Said to be a son of Emperor Go-Komatsu; his mother, a lady of the court, is thought to have left the palace and given birth to him.
At 5 he entered Ankoku-ji in Kyoto to begin training, already gifted at verse, it is said. Most of the later "witty tales" about him were invented in the Edo period.
He trained under Ken'ō Sōi, a pure-hearted monk indifferent to fame. When his teacher died four years later, he was so stricken that he reportedly tried to throw himself into a lake and was stopped.
He became a disciple of the stern Zen master Kasō Sōdon at Katata in Ōmi and received the name Ikkyū. Living in poverty, he supported himself by making incense pouches while he trained.
Meditating in a boat on Lake Biwa, he reportedly attained enlightenment on hearing a crow cry. He was 26.
From around this time he fiercely criticized monks who sought money and status or practiced only for show, walking the streets himself in tattered robes. A tale tells of him parading a skull on a bamboo pole at New Year, crying "Beware!"
The Ōnin War broke out and Kyoto burned. Ikkyū moved from place to place to avoid the fighting, living at Shūon-an in Takigi village, Yamashiro (Kyōtanabe), among other places.
Around this time he met Lady Mori, a blind traveling performer, with whom he spent his last years; his feelings for her are sung in his Chinese verse collection Kyōunshū.
By imperial order he became abbot of Daitoku-ji in Kyoto at 80, rebuilding the war-burned temple with help from wealthy Sakai merchants. He reportedly did not live there, commuting from Shūon-an.
He died at Shūon-an at 87; one story has his last words as "I don't want to die." Many cultural figures, including the tea master Murata Jukō, had gathered around him.
MansaiAkamatsu MitsusukeAshikaga YoshimochiAshikaga YoshinoriAshikaga MochiujiIchijō KaneyoshiYamana SōzenNisshin
People of the Muromachi period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.