While the existing Buddhist establishment in Japan met 13th-century Zen pioneers like Dogen and Eisai with fervent resistance, Zen Buddhism ultimately persevered and continued to become further transformed in its passage through Japan. In time, this new culture was further deepened and strengthened by combining with a variety of contemplative arts: poetry, the tea ceremony, calligraphy, and archery. Surveying this renaissance, Richard Bryan McDaniel presents the colorful, thought-provoking stories of some of the most important Japanese Zen masters of the past 600 years, and the book includes period illustrations and extracts from historical and philosophical works.