Hōjōki: Visions of a Torn World

“Dead in the morning and born at night, so man goes on for ever, unenduring as the foam on the water.”

Chōmei uses a simile to establish an Appreciation of Impermanence. He compares the process of life and death to a rushing river and “unenduring” foam to emphasize how quickly people live and die. A society is never permanently the same: Every day, babies are born, people die, and others move away or arrive in new communities. Opening with this line quickly shows Chōmei's familiarity with the transience of life, and he repeats this theme throughout the text.

“So the old Capital was already a waste and the new one not yet made. Every one felt as unsettled as drifting clouds.”

When the capital of Japan was briefly moved from Kyoto to Fukuhara, most people were extremely unhappy about it, but they were obligated to move along with the court. As part of the theme Perceptions of Suffering, Chōmei writes of this widespread dissatisfaction. Chōmei has already established that most people prefer to build their homes to last, even though they will inevitably get destroyed or abandoned; it is therefore stressful and uncomfortable to be forcefully uprooted. While Chōmei praises transience, it is not easy for most people to maintain a sense of detachment from the material world, which led to this “unsettled” feeling that arose during the transition between capitals.