Sesshu Toyo was the greatest master of landscape ink painting in 16th century Japan during the Muramachi period. He studied under Shubun and was a Zen priest. After accompanying a trade mission to China in 1467-1468, he was greatly influenced by the landscape paintings he saw there. Sesshu became the most famous painter of landscapes of his time, using an impressionistic splashed ink style in works like his 1495 hanging scroll "Hoboku Landscape for Seon."

1. Sesshu Toyo who lived in the
Muramachi time period in Japan
in the 16th century was the
greatest master of landscape ink
painting of his time. He was the
disciple of Shubun, and a priest
with the Zen temple of
Shokokuji. From 1467-1468, he
accompanied a trade mission to
China where he was influenced
significantly by the landscape
paintings he saw there.
He became the most famous and
outstanding painter of
landscapes of this time period.

2. Sesshu Toyo, Hoboku Landscape for Seon (detail), Japan, Muromachi
period, 1495. This is the painted portion of a hanging scroll – the portion
not shown has various calligraphies from Sesshu and six other monks.
This work is done with ink on two joined sheets of paper and the total
height is 58-1/4”. It currently resides in the Tokyo National Museum and
is considered a Japanese national treasure.

3. The formats of Chinese and
Japanese paintings are not in
frames, but are pasted or part of
scrolls. The painting by Sesshu Toyo
is a detail of a hanging scroll which
is mounted as you see on the
diagram on the right.

4. At first glance, this image may appear to be simple – but upon closer
examination, one can discern details such as the rooftops of the
buidlings near the water’s edge and rowers in a boat just offshore.
Sesshu has included only what is important and the effect is
impressionistic and abbreviated. The approach is abstract and not
realistic. The brush conveys the feeling of the landscape rather than
exact appearance.

5. This monochrome splashed ink style was strongly influenced by the
Japanese love of gardens which owe, in part, a debt to reference for the
Shinto gods or spirits known as kami. The belief in these spirits stems
from the idea that they inhabit the natural environment, including rocks,
trees and water. In this time period in Japan, some gardens were
constructed in Zen temples, and were meant to be reproductions in
miniature of scenes in nature. Sesshu and other painters were also noted
designers of gardens.
Paul Varley. 2000. Japanese Culture, 4th ed. Hawaii: Univ. of Hawaii Press.