Kenko Yoshida

Hace seiscientos cincuenta años, un bonzo budista japonés retirado del mundo fue escribiendo sobre trocitos de papel, según le venían a la mente, los 243 textos que componen este libro. A medida que los rellenaba, iba pegando los papeles en las paredes de su covacha para, en medio del ocio, volver a parar mientes en ellos. La obra, en japones, es conocida por la palabra con que da comienzo: Tsurezuregusa, es decir "ocurrencias", "reflexiones". Ocurrencias de un ocioso no es una obra religiosa. Kenko Yoshida, aun apartado del mundo, vivia al borde de el, en libertad de espiritu. Hasta su cabaña llegaban chismes, historias, acontecimientos y, sobre todo, seguian vivos en su interior los recuerdos de los diecisiete años que paso en la corte. Asi, fue escribiendo este mosaico de opiniones, vivencias y remembranzas, recogido mas tarde por su discipulo el poeta Imagawa Ryoshun. El manuscrito mas antiguo conservado del Tsurezuregusa data del año 1431. La primera edicion se realizo en 1604, y presentaba el libro como una "teoria o filosofia de la vida humana".

These two works on lifes fleeting pleasures are by Buddhist monks from medieval Japan, but each shows a different world-view. In the short memoir Hojoki, Chomei recounts his decision to withdraw from worldly affairs and live as a hermit in a tiny hut in the mountains, contemplating the impermanence of human existence. Kenko, however, displays a fascination with more earthy matters in his collection of anecdotes, advice and observations. From ribald stories of drunken monks to aching nostalgia for the fading traditions of the Japanese court, Essays in Idleness is a constantly surprising work that ranges across the spectrum of human experience. Meredith McKinneys excellent new translation also includes notes and an introduction exploring the spiritual and historical background of the works.Chomei was born into a family of Shinto priests in around 1155, at at time when the stable world of the court was rapidly breaking up. He became an important though minor poet of his day, and at the age of fifty, withdrew from the world to become a tonsured monk. He died in around 1216.Kenko was born around 1283 in Kyoto. He probably became a monk in his late twenties, and was also noted as a calligrapher. Today he is remembered for his wise and witty aphorisms, Essays in Idleness.Meredith McKinney, who has also translated Sei Shonagons The Pillow Book for Penguin Classics, is a translator of both contemporary and classical Japanese literature. She lived in Japan for twenty years and is currently a visitng fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra.[Essays in Idleness is] a most delightful book, and one that has served as a model of Japanese style and taste since the 17th century. These cameo-like vignettes reflect the importance of the little, fleeting futile things, and each essay is Kenko himselfAsian Student