Ikkyu Sojun is believed to be the son of an emperor and noblewoman, but many facts about his life have not yet been sorted out. Four centuries after his death the Imperial family honored him as one of it's own by decorating his grave with its Chrysanthemum Crest.

Ikkyu considered monkhood to be a classless society writing, "there should be no toleration of gossip among the clergy about who is of high or low birth."
At age 13 he entered studies at Kennin-ji in Kyoto and studied Chinese poetry, which gave him the grounding in the allusive (indirect reference) poems that he wrote.

Ikkyu scorned the Zen establishment's taste for titles, finery and vapid ceremony. He charged it with gross hypocrisy in the question of sex as homosexual love was common, and some masters that were heterosexual were believed to have installed their lovers in private quarters in the monastery. Ikkyu also expressed misgivings about his own failure
to abide by the precept that sex is named as one of the five desires which prevents adherents from gaining the way. He did not however attempt to conceal his passions from others and spoke out for the fundamental purity of sex itself.

Late in life he formed an enduring
relationship with a blind songstress named Mori, and the relationship is expressed in some of the poems.