Kenko: Essays in Idleness

About two weeks ago, on Jan. 27 to be exact, I quoted Eric Hoffer on the subject of perfection. It took awhile for me to remember a short essay that's somewhat related to Hoffer's position. The author is Kenko (approx. 1283-1350), a Japanese Buddhist priest. He is sometimes referred to "by his lay name of Urabe no Kaneyoshi or by the name Yoshida no Kaneyoshi," but he is most commonly known by his Buddhist name Kenko. Kenko was a low-ranking member of the imperial court but for some unknown reason he left.

Essays in Idleness seems to have been written between 1330-1332, after he left the court. The oldest surviving text dates back to 1431, about a century after Kenko composed the 243 short essays that comprise the work. It seems as though it was never published during his lifetime.


Essay 82

"Somebody once remarked that thin silk was not satisfactory as a scroll wrapping because it was so easily torn. Ton'a replied, 'It is only after the silk wrapper has frayed at top and bottom, and the mother-of-pearl has fallen from the roller that a scroll looks beautiful.' This opinion demonstrated the excellent taste of the man. People often say that a set of books looks ugly if all volumes are not in the same format, but I was impressed to hear the Abbot Koyu say, 'It is typical of the unintelligent man to insist on assembling complete sets of everything. Imperfect sets are better.'

In everything, no matter what it may be, uniformity is undesirable. Leaving something incomplete makes it interesting, and gives one the feeling that there is room for growth. Someone once told me, 'Even when building the imperial palace, they always leave one place unfinished.' In both Buddhist and Confucian writings of the philosophers of former times, there are also many missing chapters."

Kenko
The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko
The title is often referred to in English as Essays in Idleness
trans. Donald Keene



No fence straddling or exceptions allowed here: "In everything, no matter what it may be, uniformity is undesirable. Leaving something incomplete makes it interesting, and gives one the feeling that there is room for growth."

The Abbot Koyu is pretty harsh also: 'It is typical of the unintelligent man to insist on assembling complete sets of everything. Imperfect sets are better.'



However, in the brief introduction, Kenko also writes: "What a strange, demented feeling it gives me when I realize I have spent whole days before this inkstone, with nothing better to do, jotting down at random whatever nonsensical thoughts have entered my head."

"with nothing better to do" is the English translation of "tsurezure naru mama ni" which gives rise to the title Tsurezuregusa


Perhaps today he would write that he has "spent whole days before this keyboard" posting on his blog.


"nonsensical thoughts"?



(1) Ton'a (1289-1372) was a distinguished poet, closely associated with Kenko, as well as a monk of the Jishu sect of Jodo.
(2) Loyu Sozu was a contemporary of Kenko, but little is known of him.