Fashionable Kanzan and Jittoku (Furyu Kanzan Jittoku)
Artist
Okumura Masanobu 奥村 政信
(Japanese, 1686–1764)
Dateabout 1710
MediumWoodblock print; ink on paper; sumizuri-e
Dimensions28.6 x 43.8 cm (11 1/4 x 17 1/4 in.)
ClassificationsPrints
MarkingsPublisher: Asakusa Kiku-ya Komagata-cho
Credit LineJohn Chandler Bancroft Collection
Object number1901.59.2218
DescriptionHorizontal oban (oban yoko-e)Label TextA courtesan oiran and her two girl attendants (kamuro) are depicted in a close group studying the text written upon a large sheet of paper. The three figures are likened to the unfettered, enlightened Buddhist laymen and friends Kanzan and Jittoku (Chin. Han-shan and Shide/Shih-te; probably middle of 7th cent.) and their teacher, the Zen master Bukan (Chin. Feng-kan; often traveled on the back of a tiger). Kanzan was a poet and Jittoku who worked in the Kuo-ch'ing Monastery near Mt. Han-shan (Cold Mountain/Peak) in the T'ien-t'ai Mountains often gave the hermit-poet Kanzan the leftovers. These three figures, considered representative of the spirit of Zen Buddhism, were often depicted in both Chinese and Japanese Zen painting.
On View
Not on view
Okumura Masanobu 奥村 政信
about 1710