"Conquistar la ira por el amor, el mal por el bien; Conquistar el avaro con liberalidad, y al mentiroso con la verdad ". - Buda

From the beginning of the 13th century until the Meiji Restoration, an interesting order of Zen Buddhist pilgrim monks roamed in Japan: komusō 「虚無僧」, the “emptiness monks". Komusō represented the Fuke Zen Buddhist School, a branch of Buddhism originating from China. Their unusual and distinctive feature, the straw basket worn on the head, symbolized the “absence of ego".