View source for Ton'a

{{short description|Japanese poet}}
[[Image:Ton'a.jpg|200px|thumb|Ton'a]]
{{Nihongo|'''Ton'a'''|頓阿||extra=1289&ndash;1372}}, also read<!-- not a "spelling" difference but a conventional romanization of the difference between the Japanese readings とんあ and とんな --> as '''Tonna'''; [[lay name]] &ndash; '''Nikaidō Sadamune''' (二階堂貞宗), was a Japanese [[Buddhist poetry|Buddhist poet]] who was a student of [[Nijō Tameyo]]. Ton'a took a tonsure at [[Enryaku-ji|Enryaku-ji Temple]], but was later associated with the ''Ji'' sect (founded by [[Ippen]]). He looked up to [[Saigyō]]'s poetic genius.
== Poetry ==
The following are two of his best-known poems:
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|ja-Latn|naku semi no
koe mo hitotsu ni
hibikite
matsu kage suzushi
yama no takitsuse}}
|
Crying cicadas
are in one voice with the sound
that reverberates
&ndash; cool, in the shade of the pines &ndash;
from a mountain cascade.<ref>Carter, Steven D. ''Traditional Japanese Poetry : an Anthology.'' Stanford, CA, USA: Stanford University Press, 1991. p 255. {{ISBN|9780804715621}}</ref>}}
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|ja-Latn|ne ni tatete
nageku wa nani zo
utsusemi no
munashiki yo to wa
shiranu mono ka wa}}
|
Just what can it be
that makes them cry so loudly?
But, ah, of course: cicadas would know
how empty is this world
of the cicada shell.<ref>The shell shed by the cicada was a conventional symbol for ephemerality. Adapted from Carter, Steven D. ''Just Living : Poems and Prose of the Japanese Monk Tonna.'' New York, NY, USA: Columbia University Press, 2003. p 133. {{ISBN|9780231125529}}</ref>}}
==Notes==
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[[Category:Japanese writers of the Muromachi period]]
[[Category:14th-century Japanese poets]]
[[Category:Kamakura period Buddhist clergy]]
[[Category:Buddhist poets]]
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