Kisen
810-824 CE) was an early Heian period Buddhist monk and waka poet. Little is known about his life other than that he lived in Mount Uji. • Illustration — Kisen Hōshi, from the Hyakunin Isshu. When Ki no Tsurayuki wrote the Japanese preface of the Kokinshū, he selected Kisen as one of the six poetic sages whose work was to be considered as superior.
Also recorded as Kisen Hōshi · Kisen Hoshi · Priest Kisen
Kisen
Utagawa Kuniyoshi / Utagawa Hiroshige / Utagawa Kunisada · This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See the Image and Data Resources Open Access Policy · CC0
- Nationality
- Japan.
- Occupation
- poet.
- Languages
- Japanese.
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Authority files
gnd · 1295913380 · wikidata · Q931711 · wikipedia · Kisen
In this article
Biography
Tsurayuki says the following to comment on Kisen's work: The use of words is a delicate thing—from start to end it does not express the thing that actually is. That is to say, to speak of the autumn moon, one compares it to the clouds at dawn. Sometimes said to be the author of the poetry collection Waka sakushiki, also known as the Kisen-shiki, but it is probably apocryphal and created well after the end of the Heian period. The following two eika are the only poems that can be confidently traced back to him:
The recorded working language is Japanese.
Japan; Print; Prints
Utagawa Kuniyoshi · This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See the Image and Data Resources Open Access Policy
Japan; Print; Prints
Utagawa Kuniyoshi / Utagawa Hiroshige / Utagawa Kunisada · This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See the Image and Data Resources Open Access Policy
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Kisen”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q931711: Kisen
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 1295913380, Kisen, Shūshō.
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Kisen, revision 1351422102 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
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References
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reference work
Secondary witnessauthority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 1295913380, Kisen, Shūshō.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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