Ikkyu Sojun was a Rinzai monk of the mid-Muromachi period, known for eccentric conduct and an uncompromising Zen. He is said to have granted certification of awakening to Murata Juko, and he is therefore the origin point of the connection between Zen and tea practice.
Life
Held by tradition to be an unacknowledged son of Emperor Gokomatsu, he entered Zen young and became abbot of Daitoku-ji in his later years. He disliked formal authority and taught while living among ordinary people.
Influence on tea
The account of Murata Juko practising Zen under Ikkyu and receiving the calligraphy of Yuanwu Keqin is widely told as the origin of chazen ichimi, "tea and Zen, one taste". It established the intellectual basis on which tea practice and Zen came to be treated as a single discipline.
Note
Ikkyu is popularly known in Japan through folk tales about his cleverness as a boy. His significance in tea history is a separate matter and rests on the transmission to Juko.
Sources
- 一休宗純（デジタル大辞泉 / 日本大百科全書） / コトバンク
Supports: 一休宗純の生没年が1394年～1481年（文明13年11月21日示寂）であること。臨済宗大徳寺派の僧で、後小松天皇の落胤と伝えられ、形式化・世俗化した禅に反抗し奇行で知られたこと。文明6年（1474年）に大徳寺住持となったこと
About this article
Edited by the operator of Chaen (a one-person operation) / Last updated:
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Term info
- Life dates
- 1394–1481
- Category
- Term
Related terms
- Chado (The Way of Tea)chado
The Japanese practice of preparing and serving powdered green tea, treated as a lifelong discipline rather than a beverage ritual.
- Wabiwabi
Finding sufficiency of mind within insufficiency and plainness; one of the root concepts of tea practice.
- Ichigo ichie (one time, one meeting)ichigo ichie
The principle that every gathering is unrepeatable, and should therefore be treated as if it will never occur again.
- EisaiEisai
The monk (1141–1215) who brought tea seeds back from Song China and wrote Japan's first book on tea.
- MyoeMyoe
The monk (1173–1232) who cultivated Eisai's tea seeds at Toganoo, establishing tea growing in Japan.
- Takeno JooTakeno Joo
The Sakai merchant tea master (1502–1555) who deepened wabi tea through classical poetry, and taught Rikyu.
- Murata JukoMurata Juko
The tea master (1423–1502) who began the turn toward wabi tea by serving tea in a small thatched room.