Sozei (宗砌)
Sozei (date of birth unknown; date of death: February 11, 1455) was a Japanese poet during the Mid-Muromachi period. He was a retainer of Tokihiro YAMANA and Mochitoyo (or Sozen) YAMANA and his official name was Minbu shoyu (Junior Assistant Minister of Popular Affairs) Tokishige TAKAYAMA.
Sozei learned renga poetry from Bon Toan.
In 1433, he joined a renga poetry group named 'Kitanosha Manku.'
He subsequently assumed the position of the Master (sojo) of the Kittenisha Manku group in 1448 and played a leading part in the renga circle. When his master, Mochitoyo (or Sozen) YAMANA, was transferred to Tanba Province, Sozei followed Mochitoyo and died in Tanba in 1455. He was around 70 at the time of his death. He had the second largest number of poems included in 'Shinsen Tsukubashu' (selected collection of poems), next only to Shinkei. He taught Sogi and had a considerable influence on the development of poetry in Japan during the subsequent golden age of renga poetry. He wrote 'Mitsudensho,' a collection of his essays on renga poetry, in 1455.
He was also a tea ceremony master and invented the bamboo tea whisk (called chasen in Japanese) used in tea ceremonies.