CCCC: Poems from Visitors to Japan in 858: A Foray into the World of Merchants and Monks beyond Tang High Society

Speaker: Greg Sattler, New York University Title: Poems from Visitors to Japan in 858: A Foray into the World of Merchants and Monks beyond Tang High Society Abstract: In 858, a group of travelers from throughout East Asia journeyed on a merchant ship from China to Japan. After having traveled together in China and across the high seas for several months, the group gathered in a lodge to bid farewell to the man responsible for bringing them together. At the emotional banquet, poems were composed on behalf of the monk Enchin 円珍 (814–891), who later became head of the Tiantai/Tendai 天台 school of