Kakita Saigyu

Kakita Saigyu was a poet of the Crane Clan who began the tradition of the artist's journey.

Artist's Journey
Saigyu was in service to a Crane courtier of the Imperial Court. He was so afraid of the mercurial Hantei XVI that requested leave to go on a “poet's musha shugyo” and travel across the Empire. After six years wandering Rokugan he returned to Otosan Uchi and started publishing his journals, which became very popular. The link between travel and art was made, and the tradition continued in the centuries that followed.