Musō Soseki was born ten years after Dante, in 1275 according to our reckoning. His third year was one of loss—his family moved and his mother died. In the year after the death of his mother, he is said to have shown a precocious religious fervor, reciting sutras and prayers before the Buddhist images. When he was nine, his father took him to the Shingon temple in Kai and gave him up to the religious life.
