An abbreviation of Ikkyū Zenji 一休禅師, the Zen 禅 priest Ikkyū (1394-1481) of the *Rinzai 臨済 lineage. A poet, essayist, legendary eccentric, critic of the Zen establishment, as well as both subject of and impetus for artistic creation. His posthumous name was Sōjun 宗純, and he also used the sobriquet Kyōunshi 狂雲子.
Ikkyū was the preeminent Japanese Zen personality, but also a pragmatic rebuilder of Daitokuji 大徳寺 in Kyoto after the Ōnin 応仁 war (1466-67) and a significant contributor to medieval aesthetics. Said to have been a son of Emperor Gokomatsu 後小松 (1377-1433)—although his mother's position at court was ambiguous—at the age five Ikkyū became an acolyte at Ankokuji 安国寺 where he spent the next ten years immersed in Chinese learning. In 1410, however, he began the strict practice of meditation with the priest Kennō Sōi 謙翁宗為 (d. 1405), and then went on to study with Kesō Sōdon 華叟宗曇 (1352-1428) at a rustic temple in Katada 堅田 near Lake Biwa 琵琶. It was here that Ikkyū, upon hearing a crow's caw, had his enlightenment experience in 1420.
In the 1420s Ikkyū settled in Sakai 堺 where he practiced his 'mad Zen' in brothels and wine shops. His antics, parading through the streets waving a sword or carrying a human skull, and his numerous affairs with prostitutes celebrated in his poems, were presented as methods of understanding true Zen. Ikkyū was a constant critic of the "wooden" (i.e. stylized) Zen practiced in large monasteries such as Daitokuji, where he briefly served as abbot in 1474. Even in his old age spent at Shūon'an 酬恩庵, a small retreat south of Kyoto, Ikkyū's attachment to the blind singer Mori 森 again demonstrated his fusion of Zen and worldly life.
Throughout his life, and especially during his years at Shūon'an, Ikkyū maintained close relations with leaders in various arts, hosting prominent literary figures such as the *noh 能 playwright and theorist Konparu Zenchiku 金春禅竹 (1405-70), the renga 連歌 master Īo Sōgi 飯尾宗祇 (1421-1502) and, most frequently, Sōgi's disciple the poet Saiokuken Sōchō 紫屋軒宗長 (1448-1532). Ikkyū's interest in expressing Zen through the arts has led to legends linking him with the founding of the tea ceremony *chanoyu 茶の湯 and writing the noh plays Eguchi 江口 (see *Eguchi no kimi 江口の君) and *Yamauba 山姥. More than 1,000 of Ikkyū's poems, many of them openly erotic, are collected in the Kyōunshū 狂雲集 (Crazy-Cloud Anthology, translated Sonja Arntzen).
Ikkyū is also known for his essays, the best-known of which is Gaikotsu 骸骨 (Skeletons). He also gathered several painter-priests in his circle, including Soga Jasoku 曽我蛇足 (d. 1483; see *Soga-ha 曽我派), Bokkei 墨渓 (d. 1473) who was called Suiboku 酔墨 (drunken ink) by Ikkyū and used it as a sobriquet, and Bokusai 墨斎 (d.1492) who was Ikkyū's chief disciple at Shūon'an and later abbot both there and at Shinjuan 真珠庵, Ikkyū's subtemple at Daitokuji.
Ikkyū is noted for his calligraphy which is as powerful, rough, and eccentric as his personality. There are also a number of rough ink monochrome paintings attributed to him, although they differ greatly from the style of Jasoku, Ikkyū's reputed teacher. Ikkyū was the subject of numerous paintings ranging from realistic portraits to imaginary depictions of his various exploits. A number of Ikkyū's wooden effigies and painted portraits were kept at Shūon'an and Shinjuan. Most remarkable among these are the harshly naturalistic portrait painted by Bokusai (Tokyo National Museum) and a portrait showing Ikkyū at age 78 with Mori, who sits and holds a small drum.
The mid-Edo period publication of the *kana zōshi 仮名草子, Ikkyū banashi 一休ばなし (Tales of Ikkyū) and Zoku Ikkyū banashi 続一休ばなし (Continued Tales of Ikkyū) disseminated both fact and fiction about Ikkyū generating illustrations such as those of his supposed meeting with the Sakai courtesan *Jigoku dayū 地獄太夫. More generalized images, such as Hanabusa Itchō's 英 一蝶 (1652-1724) painting of Ikkyū drunk outside a wineshop, probably also derive from this renewed interest in Ikkyū.