Jamaoka Tessu - The life of the founder of the "School without Swords"

Jamaoka Tessu was a prominent figure in the turbulent period in which a new Japan was born. In public life, Tessu negotiated with Saigo Takamori and prepared for a peaceful change of power after the shogunate. As an individual follower of the Way, at the age of forty-five, he achieved deep enlightenment and recognized the inner principles of swordsmanship, zen, and calligraphy. From then on, Tessu was like Miyatoto Musasi: "... my life goes by not following a certain Path." (The Book of Five Elements) Tessu also became a remarkably versatile and prolific master: the unique swordsman who founded the School without the Sword; a wise and compassionate Zen teacher according to the Tekis tradition; an unparalleled calligrapher who, with a brush, expressed all the teachings of heaven and earth. Even today, more than a century after his death, we can feel Tessu’s incredible vitality in his brush-made works. If we interpret his calligraphies correctly, the great transformation that accompanied Tessu's enlightenment and the ever-deepening insight that has been experienced in the last eight years of his life are quite obvious.