Hojoki, also titled The 10 Foot Square Hut, is a Japanese poetic work by 12/13th-century author Kamo no Chomei. It describes the string of disasters (typhoon, famine, epidemic, earthquake) witnessed by the author, and his retreat into smaller and smaller dwellings, in the countryside, away from The World.
The work itself is short and moving; the introduction (probably written by the translators) is engaging and useful.