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Sōgi

(1421-1502). The leading renga (linked verse) poet of the late 15th century. He was revered as the epitome of the traveler-poet and served as the chief compiler of the second honorary imperial renga anthology, the Shinsen tsukubashō (1495, New Tsukuba Anthology). Born in either Kii Province (now Wakayama Prefecture) or Ōmi Province (now Shiga Prefecture), he was of humble origin. He moved to Kyoto and entered the Buddhist priesthood at Shōkokuji, a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect. He traveled much between 1466 and 1474, and during that time he wrote Chōrokubumi (1466) and Azuma Mondō (1470), critical works on renga composition, and a travel diary, Shirakawa Kikō (1468). In the spring of 1488 Sōgi was appointed by the shogunate to administer the Kitano Shrine renga sessions, the highest official honor accorded to a renga poet. Sōgi and his disciples, Shōhaku and Sōchō gathered at Minase (between Osaka and Kyoto) and composed the 100-verse Minase Sangin Hyakuin. (adapted from Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1993)

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