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TheGozan Bungaku orliterature of the Five Mountains (Japanese:五山文学) is theliterature produced by the principalZen (禅) monastic centers of inKyoto andKamakura, Japan.[1][2] The term also refers to five Zen centers in China inHangzhou andNingbo that inspired zen in Japan, while the term "mountain" refers to Buddhistmonastery.[citation needed]
Five Mountains literature orgozan bungaku (五山文學) is used collectively to refer to the poetry and prose inChinese produced by Japanesemonks who were active mostly during the 14th and 15th centuries. Notable writers of the genre includeMusō Soseki,Ikkyū Sōjun, Zekkai Chūsin (絶海中津),Sesson Yūbai,Gidō Shūshin,Jakushitsu Genkō,Chūgan Engetsu andKokan Shiren.[1][3][4] Also included are works by Chinese monks residing in Japan such asSeisetsu Shōchō (Qingzhuo Zhengcheng) and Jikusen Bonsen (竺仙梵僊, Zhuxian Fanxian)[4]
The literary movement has its origin in the 13th century, influenced by two Chinese monks. The first of them,Yishan Yining, arrived in Japan in 1299 as aYuan emissary and wrote in the Zen literary style of theSouthern Song dynasty. Among his students were Kokan Shiren andSesson Yūbai.[2] Another monk from the early Yuan, Kurin Seimu (古林清茂, Gulin Qingmao) was a member of theRinzai school who initiated a different Zen style in China. Gulin never went to Japan but was nevertheless influential in the country through his Chinese and Japanese students, including Seisetsu Shōchō, Jikusen Bonsen and Sesson Yūbai.[5]
Gozan bungaku literature may be divided into two broad periods, the first from the beginning to the late 14th century, the second from the late 14th century to its decline. Others however subdivided them into the following four periods:[3]
The literature of the Five Mountains highly prized a sense of humor and sympathy with life’s ordinariness.[citation needed] A Five Mountains poet might write about anything, in contrast to the prescribed themes of the aristocratic court poets.[citation needed]Kokan Shiren (d. 1346) for example would write about amosquito.[citation needed]
Snouts sharp as drill bits!
Buzz like thunder as they circle the room.
They sneak through the folds of my robe,But they could bloody the back of an ox made of iron!
The image in the final line ofMosquitoes reminds the reader of one of the custom in Zen establishments of slapping on the head with a stick those practitioners of meditation who have momentarily dozed off.[citation needed] In contrast, a courtier might write about thecicada and celebrate seasonal associations connected to them.[citation needed] To write about the mosquito would violate the courtier’s strict sense of literary decorum.[citation needed]
In a poem entitled "Sailing in the Moonlight", Kokan focuses on the incongruous humor of life.[citation needed]
We monks boat in moonlight, circle through the reeds.
The boatman shouts the tide recedes; we must return.
The village folk mistake us for a fishing boatAnd scramble to the beach to buy our catch.
Five Mountains literature was not entirely concerned with the rustic cloistered world. Often the principal historical events of the day found their way into the works of the monks.[citation needed] Zen clerics themselves often served as advisers to the leading political figures.[citation needed] In a poem, "Written Suddenly While Feeling Remorse Over the Passage of Time"Chugan Engetsu (d. 1375) relates his feelings about the fall of theKamakura shogunate a year earlier.[citation needed]
A year ago today the Kamakura fell.
In the monasteries now, nothing of the old mood remains.
The peddler girl understands nothing of a monk's remorse-Shouting through the streets, selling firewood, selling vegetables.
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