Ikkyu: Encyclopedia II - Ikkyu - Biography

Ikkyu - Biography

Ikkyu was born during the Ashikaga shogunate, during the time known as the Muromachi period, when the capital of Japan was restored to Kyoto from Kamakura. At the age of 21, he sought out Kaso, a well-regarded Zen monk. Under his tutelage in the seminal Daitoku-ji temple in Kyoto, Ikkyu came up against Yoso, a more senior student who eventually came to run the monastery. In Ikkyu's poems, Yoso appears as a character unhealthily obsessed with material goods, who sold Zen to increase the prosperity of the temple.

After a falling out with Yoso and his materialistic methods, Ikkyu left the temple and gradually retreated into the countryside. He was not alone there, however, as he had a regular circle of notable artists and poets from that era. Around this time, he established a relationship with a blind singer Mori who became the love of his later life.

Ikkyu worked to live Zen outside of formal religious institutions. However, the Onin War had reduced Daitokuji to ashes, and Ikkyu was elected abbot late in life, a role he reluctantly took on. This firmly placed him in one of the most important Zen lineages. In 1481, Ikkyu passed away at the age of eighty-eight from acute ague.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Biography", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki