Or in other words, "What a ride!" Tesshu's motto was "Live completely, die completely."
In terms of output and quality, Tesshu was the greatest of samurai Zen artists. He was a master of the sword, the brush, and Zen and, although he died at the young age of fifty-two, he produced well over a million pieces of Zen art. He ranks as one of the finest calligraphers in Asia, and his work is treasured.
See The Sword of No-Sword by John Stevens (Shambhala, 2001) for a complete biography of this martial-arts hero.
