Kamo No Chōmei Analysis

Kamo no Chōmei is a well-known figure in Japanese religious writings. He had strong feelings about Buddhism and his role in it. Many of his writings refer to the places that people live, and how those places affect the people who live there. Kamo no Chōmei uses the metaphor of people and their dwellings to aid his argument of impermanence. Dwellings serve as a major theme in Kamo no Chōmei’s Hōjōki. He uses them as an extended metaphor for people, and the impermanence of both is mentioned often. The metaphor is set up with the phrase: “So, too, it is with the people and dwellings of the world” (Shirane, 624). He describes the houses in the capital as outwardly appearing radiant and beautiful, but never being the same as they originally were (624). He says that the same is true of the people who live in these houses, always changing and often not …show more content…
The man in this story is without a home, both physically and socially (Hare, 193). He has no standing on the court and no need to make a home for himself, and he spends his time planning a house he will never make (193). Chōmei expressing the opinion that even this endeavor, pointless though it may seem, is better than actually making a home. He points out that the life of the person who owns the home, as well as the home itself, is impermanent, a “fragile thing” (193). It is better than the old man spend his time focusing on the house in his mind, which cannot be affected by the elements or the dealings of other people. Chōmei then references the teachings of various religious figures. These quotes echo his opinions that it is not worth it to strive for more than what you need. The ending of this story is slightly ambiguous, but it seems that Chōmei describes the wish to enter the Pure Land as “vain” (194). It seems as though he even values the useless planning of the old man over that of monks and other religious