SOURCE: Pandey, Rajyashree. “Kamo no Chōmei: Court Poet and Buddhist Priest.” In Writing and Renunciation in Medieval Japan: The Works of the Poet-Priest Kamo no Chōmei, pp. 56-81. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1998.

In the following essay, Pandey provides an overview of Chōmei's life and development as a poet.

While little is known about the lives of many well-known writers of the Heian and Kamakura periods, Chōmei is something of an exception. Genealogies provide valuable information about the Kamo family, and the diaries and literary works of his contemporaries on occasion speak directly of Chōmei's personality or of his activities.

A certain amount of information about Chōmei's life can also be gleaned from his own literary works. His collection of poetry, Kamo no Chōmei shū, is the only surviving work written by Chōmei during the...