Sesshū Tōyō

, also known simply as , was a Japanese Zen monk and painter who is considered a great master of Japanese ink painting. Initially inspired by Chinese landscapes, Sesshū's work holds a distinctively Japanese style that reflects Zen Buddhist aesthetics. His prominent work captured images of landscapes, portraits, birds and flowers paintings, infused with Zen Buddhist beliefs, flattened perspective, and emphatic lines.

Sesshū was born into the samurai and trained at Shōkoku-ji temple in Kyoto, Japan, as a Zen monk.

Sesshū worked in a painting atelier whilst training under Tenshō Shūbun (c. 1418–1463). But upon visiting China, his work took on a distinctive Chinese influence, merging Japanese and Chinese styles to develop his individualistic style of Zen paintings. Sesshū's most acclaimed works are Winter Landscape (c. 1470s), Birds and Flowers (1420–1506) and Four Landscape Scrolls of the Seasons (1420–1506).

Biography

thumb|Sculpture of Sesshū, by Miwa Zaiei. [[Edo period, 1787]]

Early life

Sesshū Tōyō was born in Akahama (now Sōja City), a settlement in Bitchū Province, which is now a part of the Okayama Prefecture, during the Muromachi period. Little is known about Sesshū's early life, but there is a well-known tale that, whilst at Hofukuji Temple, Sesshū's instructor was forced to discipline him by tying him to a temple post. After a few hours passed, Sesshū used his tears as ink to draw a mouse on the wooden floor. The mouse was so realistic that it sprung to life and gnawed at the tight ropes to set him free.

Return to Japan and death

In the last years of Sesshū's life, he visited Masuda, Japan, to study zen whilst painting and creating spiritual gardens called Sesshū's gardens.

Paintings and techniques

Sesshū's works are predominantly suibokuga, meaning "water and ink paintings". Some of Sesshū's most acclaimed works include Winter Landscape (c. 1470s), Four Landscape Scrolls of the Seasons (c. 1420 – 1506) and, Birds and Flowers (c. 1420 – 1506), demonstrating his style of flattened space, emphatic outlines, and angular brushstrokes to portray zen beliefs. Throughout the composition, Sesshū uses the shumpo technique, varying the firmness and thickness of outlines to depict three-dimensionality and textures. Within this composition, Sesshū flattens space using spatial ambiguities and variations in scale. Sesshū purposefully controls tonal intensities to suggest atmospheric perspective through subtle ink gradations for the mist to evoke poetic autumnal feelings.

List of selected works

Landscapes

Four Landscape Scrolls of the Seasons ()
Winter Landscapes from Landscapes of the Four Seasons (); Tokyo National Museum)
Autumn and Winter Landscapes (c. 1470s; Tokyo National Museum)
Short Scroll of Landscapes (; Kyoto National Museum)
(; Mori Collection, Yamaguchi, Japan)
, "splashed-ink" technique scroll (1495; Tokyo National Museum)
View of Ama-no-Hashidate (; Kyoto National Museum)
Landscape by Sesshū
Chinese Landscape with rocky mountains (circa 1440-1460); British Museum

Other

Portrait of Masuda Kanetaka (1479; Masuda Collection, Tokyo)
Huike Offering His Arm to Bodhidharma (Daruma and Hui K'o) (1496; Sainen-ji, Aichi, Japan)
Flowers and Birds, pair of sixfold screens (undated; Kosaka Collection, Tokyo)