Collection of Poems by Myoe Shonin (written by Takanobu)

What Is the Myōe Shōnin Kashū?

The Myōe Shōnin Kashū (明恵上人歌集), literally "The Poetry Collection of the Venerable Myōe," is a single handscroll measuring approximately 27.8 centimeters in height and 13.5 meters in length. It gathers 155 poems in total, of which 112 were composed by Myōe himself, while the remaining 43 are "reply poems" (贈答歌, zōtōka) sent to or from his correspondents. One of the pieces is a linked verse (renga).

The scroll was compiled in the spring of Hōji 2 (1248), on the seventeenth memorial anniversary of Myōe's death, by his disciple Junshōbō Kōshin (順性房高信). Kōshin drew upon two collections that Myōe had personally edited during his lifetime — the Kenshin Wakashū (遣心和歌集) and the Ryōgasanden (楞伽山伝), both of which have since been lost. Without Kōshin's dedicated transcription, the voice of Myōe the poet might have faded entirely from history.

Eight of Myōe's poems were selected for imperial anthologies beginning with the Shin-chokusen Wakashū, and these are helpfully noted within the scroll itself. For scholars of Japanese literature, the collection is therefore both a primary source and a meticulously annotated guide.

Who Was Myōe Shōnin?

To understand the scroll, one must first meet its subject. Myōe, also known by his ordination name Kōben (高弁), was born in 1173 in Kii Province — today's Wakayama Prefecture — as the son of the samurai Taira no Shigekuni and a daughter of the Yuasa warrior clan. Orphaned at the age of eight, he entered the famed Jingo-ji temple on Mount Takao in Kyoto, where he began his training under the charismatic monk Mongaku. He took full ordination at Tōdai-ji in Nara at sixteen.

In 1206, Retired Emperor Gotoba granted him the Toganoo (栂尾) area in the forested hills north of Kyoto, where Myōe founded Kōzan-ji — the mountain monastery that became the stage for his life's work as a reviver of the Kegon (Flower Garland) school of Buddhism. He was celebrated in his own time for his uncompromising discipline, his deep yearning for the historical Buddha, and his unusual practice of keeping a written record of his dreams, the Yume no Ki, over a span of some forty years.

Myōe was no ordinary monk. He famously severed his right ear in his youth as an act of devotion, and twice attempted pilgrimages to India in the hope of walking in the Buddha's footsteps, only to be dissuaded by divine oracles. After the Jōkyū War of 1221, when he sheltered warriors who had supported the defeated imperial side, he was taken before the Kamakura regent Hōjō Yasutoki — but so moved was Yasutoki by Myōe's teaching that he became the monk's lay disciple.

Why the Scroll Is Designated a National Treasure

The Myōe Shōnin Kashū was designated a National Treasure on November 22, 1952, under the post-war Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. Several layers of value justify this ranking.

First is scarcity. The originals that Kōshin drew from are no longer extant, making this handscroll the single most complete text of Myōe's poetic output. Without it, a vital dimension of one of Japan's most distinctive religious figures would remain silent.

Second is authenticity. The scroll bears a colophon dated the eighth day of the third month of Hōji 2 (1248), firmly anchoring its production within the early Kamakura period. The transcription is by Kōshin himself, a disciple who knew Myōe intimately and who had every reason to render his teacher's words with care.

Third is artistic and calligraphic merit. Written in a mixed script of Chinese characters and kana, the scroll displays Kōshin's characteristically slender, vertically elongated brushwork — a style that, observers have noted, echoes the handwriting of Myōe himself. The work stands as an important example of mid-thirteenth-century devotional calligraphy.

Fourth, and perhaps most compelling, is its human value. The poems allow readers across the centuries to hear Myōe's own voice — by turns austere, tender, playful, and ecstatic — in a way that doctrinal treatises cannot convey.

Highlights and Points of Interest

Visitor Information

The Myōe Shōnin Kashū is held in the permanent collection of the Kyoto National Museum and is registered under collection number B甲773. Because it is an extremely light-sensitive paper scroll, it is not on continuous display. Visitors typically have the opportunity to see it once every two or three years, usually as part of the museum's name-piece exhibitions or special shows devoted to Myōe, Kōzan-ji, or Kamakura-period calligraphy. Checking the museum's exhibition calendar before travel is strongly recommended.

The Kyoto National Museum itself is one of Japan's four principal national museums, housed in a blend of the elegant Meiji-era Meiji Kotokan (the original brick building of 1895) and the contemporary Heisei Chishinkan, designed by Yoshio Taniguchi and opened in 2014. Even without the scroll on view, the museum rewards an unhurried visit.

Surrounding Attractions

The Kyoto National Museum stands in the Higashiyama district, at the heart of Kyoto's richest cluster of temples and shrines. Within a short walk are:

• Sanjūsangen-dō, the 120-meter-long temple hall housing 1,001 statues of Kannon, directly across the street.
• Chishaku-in, known for its renowned screen paintings by Hasegawa Tōhaku and his son, a five-minute walk away.
• Toyokuni Shrine, dedicated to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a short stroll to the north.
• Kiyomizu-dera, the famous wooden temple perched on a hillside, reachable on foot through atmospheric slopes and pottery streets.

For those with a deeper interest in Myōe himself, a day trip to Kōzan-ji in the Toganoo hills northwest of central Kyoto is highly rewarding. The temple, a UNESCO World Heritage property as part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, preserves the atmosphere of the very mountain retreat where Myōe lived and composed many of these poems.