Joa (乗阿)
Joa (1540 – August 28, 1619) was a Buddhist priest of the Jishu School and poet between the Sengoku Period (Period of Warring States) and the early part of the Edo period. He called himself Ikkado. Joa was a native of Kai Province becoming an adopted child of a busho (military commander), Nobutora TAKEDA, of that province.
It is said that, in 1547, Joa studied under Taiko (体光) at Chozen-ji Temple in Suruga Province and eventually succeeded his position as the chief priest of that temple. Joa subsequently went to Kyoto where he developed a relationship with the renga (linked-verse) poet Joha SATOMURA and studied various literary classics including Genji Monogatari (the Tale of Genji), Ise Monogatari (the Tale of Ise) and Kokin Wakashu (Collection of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poetry) under the court nobles Kineda SANJONISHI and Sanezumi SANJONISHI.
In 1602, Joa was invited to Yamagata as the renga poet (linked-verse poet) for Yoshiaki MOGAMI. Later on, Joa returned to the Shichijo Dojo Training Hall in Kyoto and, in 1605, gave lectures to Emperor Goyozei.