Letter by Ikkyu Sojun 一休宗純筆書状イッキュウソウジュンヒツショジョウ

Description

Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481) was a priest affiliated with Rinzai (Ch. Linji) Sect Zen Buddhism of the Muromachi Period and was the 46th bishop of Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto. He was an illegitimate son of Emperor Gokomatsu (1377-1433). His name, Ikkyu, means “One Pause” and denotes a short pause of emptiness between two worlds, the material and spiritual, good and evil, or enlightened and secular. Ikkyu Sojun was an avid learner of various Zen schools, practiced hard, never fawned upon men of influence, and was critical of the corrupt Zen world of the day. His personality was drawn to purity and cleanliness, and he lived in honest poverty or refined simplicity. Free-willed, he remained uncompromising to the authorities and Zen establishment. He preached Zen teachings of no discrimination by man’s birth or occupation where men were equal and won popularity among commoners. Popular teachings of Zen by Ikkyu Sojun greatly contributed to the rise of the Higashiyama Culture, while Ikkyu himself was a cultivated painter, poet and calligrapher. One of the books he authored was Kyoun-Shu (literally, “Crazy Cloud Anthology”), which is a manuscript of Chinese verses. In the letter shown here, Ikkyu is sending a donation for the celebration of some Daini (the highest position of the Dazaifu government office in Kyushu) who was promoted to the Tamagaki department in Ise (today’s Mie Prefecture), an important office that handled offerings to Shinto deities. Ikkyu asks the recipient to convey his message to the chief priest of the Grand Shrine at Ise. This letter is the first page of the original letter, and the second page, unfortunately, has long been lost. The elegant and free flow of the characters seems to represent the free-willed lifestyle of this most unconventional figure in the Zen world of 15th-century Japan.