Ryokan

A poet and Chinese poet of the late Edo period. He was born as the eldest son of Tachibanaya Yamamoto Samon Yasuo, a village headman and Shinto priest in Izumozaki-cho, Echigo (present-day Izumozaki-cho, Niigata Prefecture). His mother was the daughter of Sado Aikawa Yamamoto Shohei. His childhood name was Eizo, later Fumitaka, and his pen name was Magari. He shaved his head and took the names Ryokan and Taigu. At the age of 18, he briefly took over the family business, but in the same year, he suddenly became an apprentice to the priest Genjo Haryo at the Soto sect Kosho-ji Temple in the neighboring town of Amaze, became a monk, and took the name Ryokan. In July 1775 (4th year of the An'ei Era), the priest Kokusen of Entsu-ji Temple in Tamashima, Bitchu Province (Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture) was impressed by his stay at Kosho-ji Temple, and accompanied him to Tamashima, where he studied under him for over ten years. He made a pilgrimage to Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu, and ascended to Mount Koya from Kyoto, before returning to Echigo at the age of 40.

After returning to Echigo, he moved around Gomoto (present-day Teradomari Gomoto, Nagaoka City), Nakayama, and Teradomari, and then settled alone in a hermitage called Soangogo-an on the slopes of Mt. Kugami, where he spent 15 or 16 years. Later, at the age of 69, he built a hermitage in the grounds of Otogo Shrine at the foot of Mt. Kugami and moved there, but due to old age, he moved to a hermitage in the residence of Kimura Motoemon, a wealthy merchant in Shimazaki Village, Mishima County (present-day Shimazaki, Nagaoka City), where he was memorialized. Around that time, he was visited by a young nun, Teishin-ni, and they remained close friends until his death. He died here on January 6, 1830, five years later. His grave is located in the Kimura family cemetery within the grounds of Ryusenji Temple of the Shinshu Otaniha sect in Nagaoka City.

Although Ryokan was a monk, he never owned a temple, lived a life of begging with nothing, and had no rank. He never preached to people, but had friendly relations with people from many walks of life. He loved children, and always carried a ball of paper and marbles with him, playing with them. He was an honest and innocent person who loved people and nature, and was immersed in it. Although he had nothing, he once took off his clothes and gave them to a shivering beggar, and this is told in his own poems and in "Strange Tales of the Zen Master Ryokan" (written by Kera Yoshishige).

He excelled in songs, poetry and calligraphy, and left behind many works. Although all were first-rate, it seems he had no teacher in any of them. Ryokan is best known as a poet, but his teacher in waka poetry was the Manyoshu, which he borrowed from others and loved to read, and was influenced by it. The poems that remain, only a dozen or so poems from before his return to Echigo, show no influence from the Manyoshu. Many of the words in the Manyoshu are used in the poems he wrote after returning to Japan, but this was not an imitation; he was so fond of the Manyoshu that the words would just slip out of his mouth, and he probably reached a state of mind where he considered the Manyoshu to be Ryokan. His poems are honest and pure. He felt a pure love for humans and nature, and he wrote poems that were honest and simple, coming straight from his heart, and his individuality is so frank that it moves people.

He was also blessed with a talent for Chinese poetry, and wrote his own "Sodo Shishu" (unpublished) and "Ryokan Dojin Ikou". Ryokan's calligraphy is highly praised and loved by many people because it reflects his personality and the accurate study of the classics. There are no autograph manuscripts of his poetry collections, and only "Lotus Dew" edited by his disciple Teishinni after his death, "Ryokan Poetry Collection" edited by Murayama Hanmaki, and "Ryokan Osho Ikou" edited by Hayashi Kameo were published after his death. "Ryokan Poetry Collection" was finally published as a complete collection in 1879 (Meiji 12). The remains of Ryokan, who was loved and loved by many people, include the Ryokan Hall at the site of his birthplace, a small hermitage at the site of Gogoan on Mt. Kokujo, and a monument engraved with Ryokan's poems and songs at the site of his hermitage at Otoko Shrine. There is also a sign for the site of his death and the Ryokan Ihodo Hall in the Kimura family residence in Shimazaki, and the Ryokan Memorial Museum in Izumozaki Town.

[Hidehide Tsujimori]

I came here suddenly to beg for food, but I spent the time picking violets in the spring fields.

"The Complete Works of Ryokan, edited by Togo Toyoharu, 1 volume (1959, Tokyo Sogensha)" ▽ "The Complete Works of Japanese Classics: Ryokan Poetry Collection, annotated by Yoshino Hideo (1952, Asahi Shimbun)" ▽ "Zen Classics 12: Ryokan Poetry Collection, written by Iriya Yoshitaka (1982, Kodansha)" ▽ "Research on Historical Poets 10: Reverend Ryokan, written by Soma Gofu (1938, Koseikaku)" ▽ "The Complete Works of Ryokan, Volume 1: Ryokan Biography, Chronology, and Bibliography, edited by the Ryokan Complete Works Publishing Committee and Tanigawa Toshiaki (1981, Nojima Publishing)" ▽ "The World of Ryokan's Calligraphy, written by Kojima Masayoshi (1988, Kobunsha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸後期の歌人、漢詩人。越後(えちご)出雲崎(いずもざき)町（現新潟県出雲崎町）の名主兼神職の橘(たちばな)屋山本左門泰雄(やすお)の長子として生まれた。母は佐渡相川(あいかわ)山本庄兵衛の女(むすめ)。幼名栄蔵、のち文孝(ふみたか)、字(あざな)は曲(まがり)、剃髪(ていはつ)して良寛、大愚(たいぐ)と号した。18歳のとき一時家を継いだが、同年、突如、隣町尼瀬(あまぜ)町曹洞(そうとう)宗光照(こうしょう)寺の玄乗破了和尚(げんじょうはりょうわじょう)の徒弟となり出家して良寛と称した。1775年（安永4）7月備中(びっちゅう)国玉島(たましま)（岡山県倉敷市）円通寺(えんつうじ)の国仙(こくせん)和尚が光照寺滞在中感銘し、随行して玉島に赴き十数年間師事する。中国、四国、九州を行脚(あんぎゃ)し、京都から高野山(こうやさん)に上り40歳を過ぎてから越後に帰った。

　越後へ帰国後は郷本(ごうもと)（現長岡(ながおか)市寺泊(てらどまり)郷本）、中山、寺泊を転々し、それよりさらに国上(くがみ)山山腹の草庵五合(そうあんごごう)庵にひとりで住み、ここで15、6年を過ごした。のち、69歳国上山麓(さんろく)の乙子(おとご)神社境内に庵(いおり)をつくって移ったが、老衰のため、三島(さんとう)郡島崎村（現長岡市島崎）の豪商能登(のと)屋木村元右衛門邸内の庵に移って供養を受けた。そのころ若い尼貞心(ていしん)尼の来訪を受け、没するまで密接な交遊があった。5年目の天保(てんぽう)2年正月6日ここで没した。墓は長岡市真宗大谷派隆泉(りゅうせん)寺境内木村家墓地内にある。

　良寛は僧ではあっても生涯寺をもたず無一物の托鉢(たくはつ)生活を営み位階はない。人に法を説くこともせず、多くの階層の人と親しく交わった。子供を好み、手毬(てまり)とおはじきをつねに持っていてともに遊んだ。正直で無邪気な人であって、人と自然を愛して自然のなかに没入していた。無一物でありながら、震えている乞食(こじき)に着物を脱いで与えたこともあるなど、自作の詩歌や『良寛禅師奇話』（解良栄重(けらよししげ)著）などに伝える。

　彼は、歌と詩と書に優れていて、多くの作品を残した。どれも一流であるが、どれにも師がなかったらしい。歌人としての良寛がもっとも広く知られているが、和歌の師は『万葉集』で、人に借りてこれを愛読し、進んでその影響を受けた。越後へ帰国前のわずか十数首であるが残っている歌には『万葉集』の影響はみられない。帰国後の歌には『万葉集』の語句を多く使っているが、それは模倣したのではなく、『万葉集』を愛読のあまり、つい口をついてその語句が出るようになり、『万葉集』即良寛という境地になったのであろう。彼の歌は正直で純真である。人間と自然に対して純真な愛を感じ、その心のままを正直に平易に詠み、個性が赤裸々に出て人を感動させる。

　漢詩の才にも恵まれ、自筆の『草堂詩集』（未刊）、『良寛道人遺稿』がある。良寛の書は古典を正確に学び、人格がにじみ出ていて高く評価され愛好する人が多い。歌集の自筆稿本はなく、没後に弟子貞心尼編『蓮(はちす)の露』、村山半牧編『良寛歌集』、林甕雄(かめお)編『良寛和尚遺稿』などがあるにすぎない。まとまった歌集としては、『良寛歌集』がようやく1879年（明治12）に出版された。多くの人から親しまれ愛された良寛の遺跡として、生家跡に良寛堂、国上山五合庵跡に小庵、乙子神社の庵跡には良寛の詩と歌を刻んだ碑が建てられ、島崎の木村家邸内には遷化(せんげ)跡の標示と良寛遺宝堂、出雲崎町に良寛記念館がある。

［辻森秀英］

　飯乞(いひこ)ふと我(わ)が来(こ)しかども春の野に菫(すみれ)つみつつ時を経にけり

『東郷豊治編著『良寛全集』全1巻（1959・東京創元社）』▽『吉野秀雄校注『日本古典全書　良寛歌集』（1952・朝日新聞社）』▽『入谷義高著『禅の古典12　良寛詩集』（1982・講談社）』▽『相馬御風著『歴代歌人研究10　良寛和尚』（1938・厚生閣）』▽『良寛全集刊行会・谷川敏朗編著『良寛全集　別巻1　良寛伝記・年譜・文献目録』（1981・野島出版）』▽『小島正芳著『良寛の書の世界』（1988・恒文社）』

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