Sesson Shūkei ( ja, 雪村周継; 1504 – c. 1589), born Satake Heizō ( ja, 佐竹平蔵) was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Zen monk Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

and

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

from the

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

. Shūkei was born a member of the

Satake clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. Its first power base was in Hitachi Province. The clan was subdued by Minamoto no Yoritomo in the late 12th century, but later entered Yoritomo's service as vassals ...

, but left after being disinherited by his father and was inducted as a monk at Shōsō-ji temple, the Satake

bodaiji A in Japanese Buddhism is a temple which, generation after generation, takes care of a family's dead, giving them burial and performing ceremonies in their soul's favor.Iwanami kojien The name is derived from the term , which originally meant jus ...

. He is the most important painter who followed the style of

Sesshū Tōyō (c. 1420 – 26 August 1506) has been regarded as one of the greatest painters in Japanese history. Sesshū was a Zen-Shu priest painter of the Muromachi period in Japan, prominently recognised for his art of sumi-e (black ink painting). Initi ...

(1420-1506). On the other hand, there is an different opinion (jp) that he was not influenced or affected by Sesshū although he paid his respects to Sesshū (雪舟) by using the same Kanji, 雪 which means snow, in his name, Sesson (雪村). In any case Sesson was the master of ink painting that

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefectur ...

has ever produced, ranked with Sesshū and called "Sesshū of the west, Sesson of the east". His works are classic examples of Japanese ink painting which was imported via many artists from China. He produced many landscapes such as

Eight Views of Xiaoxiang The ''Eight Views of Xiaoxiang'' () are scenes of the Xiaoxiang region, in what is now modern Hunan Province, China, that were the subject of the poems and depicted in well-known drawings and paintings from the time of the Song Dynasty. The ''E ...

and fictional characters such as ,

Li Tieguai Li Tieguai (Mandarin: ; lit. "Iron Crutch Li") is a Chinese mythological figure and one of the Eight Immortals in the Taoist pantheon. He is sometimes described as irascible and ill-tempered, but also benevolent to the poor, sick and the needy, ...

and

Lü Dongbin Lü Dongbin (796 CE – 1016 CE) is a legendary Chinese scholar and poet said to have lived during the Tang Dynasty. Whether he actually lived the two hundred and twenty years cannot be determined. Elevated to the status of an immortal in the ...

He travelled to

Aizu is the westernmost of the three regions of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, the other two regions being Nakadōri in the central area of the prefecture and Hamadōri in the east. As of October 1, 2010, it had a population of 291,838. The princip ...

at least twice to give lessons in painting to the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

Ashina Moriuji was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. He ruled Kurokawa Castle and its environs in Mutsu Province in northern Japan until 1561, when he turned his domain over to his son and retired to engage in cultural pursuits. He was r ...

– first in 1546, and then again in 1561 after Moriuki's retirement.

Gallery

File:Paysage de la Hsiao-Hsiang par le peintre japonais Sesson Shukei (1504-après 1589).jpg, ''Landscape of the Hsiao-Hsiang'' File:Landscape of the Four Seasons by Sesson Shukei (Koriyama City Museum of Art)l.jpg, ''Landscape of the Four Seasons'' File:'Egret, Moon and Wave', ink on paper by Sesson Shûkei.jpg, ''Egret, Moon, and Wave'' File:Paysage sous la tempête par le peintre japonais Sesson Shukei (1504-après 1589).jpg, ''Tempest'' File:Faucon sous un pin par le peintre japonais Sesson Shukei (1504-après 1589).jpg, ''Falcon Under a Pine'' File:'Mynah Birds and Pigeons' by Sesson Shukei, Honolulu.jpg, ''Mynah Birds and Pigeons''

References

Literature

* Frank Feltens, Yukio Lippit (Eds.): ''Sesson Shukei. A Zen Monk-Painter in Medieval Japan'', Hirmer publishers, Munich 2021, ISBN 978-3-7774-3633-3.

External links

Bridge of dreams: the Mary Griggs Burke collection of Japanese art
a catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Sesson Shukei (see index) Japanese painters Japanese Buddhist clergy 1504 births Year of death unknown 16th-century Japanese artists 16th-century Japanese painters 16th-century Japanese people Zenga {{Buddhist-clergy-stub