Zenna (善阿)

Zenna (years of birth and death are unknown) was a Buddhist monk and a Rengashi (linked-verse poet) from the end of Kamakura Period. It is said that he was a Buddhist monk of Konko-ji Temple, Kyoto Shichijo dojo Training Hall (Kyoto City) (Jishu sect).

He seems to have been a leader of the Jige Rengashi (linked-verse poets of lower class nobles) such as Gusai (Rengashi) and Junkaku. At that time, he was gaining a high reputation, and many of his poems were chosen for Junchokusenshu (the associate anthology of poems collected by Imperial Command) named 'Tokubashu' (Tokuba Collection). He was also involved in formulating the code of Renga poems called 'Renga honshiki' (full-scale Renga formulary). Zenna's verse style, which followed the theme of 'Manyoshu' (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), was considered old-fashioned, and Gusai, his disciple and a leader of the next generation of Renga poets, did not acknowledge it.

[Original Japanese]