was a Japanese painter and cultural figure during the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

in the service of the Ashikaga shōgunate. Born into a family of renowned artists and curators known as the Ami family, he succeeded his father

Nōami was a dōbōshū (artist and art connoisseur for the shogunate) in the service of the Ashikaga shogunate, an esteemed Ink wash painting, suiboku (monochrome ink) painter, renga (linked verse) poet and tate-bana flower artist. He was especially c ...

(Shinno) as curator of the Ashikaga art collection and developed his own career as a painter. He is known for his

yamato-e is a style of Japanese painting inspired by Tang dynasty paintings and fully developed by the late Heian period. It is considered the classical Japanese style. From the Muromachi period (15th century), the term yamato-e has been used to disting ...

paintings executed in Sumi-e (ink wash) style, continuing the tradition of

Tenshō Shūbun was a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and painter of the Muromachi period.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Shūbun''" in Biography Shūbun was born in the late 14th century in Ōmi Province and became a professional painter around 1403. He ...

. Together with his father and his son

Sōami was a Japanese painter and landscape art, landscape artist. Family Sōami was the grandson and son of the painters and art connoisseurs Nōami and Geiami, respectively. Career Sōami was in the service of the Ashikaga shogunate and is cl ...

, he was part of the group referred to as the San-Ami ("Three Amis").

Biography and Career

Shingei was active not only as a painter but also as a participant in the broader cultural activities of the Muromachi shogunate. As a member of the dōbōshū (同朋衆) under

Ashikaga Yoshimasa "Ashikaga Yoshimasa" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. was the eighth ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1449 to 1473 du ...

, he contributed to a variety of artistic and aesthetic responsibilities, including scroll mounting, interior room arrangement (''zashiki kazari''), and the composition of linked-verse poetry (''renga'', 連歌) His position within the court placed him in proximity to cultural decision-making and ceremonial aesthetics at the highest level of Ashikaga governance.

Notable Works: Viewing a Waterfall and more

In 1480 (

Bunmei was a after '' Ōnin'' and before ''Chōkyō''. This period spanned from April 1469 through July 1487.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Bunmei''" i ''Japan encyclopedia'', p. 89 n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussb ...

12), Shingei completed the hanging scroll '' Viewing a Waterfall'' (観瀑図, ''Kanpaku-zu''), which was presented as a parting gift to his student Kenkō Shōkei, a monk from Kenchō-ji Temple in

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

, upon the conclusion of his training. The painting includes colophons by three Zen monks from the Kyoto Gozan (Five Mountains), notably Getsuo Shukyo, and bears the signature "Gakusō Shingei, 50 years old" along with Shingei's red seal. ''Viewing a Waterfall'' is the only authenticated surviving work attributed to Shingei. The painting is held by the

Nezu Museum The , formerly known as the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, is an art museum in the Minato, Tokyo, Minato district of Tokyo, Japan. The museum is home to the private collection of pre-modern Japanese and East Asian art assembled by Nezu Kaichirō (1 ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and is considered a key example of his mature style. The painting incorporates elements from the landscape traditions of Chinese

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

painters

Ma Yuan Ma Yuan may refer to: * Ma Yuan (Han dynasty) (馬援; 14 BC – 49 AD), general of the Han dynasty * Ma Yuan (painter) (馬遠; 1160–1225), painter of the Song dynasty * Ma Yuan (judge) (:zh:馬原 (政治人物), 馬原; born 1930), a former V ...

and

Xia Gui Xia Gui (; fl. 1195–1224), courtesy name Yuyu (禹玉), was a Chinese landscape painter of the Song dynasty. Very little is known about his life, and only a few of his works survive, but he is generally considered one of China's greatest ...

, but applies them in a manner consistent with the Japanese ink painting aesthetics of the period. The work has been cited as an early influence on the stylistic developments later associated with the Kanō school of painting. In addition to his work as a painter, Shingei composed linked-verse poetry. Two of his ''renga'' verses were included in the '' Shinsen Tsukubashū'', a poetry

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

compiled during the Muromachi period. His inclusion in the collection suggests participation in the literary culture of the Ashikaga court, alongside his visual and curatorial roles.

References

1431 births 1485 deaths Japanese painters {{Japan-painter-stub