Letter by Takuan Sōhō

Takuan Sōhō (1573-1645) was a Rinzai Zen monk of the Early Edo period. He was born in Tajima Province. He was ordained as a child and later studied under Shun'oku Sōen at Sangenin of Daitokuji Temple, where he took the name Sōhō. In Keichō 8 (1603), he studied under Ittō Shōteki at Yōshunji Temple in Sakai, where he received the name Takuan along with dharma transmission. In Keichō 12 (1607), at the young age of 37, he was promoted to the 153rd resident priest of Daitokuji Temple, but resigned after only three days. After this, he lived quietly in various places, including Nanshūji Temple in Sakai and Sūkyōji Temple in his hometown of Tajima.

In Kan'ei 3 (1626), Tokugawa Hidetada prohibited the promotion by permission of royal command of Daitokuji and Myōshinji temples, but Takuan took an aloof stand against the authorities, and in defiance of the shōgunate’s order, he ordained his fellow monks at Daitokuji Temple. Takuan repeatedly defended himself against the shōgunate and criticized its policies, but this led to the issue of the Emperor’s permission to wear purple robes which are granted to highly virtuous monks and nuns by the Imperial Court, and Emperor Gomizunō abdicated (Purple Robe Incident).

Takuan was implicated in the Purple Robe Incident and was exiled to Kaminoyama in Dewa Province (Yamagata Prefecture) in Kan’ei 6 (1629). After three years of exile, he was pardoned by a decree of pardon upon the death of Hidetada, who was the second shōgun of Edo shōgunate, and then retired shōgun. In Kan’ei 14 (1637), Iemitsu, the third Edo Shōgun built Tōkaiji Temple in Shinagawa for Takuan and appointed to Takuan as its founder.

Takuan’s activities as a tea master of the Daitokuji School and his poetry and Bokuseki (Calligraphy) are well known. He also had many anecdotes with swordsmen such as Yagyū Munenori, and his book “Hudōchi-shinmyō-roku” was written for Munenori, explaining the relationship between sword and Zen.

This letter is addressed to a person named Tokuan (unknown). It is also signed “Kōtokuin Takuan,” but Kōtokuin Temple is also unknown. It may refer to Kōtokuan Temple in Sakai, which was founded by Takuan’s master Ittō, or to Kōtokuji Temple in Kanda, Edo, where Takuan temporarily took refuge after being pardoned from the Purple Robe Incident. The content of the letter is as follows: he expresses his thanks for the meeting yesterday, and states that he will send an emissary to convey Takuan’s thoughts to Tokuan again regarding the discussion at that time. In a postscript to the letter (the first sentence of the letter), he mentions tea, which suggests that drinking tea was an everyday activity in the lives of Zen monks.