was an eccentric, iconoclastic Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and poet. He had a great impact on the infusion of Japanese art and literature with Zen attitudes and ideals, as well as on Zen itself, often breaking religious taboos with his stance against celibacy. Biography Childhood Ikkyū was born in 1394 in a small suburb of Kyoto. It is generally held that he was the son of Emperor Go-Komatsu and a low-ranking court noblewoman. His mother was forced to flee to Saga, where Ikkyū was raised by servants. At the age of five, Ikkyū was separated from his mother and placed in a Rinzai Zen temple in Kyoto called Ankoku-ji, as an acolyte. The temple masters taught Chinese culture and language as part of the curriculum, a method termed . He was given the name Shuken, and learned about Chinese poetry, art and literature. Training When Ikkyū turned thirteen he entered Kennin-ji in Kyoto to study Zen under a well known priest by the name of Botetsu. Here Ikkyū began to write poetry frequently that was non-traditional in form. He was openly critical of Kennin-ji's leadership in his poetry, disheartened with the social stratum and lack of practice he saw around him. In 1410, at the age of sixteen, Ikkyū left Kennin-ji and entered the temple Mibu-dera, where an abbot named Seiso was in residence. He did not stay long, and soon found himself at Saikin-ji in the Lake Biwa region where he was the sole student of an abbot named Ken'o. It seemed Ikkyū had finally found a master that taught true as Ikkyū saw it. Ken'o was sporadic in his teaching style and was a strong believer in the supremacy of . In 1414, when Ikkyū was 21, Ken'o died. Ikkyū performed funeral rites and fasted for seven days. In despair Ikkyū tried to kill himself by drowning himself in Lake Biwa, but was talked out of it from the shore by a servant of his mother. Ikkyū soon found a new teacher in a master named Kaso at Zenko-an, a branch temple of Daitoku-ji. Kaso was much like Ken'o in his style. For years he worked hard on assigned and made dolls for a local merchant in Kyoto. In 1418 Ikkyū was given Case 15 of the , ("The Gateless Gate", a famous set of 49 ), known as "Tozan's Three (or 60?) Blows", which depicts Tozan becoming