Hermitary - Gallery- Art

About the images on this page

The writers and poets of Japan are numerous, but the core of historical hermit-poets and writers portrayed here remain popular because of the authenticity of their communication of eremitism. They constitute essential reading into the history of eremitism, as much as important formative figures in poetry.
This gallery opens with the mythical founder-hermit Enno Gyoja, forbidden by the gods to pursue his avocation but defying them nevertheless. The legendary Chinese hermit Chen Tuan or Chen Xiyi was the Taoist founder of martial arts avidly adopted by Japanese interests and depicted here in meditation.
Afterwhich follow familiar indispensable Japanese poets and writers. Yoshishigeno Yasutane anticipates both Kamo no Chōmei and Kenkō. Saigyō, Bashō, and Ryōkan are the three great poet-hermits. Kamo no Chōmei wrote of the mappo, the collapse of contemporary society, of his hermit hut, retreat from collapse, and endearing stories of the sage hermits and monks. Ippen is among those monks who preached a radical vision of Buddhism and renunciation, gathering thousands as followers. Finally, Kenkō is the sophisticated aesthete, the Epicurean hermit, writer of intelligent "idleness," of the removal of self from the travails of sightless society, blinded by the red dust of the world, retreating into the equivalent of a hermitage in the city.