precisely "The times are changed and we are changed in...

.

The text was heavily influenced by Yoshishige no Yasutane's Chiteiki

Chiteiki

, also known as Chitei no Ki, is one of the representative kanbun texts of the mid Heian period. Belonging to the zuihitsu genre, it was written by Yoshishige no Yasutane in 982...

(982). In addition, Chōmei based his small hut, and much of his philosophical outlook, on the accounts of the Indian sage Vimalakīrti from the Vimalakīrti Sūtra

Vimalakirti Sutra

The Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra , or Vimalakīrti Sūtra, is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra. Among other subjects, the sutra teaches the meaning of nonduality...

.

Manuscripts

While Chōmei's original manuscript is no longer extant, numerous copies have been copied and circulated. These are divided into two major categories: kōhon (complete) and ryakubon (incomplete). The kōhon category is further subcategorized into kohon (old) and rufubon (popular), while the ryakubon is subcategorized into Chōkyō

Chokyo

was a Japanese era name after Bunmei and before Entoku. This period spanned the years from July 1487 through August 1489. The reigning emperor was Go-Tsuchimikado-tennō .-Change of era:...

, Entoku

Entoku

was a after Chōkyō and before Meio. This period spanned the years from August 1489 through July 1492. The reigning emperor was .-Change of era:* 1489 : The era name was changed to mark an event or a number of events...

, and Mana

Kanji

Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...

. The Chōkyō and Entoku editions are named after the era date in the afterward and both include extra passages. The Mana editions are written entirely in kanji replacing the kana

Katakana

is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...

 in the kohon editions.

External links

• Hōjōki, original text at Aozora Bunko
  Aozora Bunko
  Aozora Bunko is a Japanese digital library. This online collection encompasses several thousands of works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-of-copyright books or works that the authors wish to make freely available....
  
  
• English translation of Hōjōki by Robert N. Lawson, on Washburn University website
• Hojoki (Eremitorium): Latin Translation, by Alexander Ricius