EPISODE 45 Sex, Sake and Zen: The Life of Ikkyu Sojun (Part 1)

03/18/19 • 98 min

“The autumn breeze of a single night of love is better than a hundred thousand years of sterile sitting meditation.” Ikkyu

"Thirsty, you dream of water. Cold, you want fire. Not me: I want the firm warm breasts and wetness of a woman." Ikkyu

"Drinking and lust, no man can match me in these things.” Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones

“You will always be wild and strange among men—wild and strange even when they love you.” Friedrich Nietzsche

“...to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.” Henry David Thoreau

"Where can I find the best beer and the prettiest women?" Drukpa Kunley

So many History on Fire episodes feature incredibly violent pages from humanity’s past. This is not one of those episodes. The hero of our tale was too busy enjoying life in 15th century Japan to join the civil wars raging around him or to go around killing people. As the illegitimate son of the Emperor of Japan, Ikkyu Sojun experienced the harsh side of life from the moment he was born, but always looked for a way not to let it spoil his good mood. His main passions (in no particular order) were Zen Buddhism, sex and drinking. And in the midst of the endless party that was in life, he managed to have a tremendously powerful impact on Japanese culture. In this episode, we will tackle the odd phenomenon of people being more comfortable with warfare and violence than sex, how Tom Robbins introduced me to Ikkyu, Sovannahry’s Ikkyu painting (the first thing I see every morning), the odd circumstances of Ikkyu’s birth, a history of Zen, Ikkyu’s training and attempted suicide, Ikkyu’s burning of his ‘certificate of enlightenment’, his clashes with the Zen establishment, Jack London’s Call of the Wild, becoming ‘the Crazy Cloud’, Drukpa Kunley and his... ehm... ‘flaming thunderbolt of wisdom’...

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“The autumn breeze of a single night of love is better than a hundred thousand years of sterile sitting meditation.” Ikkyu

"Thirsty, you dream of water. Cold, you want fire. Not me: I want the firm warm breasts and wetness of a woman." Ikkyu

"Drinking and lust, no man can match me in these things.” Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones

“You will always be wild and strange among men—wild and strange even when they love you.” Friedrich Nietzsche

“...to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.” Henry David Thoreau

"Where can I find the best beer and the prettiest women?" Drukpa Kunley

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EPISODE 44 Dan Carlin

"You keep using this word. I don't think it means what you think it means." The Princess Bride

"Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to execute the will of the people. From these great tasks both of the old parties have turned aside. Instead of instruments to promote the general welfare, they have become the tools of corrupt interests which use them impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government, owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day." Theodore Roosevelt

Dan Carlin is the undisputed king of historical podcasting, and one of my favorite human beings. Today we sit down to chat about the differences between Nazism and Socialism, the right-wing vs. left-wing paradigm, our favorite past U.S. presidents, the feeling you have when witnessing slow moving historical catastrophes, and much more.

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Next Episode

EPISODE 46: Enjoying Hell: The Life of Ikkyu Sojun (Part 2)

“Even if I go to Hell, I’ll find a way to enjoy it.” Ikkyu

“Watching my four year old daughter dance, I can’t break free of her. Forgetting my duties, I slip into freedom.” Ikkyu

"After ten days in this temple, my mind is spinning. Between my legs the red thread stretches and stretches. If you wish to find me in the future, you better look for me in a fish shop, a sake parlor, or a brothel.” Ikkyu

“. . . tasting life and enjoying sex to the fullest.” Ikkyu

“Thus the so-called ‘traditional arts of Japan’ all felt his influence: tea, ceramics, Noh drama, rock gardening, and haiku poetry. No historian was keeping track of this cultural movement with Ikkyu the axis of a vortex; but with hindsight one can see how deeply Japanese medieval art forms are indebted to him.” Jon Covell

So many History on Fire episodes feature incredibly violent pages from humanity’s past. This is not one of those episodes. The hero of our tale was too busy enjoying life in 15th century Japan to join the civil wars raging around him or to go around killing people. As the illegitimate son of the Emperor of Japan, Ikkyu Sojun experienced the harsh side of life from the moment he was born, but always looked for a way not to let it spoil his good mood. His main passions (in no particular order) were Zen Buddhism, sex and drinking. And in the midst of the endless party that was in life, he managed to have a tremendously powerful impact on Japanese culture. In this episode, we see Ikkyu’s wanderings taking him through torrid love affairs, friendships with pirate-merchants, and clashes with the Zen establishment. Living in an age of shoguns being assassinated, peasant uprisings, and the fury of the Onin War, Ikkyu found the time to save very Zen temple he had criticized throughout his life, and to launch an artistic renaissance that would have a lasting impact on Japanese history. In the course of our journey, we’ll find out how Ikkyu affected the creation of tea ceremony, how he and Lady Mori shared the greatest love story in Japanese history, and Ikkyu can teach about finding joy in the midst of suffering.

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