Sublime

Komusō (虚無僧), meaning ‘priests of nothingness’ or ‘monks of emptiness,’ were wandering lay Buddhists of the samurai and rōnin class. Recognizable by their distinctive straw basket hats, which symbolized the erasure of ego, they practiced suizen (吹禅), or ‘blowing meditation,’ by playing the shakuhachi bamboo flute. During the Edo period (1600–1868), the komusō were granted special privileges by the ruling bakufu, allowing them to travel freely across domains—an unusual liberty at the time. Their practices embodied the Zen principles of impermanence and the void, reflecting a belief that all things, including the self, are ultimately transient and empty.