Sesson Yūbai

Sesson Yūbai
Title	Roshi
Personal
Born	1290 Japan
Died	January 14, 1348
Religion	Zen Buddhism
School	Rinzai
Occupation	priest poet

Sesson Yūbai (雪村 友梅, 1290 - January 14, 1348) 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.

In China

Yūbai 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. 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.

Yūbai studied Linji Ch'an under I-shan I-ning in China.

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. Some of these temples were ranked among the provincial jissatsu by Muromachi shogunate, which encouraged its vasssls shugo to found monetaries in the provinces.

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

See also

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

References

• Hall, John Whitney (1999). The Cambridge History of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22354-7 ISBN 978-0-521-22354-6. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); OCLC 165440083
• Katō, Shūichi (1997). A History of Japanese Literature: From the Man'yōshū to Modern Times. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 1-873-41048-4 ISBN 978-1-873-41048-6. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Keene, Donald (1999). Seeds in the heart : Japanese literature from earliest times to the late sixteenth century. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231114419 ISBN 978-0-231-11441-7. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); OCLC 246429887
• Fischer-Schreiber, Ingrid (1991). The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen. Shambhala Publications. ISBN 0877735204. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Winther-Tamaki, Bert (2001). Art in the Encounter of Nations. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0824820770. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)