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Keichiu was the son of a samurai in the service of Awoyama, the daimiô of Amagasaki in Setsu. He was born in 1640 and early distinguished himself by an excellent memory for poetry, having, as it is said, committed the Hiakunin shiu to memory in the space of ten days, when he was only five years of age. At the age of eleven he became a neophyte at the monastery of Miôhôji at Imasato near Ôsaka, much against the inclination of his parents. Two years later he shaved his head and removed to the famous monastery of Kôyasan in Kishiu. In 1662 he became an inmate of a monastery at Ikudama near Ôsaka, but finding its proximity to the city disagreeable, he absconded, leaving a verse behind on the wall. From this time he travelled much in the central parts of Japan, studying Buddhism, Sanscrit, Chinese literature and poetry, and Japanese history; but his favourite occupation was the study of Japanese poetry. In 1680 his former teacher, the abbot of Miôhôji, died, and left directions that he should be succeeded by Keichiu, who accepted the charge simply for the sake of his mother who was living at Imasato. About this time the Prince of Mito above alluded to invited him to Yedo in order to complete a commentary on the Manyôshiu which had been commenced by Shimokowabé Chöriu. He declined the invitation, but pleased with the Prince’s love for ancient learning, compiled a similar work for him called Manyô-daishôki in twenty volumes, with a complete commentary in two volumes. After the death of his mother he left the monastery, and retired into private life in a small cottage in the neighbourhood of Ôsaka, whence the repeated invitations of the Prince of Mito failed to draw him. He died in the year 1701. His published works relating to poetry and general literature number sixteen, and he is said to have left a quantity of unfinished manuscript behind him.[1]
Besides Keichiu and Shimokawabé Chôriu (1622-1684) Hirata mentions Nashimoto Mosui[2] as one of the
