saigyo

Updated: May 20, 2025

Yoritomo encountered him one day, and was so struck by his venerable appearance that he invited him to his mansion and would have had him remain there permanently. But Saigyo declined. On parting, the Minamoto chief gave him as souvenir a cat chiselled in silver, which the old ascetic held in such light esteem that he bestowed it on the first child he met.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era

The former, because men of really noble instincts were insensible to the ambition which alone absorbed a Kyoto littérateur the ambition of figuring prominently in an approved anthology and had, at the same time, no inclination to follow the purely military creed of Kamakura. Such recluses as Kamo Chomei, Saigyo Hoshi and Yoshida Kenko were an outcome of these conditions.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era

In the career of Saigyo "the reverend," as his title "hoshi" signifies there were episodes vividly illustrating the manners and customs of the tune.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era