Monk Kisen

A prostitute is juxtaposed with Kisen, a mid-ninth-century Buddhist monk and poet, about whom the only thing known today is that he lived near Mount Uji. The inscribed poem, by Kisen, is cited in the Collection of Japanese Poems of Ancient and Modern Times (Kokin wakashū), from around 905: My hut is to the capital’s southeast, and thus I live. But people call it “Uji, hill of one weary of the world, ” I hear.