Poems of the Monk Reigon

What remains when public ambitions fail, children live far away and the body grows old? Yosano Reigon answers through poems that return to flowers, weather, memory and Buddhist reflection. Resentment is not erased by faith; gratitude does not prevent loneliness. His changing moods give familiar seasonal images the pressure of a lived life.

The collection’s complete biographical preface, written by his son Yosano Hiroshi, traces Reigon’s religious training, work around the imperial Restoration, educational and industrial projects, financial losses and eventual mountain retirement. The poems then follow their supplied order and retain their individual occasion headings. Family partings, the deaths of parents and wife, poetic advice, travels and political hopes appear beside cherry blossoms, cuckoos and winter snow.

First published in 1910, Poems of the Monk Reigon is presented complete, including the farewell poems recited at his deathbed, his children’s responses and the final corrections and restored poem. Each short poem has five English lines, with concise notes on Buddhist ideas, historical references, wordplay and unusual Japanese readings. The source’s contradictory dates and varied emotions remain visible.