Takuan Soho was the prototypical early Edo monk scholar with a sharp, witty, and untamed spirit. Dressed in a monk’s robe he pursued erudition in the broadest sense. He not only studied Buddhist texts but also the Chinese classics. Takuan also excelled in various arts. He was a painter, poet, writer, calligrapher, gardener, and a tea master. And he was the advisor, confidant, and the teacher of noblemen, among them the famous swordsman Yagyu Munenori and, some say the legenda