The paper introduces the monk and scholar Ikkyū Sōjun (1394-1481), who, through the centuries, has become a folk legend, and his most famous anthology, the Kyōunshū. The author of the essay offers a reading of Ikkyū and his anthology within the historical and cultural frame of the Ashikaga period, characterized by opulence at the Gozan temples, belonging to the Rinzai line of Zen school. The anthology testifies the complaint of Ikkyū, abbot of Daitokuji, against the corruption of the abbeys and his interest in reviving the Zen of the Chinese patriarchs. The essay includes unpublished translations selected by Kyōunshū.