 Originally serving as a court calligrapher for the ninth Ashikaga shōgun, Ashikaga Yoshihisa, the poet became a Buddhist monk and entered seclusion following the shōgun's death in 1489.Traveling through Settsu and Yamashiro provinces, he finally settled in a place called Yamazaki.Establishing his hermitage, which he named Taigetsu-an, he adopted the name Yamazaki Sōkan.