Ikkyuji

In the time I have spent in Japan I have enjoyed visiting temples and other places associated with famous people from the history of Japanese Buddhism. As a friend once put it, it is a way of connecting with the traces of the ancestors. Maybe it is just my imagination but there is something special about visiting places once frequented by people who have inspired me and taught me so much in their writings and by their examples.

Recently I had the chance to visit Ikkyuji, a small zen temple south of Kyoto named after one of my favorite zen poets, Ikkyu Sojun. Ikkyu was born in 1394 as the illegitimate son of the emperor and one of the ladies of the court in Kyoto. To protect him, and also get him out of the way as a potential claimant to the imperial throne, he was orphaned at the age of 5 and sent to a country zen temple called Ankokuji. This in itself was not unusual, since temples functioned as orphanages with children raised in temples typically joining the ranks of Buddhist monastics and priests. Ikkyu was a precocious child who learned how to write classical Chinese poetry at a young age and could very well have ascended the ranks of the temple monastics and possibly have become a powerful Buddhist priest in the capital city. But he was also a bit of a rebel and grew to reject what he saw as the empty and meaningless pomp of official Buddhist ceremonies and clergy.

As his training advanced he sought his own way forward and once he was fully ordained he left his home monastery in search of a teacher to guide him. He would go on to spend much of his life as a solitary wandering monk, but he also was known to spend time in taverns and enjoyed the company of female entertainers. He rejected the Buddhist vow of celibacy and late in life had a close and intimate relationship with a blind singer named Mori. His poetry, which he composed throughout his life, dealt with Buddhist themes as well his love for Mori and other female companions. This is the Ikkyu I knew before I came to Japan.

Here in Japan the iconoclastic and scandalous wandering zen poet is less well known than a very different figure, made famous by an anime series produced for Japanese television in the 1970s. That Ikkyusan is the precocious and mischievous child monk in training who the locals often turned to for assistance in solving problems, often involving resisting or avoiding the obstructions of local officials. The series was based on popular stories that circulated about Ikkyu and was quite popular with audiences of all ages. It was nice to see both Ikkyu Sojuns here.