Takuan Soho ( 沢 庵 宗 彭 Takuan So: ho:, 1573-1645) is a wandering Zen monk , as well as a calligrapher , poet , artist , gardener , master of the tea ceremony . Invented the recipe for daikon , known as " takuan ."
| Takuan Soho | |
|---|---|
| 沢 庵 宗 彭 | |
| Date of Birth | 1573 |
| Place of Birth | |
| Date of death | 1645 |
| Nationality |  Japan |
| Occupation | Zen monk , calligrapher , poet , artist |
Biography
From ten years old, little Takuan began to live in a Buddhist monastery. There he studied Buddhism , Confucianism and Chinese versification.
In 1608 (when he was 37 years old), he took over as the head priest of Daitokuji Temple, by order of Emperor Go-Yojei . But he soon left this post and wrote in a poem that he is a wandering monk and cannot live in a golden cage.
Takuan Soho led the life of a wandering monk until 1639. Then he stopped at the Bansyozan Tokaiji Temple and spent the rest of his life there.
Throughout his life, Takuan Soho was friends and corresponded with many significant people of his era, including the following:
- Miyamoto Musashi (swordsman)
- Ishida Mitsunari ( daimyo )
- Kuroda Nagamas (Daimyo, Christian)
- Yagyu Munanori (daimyo and swordsman, head of the kenjutsu school Yagyu Shinkage-ryu )
- Emperor Go-Mizunoo (Forsaken Emperor)
- Tokugawa Iemitsu ( Shogun )
- Ito Ittosai (Swordsman)
Takuan and martial arts
Takuan Soho was close friends with outstanding masters of fencing and other martial arts ( budo ) of his time. He combined Zen philosophy and life practice with Samurai philosophy and life practice. In a series of conversations with fencing masters and letters, he pointed out that the consciousness of the fencer in a duel is the same as the consciousness of a meditation master during meditation. The Buddhist categories of “no-mind” and “non-duality” characterize that ideal of pure and unshakable consciousness that a fencer should strive to achieve perfection (state of “ musin ”). Thus, Takuan influenced the formation of the art of fencing ( kendo ) and the samurai ideology of bushido in general. Its influence can be traced in the work of Miyamoto Musashi .