Page 79 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

easily among the powerful of both the im- the emperor Go-Komatsu (1377-1433), at ful merchant who made his money in the
perial court and the shogunate, serving age six Ikkyü became a child attendant of China trade and gave financial support to
both as spiritual adviser, political adviser Shógai Zenkan at Ankokuji in Kyoto. the rebuilding of Daitokuji. Thus the por-
and go-between, and scholarly eminence. Later he mastered Zen of the Rinzai trait can be dated after 1474 and before
That Emperor Go-Daigo and Shogun Ta- school under the distinguished master 1481, the year of Ikkyn's death. AY
kauji were enemies did not prevent Muso Kasô Sôdon (1352-1428), who lived at the
from accepting the patronage of both. In hermitage Zenkóan in Katada, Omi Prov- 12 Sakugen Shüryó
1325, supported enthusiastically by the em- ince (present-day Shiga Prefecture). Ikkyü hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
peror Go-Daigo (1288-1339), he became ab- led a peripatetic life, training a handful of 126.0 x 49.4 (49 5/8 x 19 / 2)
J
bot of Nanzenji in Kyoto. He also was the disciples without regard to their class ori- Ming, no later than 1541
founding abbot of Rinsenji, a Rinzai Zen gins. Finally in 1474, in response to an im-
temple in Kyoto. After the death of Go- perial summons, he became the Myóchiin, Kyoto
Daigo, he founded Tenryùji through the forty-seventh abbot of Daitokuji and led Important Cultural Property
patronage of Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358) the rebuilding of the temple, much of Sakugen Shüryó (1501-1579), an erudite
and his brother, Tadayoshi (1306-1352), and which had been destroyed in the Onin Zen priest of the Rinzai school in the late
revived Saihóji, thus fostering the golden War (1467-1477). In the following year he Muromachi period, was the third-
age of the Rinzai school of Zen in Japan. erected a tomb for himself, which he generation abbot of Myóchiin, a subtem-
Many prominent priests were disciples of named Jiyótó, in Kokyü, Takigi village of ple of Tenryüji. He was also an important
Muso Soseki, including Shun'oku Myôha southern Yamashiro Province (part of figure in the history of Ming-Japanese rela-
(1311-1388), Mugoku Shigen (1282-1355), present-day Kyoto Prefecture), and lived tions. He visited Ming Dynasty China
Zekkai Chüshin (1336-1405), and Gidó in a hermitage that he built by its side. twice, not as a Buddhist pilgrim or student
Shüshin (1325-1388). Together they con- The hermitage, Shüon'an, still stands in but as a government envoy, first as the
tributed to the peak of the literary move- Takigi, known by its more popular name vice-envoy from 1539 to 1541 and later as
ment known as Gozan Bungaku Ikkyüji (Ikkyü's temple). A notable poet the chief envoy. He wrote excellent prose
(Literature of the Five Mountains, compo- and calligraphier as well as a priest, Ikkyü and poetry in Chinese, and during these
sitions in classical Chinese by Japanese criticized and vehemently despised the trips he associated with Ming scholars and
Zen priests). Muso was also a significant contemporary Zen hiearchy. painters.
calligraphier, poet, and designer of gardens. In this portrait Ikkyü sits in a chair In this painting Sakugen, wearing a
The inscription on this painting, in holding a bamboo staff in his right hand, Confucian scholar's cap and a Buddhist
Soseki's hand, reads from left to right: as in a traditional chinsd (portrait of a Zen monk's robe and kesa, is seated on a
priest). Even in this conventional clerical
The lower extremities from hips to heels portrait, however, his unconventional and bench, books by his side. He holds a book
cannot expound a theme, rebellious personality is expressed by his and seems to be reciting from it, convey-
So only half a torso is visible within the unshaved head, the mustache, and the in- ing the image of Sakugen the literary man.
Kenka gate. formal way he sits, his right foot on his left The inscription above the figure was
1541 (the
(translated in Boston 1970, 60) knee with his shoes still on. The haunting written in the first month of reign-period
Jiajing
year of the
twentieth
face is drawn with simple brush lines;
There is a signature at the lower right in Ikkyü looks at the viewer from the corner of the Ming Dynasty) by Ke Yuchuang, a
small calligraphy: Painted by Mutô Shùi. of his eyes while his face is turned slightly literary man in Ningbo, at the request of
This portrait probably corresponds to the away. San'ei, a priest who accompanied Sakugen
one recorded in 1678 in Honchd Gashi The inscription is in Ikkyü's hand: to China. Sakugen would have just re-
(History of Japanese Painting) as a painting turned to Ningbo after completing his first
by Mutô Shüi for Mugoku Shigen, Musó's Lin Ji's posterity does not know Zen mission in the north. The inscription testi-
disciple and the second abbot of Tenryüji, Facing Mad Clouds, who can teach Zen? fies to the affection between Sakugen and
with an inscription by Muso Kokushi For the past thirty years it's been heavy on Ke Yuchuang, a friendship also recorded
(Muso, the National Teacher). Mutó Shüi, the shoulders in Shodoshü (Collected works: the first
also Musó's disciple, was a painter who Alone bearing the Songyuan school of Zen. mission), one of Sakugen's Ming journals
specialized in portraiture. Soben, the Zen practitioner and great (entries of 1/30/1541, 8/21/1539, and io/io/
Descriptively rendered, Musó's face is patron, after getting my vulgar portrait 1539). Ke Yuchuang's inscription, written
outlined with thin lines, and light ver- painted, asked me to write an inscription, in formal (or regular) script, signed by him
milion shading is added. The contours and so I complied with his request. and followed by five square seals, reads:
folds of the drapery are drawn with great Formerly at Daitokuji ofMurasakino [area Encomium for the Portrait oflsai Sakugen,
economy of line. AY north of Kyoto], Jun Ikkyù [over Ikkyü's the Zen Master
seal], Old Priest under heaven.
11 Ikkyû Sójun The master is a lofty priest from Japan. Sent
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk Lin Ji is Linji Yixuan (d. 867), the Chinese as an envoy to China, he lives
Linji (J: Rinzai)
monk who founded the
98.0 x 43.0 (385/8 x 167/8) school of Zen. "Mad Clouds" is a refer- temporarily in the district ofMingzhou. in
He
has a sense of
is versed
decorum; he
Muromachi period, no later than 1481 ence to Ikkyü's sobriquet, "Kyôunshi," literature and scholarship, and I am
Shüon'an, Kyoto Child of Mad Clouds." Songyuan is the fortunate to know him. His junior
Important Cultural Property school of Zen taught by the Chinese priest companion San'ei, the prelate, happened
Songyuan Chongyue (1132-1202). Ikkyü to take out this small portrait of the
Ikkyü Sójun (1394-1481), known for his signed formerly at Daitokuji, referring to
penetrating mind and wildly unconven- his involvement in 1474 with the rebuild-
tional behavior, was an exceptional Zen ing of the monastery followed by his brief
priest of the Muromachi period. Son of abbacy there. The inscription says that the
portrait was painted for Sôben, a success-

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