Page 389 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

230 t

Sesshu Toyo
1420-1506
LANDSCAPE OF THE FOUR SEASONS
(SHIKI SANZUI Zu)

c. 1470
Japanese
four hanging scrolls; ink and slight color on silk
7
3
149.2 x 75.8 ($8 /4 x 29 /s)
signed: Nihon Zenjin Toyo (Japanese
Zen-Man Toyo)
references: Covell 1941, 1974; Tanaka 1972, 105-
129; Matsushita 1974, 70-85
Tokyo National Museum
Important Cultural Property

Born into the Oda family, minor samurai of
limited means living in present-day Okayama
Prefecture, Sesshu was entered at the age of
twelve as a novice at a local Zen temple. By his
twenties Toyo, as he was then called, was at
Shokoku-ji in Kyoto, where he evidently served
as a receptionist for visitors to the abbot. Tensho
Shubun (act. first half of 15th century) was a
monk at the same temple, and it is likely that
Sesshu studied painting under Shubun; later, in
a famous inscription, Sesshu named Shubun and
Shubun's predecessor Josetsu as his artistic men-
tors. Although he was certainly painting at this
time, and had access to the considerable collec-
tions of Shokoku-ji and perhaps to the shogun's
collection as well, no extant work antedating the
14605 can be definitely attributed to Sesshu.
About 1464 he was summoned to what is now
Yamaguchi Prefecture by the Ouchi, lords of the
region, to be abbot of the clan temple, Unkoku-ji.
His willingness to accept argues a relatively low
position at Shokoku-ji and a need for greater
independence and breathing room. He was in
229 his art clearly a strong and unusual personality.
Gakuo Zokyu associate of this eminent Zen monk of Tofuku-ji Further, his life shows the readiness to travel
in Kyoto. Inscriptions also suggest that Gakuo
spirits
that seems to have characterized the
freer
active c. 14/o-c. 1514 was with Ryoan at An'yo-ji, south of Nara in Ise in Japanese history.
LANDSCAPE Province, from about 1469 to 1477. Ryoan later At Unkoku-ji he was joined by a faithful
(1511) served as envoy to China and was a familiar disciple-friend-pupil, Shugetsu Tokan (d. 1529),
late i$th century of Sesshu, but there seems to be no trace of Sess- and there, sometime in the early 14605, he took
Japanese hu's influence in the works attributed to Gakuo. the familiar name (azana) Sesshu. The two
hanging scroll; ink on paper The Tokyo National Museum Landscape is usu- characters making up the azana, setsu (snow) and
2
7
69.1 X 32.7 (2/ /4 X I2 /s) ally regarded as Gakuo's classic work; it is signed shu (boat), also allude in their pronunciation to
signed at lower right: Zokyu hitsu (painted by "painted by Zokyu" and includes his seal: Gakuo.
Zokyu); seal: Gakuo both ]osetsu and Shubun. Sesshu's ancient priest-
references: Tanaka 1972, fig. 74, In composition it is a variation on Shubun's but mentor Ryuko Shinkei, elaborating on the deep
164-165; Matsushita 1974, 68-69 rendered with more dramatic contrasts in tone, significance of "snow-boat/ stresses the purity
heavier ink, broader washes, and with a distinctive and coldness of snow and the quiet movement of
Tokyo National Museum use of triangular planes to produce an often crys- boats. Indeed "ice" is mentioned in this inscrip-
Important Cultural Property
talline effect. The modeling of foliage with dark tion and in another by Genryu —and "icy" is
washes recalls the Chinese Southern Song artist a not inappropriate description of one element in
A contemporaneous record of 1486 — Shaken Xia Gui (c. 1180-1220). Compared with the even Sesshu's mature painting style.
Nichosoku by Kiko Daishuku — calls Gakuo a dis- and delicate mists of his master, Shubun, Gakuo's The Ouchi daimyo controlled far western
ciple of Tensho Shubun. Inscriptions by Ryoan rendering of mist, as in this scroll, is more palpa- Honshu, including the port and strait of Shimo-
Keigo (1425-1514) on paintings attributed to ble, less mysterious and transparent. S.E.L. noseki between Honshu and Kyushu, and main-
Gakuo suggest that the painter was a friend or

388 CIRCA 1492