Short answers, pulled from the story.
Kodo Sawaki (1880-1965) was a prominent Japanese Soto Zen teacher of the 20th century. He is considered one of the most significant Zen priests of his era for bringing meditation practice to laypeople and popularizing the ancient tradition of sewing the kesa.
Kodo Sawaki was called "Homeless Kodo" because he traveled throughout Japan to teach Zen rather than settling as a conventional abbot of a home temple. The term referred to his lack of a fixed temple, not to lacking a physical residence.
In 1949, Sawaki took responsibility for Antai-ji, a Zen temple in northern Kyoto. He died there on the 21st of December 1965 and was succeeded by his senior disciple, Kosho Uchiyama.
Sawaki described Zen as "wonderfully useless" to discourage any gaining idea or seeking after special experiences or states of consciousness. He taught that zazen was not a tool for worldly benefit but the posture of the Buddha itself, available even to people who remain fully deluded.
Sawaki actively supported and participated in the Japanese war effort during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. He was shot through the neck in combat. He has been criticized by Buddhist contemporaries and modern Buddhists for supporting the violent war effort, though whether his views evolved in later years remains debated.
Only five monks and three nuns received dharma transmission (Shiho) from Sawaki directly. They included Kosho Uchiyama (1912-1998), who succeeded him at Antai-ji, and Taisen Deshimaru (1914-1982), who went to France in 1967 and founded the Association Zen Internationale.