An essay reflecting on the life and spiritual legacy of Sesshū, the Muromachi-period ink painter and Zen monk.
Written in the aftermath of Japan’s great disaster, it traces Sesshū’s artistic journey and quietly entrusts him with a prayer for Japan’s future.
Published on May 13, 2017.

Sesshū, please pray for Japan.
From me.
March 23, 2011.
May 13, 2017.
Sesshū was an ink painter and Zen monk active during the Muromachi period.
“Sesshū” was his art name, and his given name was Tōyō.
He was born in Bitchū and trained at Shōkoku-ji Temple in Kyoto.
Later, under the patronage of the Ōuchi clan, he moved to Suō.
He then traveled to Ming China aboard an official mission ship, where he studied Chinese painting techniques.
Most of his surviving works are Chinese-style ink landscape paintings, but there are also portrait examples, and it is said that he was skilled in bird-and-flower painting as well.
Absorbing the classical styles of the Song and Yuan dynasties and the Zhe school, he traveled widely and devoted himself to sketching from life.
He freed himself from mere imitation of Chinese painting and established a uniquely Japanese style of ink painting.
His influence on later Japanese painting was immense.
Six of his extant works are designated National Treasures, placing him in a category of exceptional esteem in Japanese art history.
As a result, many works such as the “Birds and Flowers Folding Screen” are attributed to him, though experts are often divided over their authenticity.
Representative works include “Landscape of the Four Seasons,” “Autumn and Winter Landscapes,” “View of Amanohashidate,” “Splashed Ink Landscape,” and “Huike Cutting Off His Arm.”
He was born in 1420 in Akahama, Bitchū, present-day Sōja City in Okayama Prefecture.
His family is said to have been a samurai household named Oda.
As a child, he entered Hōfuku-ji Temple.
Around the age of ten, he moved to Shōkoku-ji in Kyoto, where he studied Zen under Shūrin Shūtō and painting under Tenshō Shūbun.
Around 1454, he moved to Suō and received the patronage of the Ōuchi clan, establishing his studio, Unkoku-an, in present-day Yamaguchi City.
Around 1465, he acquired two large characters written by Soseki Bonki and consulted Ryūkō Shinkei on their interpretation.
From that point on, he is thought to have used the name Sesshū.
In 1468, he traveled to Ming China.
He spent about two years studying ink painting in earnest, traveling through various regions.
At Tiantong Temple, he received the title “First Seat of Siming Tiantong Mountain.”
He returned to Japan in 1469 and continued his creative activities in Suō, Bungo, and Iwami.
He later traveled to Mino and visited Amanohashidate around 1501, leaving behind works there.
Although records differ, he is commonly said to have died in 1506 at the age of eighty-seven.
There are many unresolved mysteries in Sesshū’s life.
One well-known legend tells that as a child at Hōfuku-ji, he was tied to a pillar for neglecting his sutra studies in favor of drawing.
Using tears and his toe, he drew a mouse on the floor, astonishing the monks, who then permitted him to paint.
Sesshū was the first Japanese person to appear on a foreign postage stamp.
In 1956, he was selected as a cultural figure for world peace, and commemorative stamps were issued in the Soviet Union and Romania.