Ton'a

Ton'a, also read as Tonna; lay name - Nikaidō Sadamune, was a Japanese Buddhist poet who was a student of Nijō Tameyo. Ton'a took a tonsure at Enryaku-ji Temple, but was later associated with the Ji sect. He looked up to Saigyō's poetic genius.

Poetry

The following are two of his best-known poems:

Extant Works

Ei Sanshu Waka (詠三首和歌/頓阿), 1367

In 1367, Ashikaga Yoshiakira hosted a poetry gathering at Nii-Tamatsushima Shrine. The scroll consist of three poems, and the script's casual arrangements indicates influence from Fujiwara no Yukinari. The scroll originally was owned by Fujita Denzaburō until 1934, subsequently sold in Kyoto in 2014 to collectors Mary and Cheney Cowles, who then donated the scroll to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2022.