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1929-2012
The below article is from the Mainichi Newspaper published in 1978 about Ozawa Zetsugai
Sometimes you will see a Komuso leaving a house in Yamashina, Kyoto. He goes begging for donations to Kiyomizu-zaka, shopping arcades, and elsewhere by playing the shakuhachi. He is Ozawa Seizan (49 years old), who works for Nittsu Company (one of the big transportation companies). When Ozawa-san was 20 years old, his younger brother was killed by an accident. (His brother rode on a bicycle with his friend and was hit by a train. He was killed instantly, but his friend was paralyzed from the waist down.) This tragic event changed his view of life. He tried to do zazen, but he was not satisfied. “When he could not find anything he could depend on,” he encountered Meian Zen Shakuhachi.
Since that time, he has been fascinated with it and was initiated into
Meianji seven years ago (1971). The first time he went out in Komuso
style, he was too shy to play shakuhachi and could not make a sound. But
after 3 days of this problem, he came to behave in the Komuso way.
Every evening when he comes home, he sits quietly and plays shakuhachi.
He also goes up to Mt. Hiei or Arashiyama to play shakuhachi. When he
has leisure time, he makes shakuhachi (taught to him by his master
Yoshimori Fuan. He is often invited by Zen temples to play shakuhachi
for their religious ceremony. He has 20 students, including 5 foreign
people who have an interest in Zen.
Later, in retirement he resided as a monk at Kokokuji
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