Originally a monk at Shomyoji in Nara, Juko became so devoted to tea that he returned to lay life. He then studied Zen under Ikkyu Sojun at Daitokuji and created "wabi-cha," fusing Zen spirituality with tea. At the time, the prevailing tea style was lavish shoin-style tea featuring imported Chinese utensils, but Juko rejected this approach, establishing an intimate practice in modest four-and-a-half-mat rooms that emphasized stillness and spiritual communion. He served tea to Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa and influenced Higashiyama culture. His hanging of the calligraphy by Yuanwu Keqin — received from Ikkyu — in the tea room became the symbol of "the unity of tea and Zen." He is the starting point of the wabi-cha lineage leading to Joo and Rikyu, revered as the patriarch who laid the spiritual foundation of the Way of Tea.

A seeker who brought Zen into tea. He disdained extravagance, finding beauty in simplicity. His famous phrase about preferring the moon behind clouds symbolized his pursuit of imperfect beauty.

As the founder of wabi-cha, he is among the most important figures in tea history. His fusion of Zen and tea was inherited by Takeno Joo and Sen no Rikyu, forming the core of Japanese tea ceremony.