Zen-Master Dokuryu Shoueki (1596-1672) born in Hengzhou traveled to Nagasaki Japan in 1653 at the age of 58 and perished in Japan at the age of 77. In the last 20 years of his life, he had a great influence on the Chinese-Japanese cultural exchange in the Tokugawa period from the perspective of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Tradition of Medical Ethics. Utsunomiya Ton-an (1633-1709), a Confucian in Iwakuni Domain (Yamaguchi Pref.), stated "Dokuryu is good at poetry as well as Buddhism, calligraphy, medicine and Confucianism." However, Oyake Seijun (1637- 1674), a Confucian in Mito Domain declared that Dokuryu is only one of those who know little about the literary world. The two comments are in striking conflict. Dokuryu lived in China at the end of Ming Dynasty and the start of Qing Dynasty. In the upheavals of war, he had to strive for life. Traveling to Japan by ship, he finally could show his talents despite the hardship. In this paper, I divide Dokuryu's career into five periods: Earning a Living (1596-1653), Finding ways in Japan (1653-1654), Monastery (1654-1658), Retreat in a Mountain (1659-1662) and Doctor (1663-1672). Based on Dokuryu's poetry and calligraphy collected in Japan, I study his personality traits and ideological conversion, make textual research on his exchange experience with people in a different space and time, and further clarify his historical position.
