This article deals with the theme of sorrow and loneliness in the poetry of the monk Saigyō (1118-1190). It traces this poet in the context of the of mappō, "the end of Buddha's Law", and considers various reasons of his reclusion.
Th e author created a database of Saigyō's poems in Czech translation, and analyses eight types of sorrow and loneliness in his poetry. Th e article comes to conclusion that Saigyō was a poet whose poetry was on the way of transformation from Heain to medieval aesthetics.