Kōsen Shōton高泉性潡 (Gaoquan Xingdun，1633-1695) Calligraphy in the Harald Conrad Collection

Prof. Dr. Harald Conrad, Chair of Modern Japanese Studies at the Institut für Modernes Japan in

Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf has a private collection of Obaku Art. He is planning to publish a catalog of his collection. We worked together recently on this piece by Gaoquan Xingdun from his collection.

Kōsen Shōton高泉性潡 (1633-1695) (Chinese: Gaoquan Xingdun)

Calligraphy of a large character followed by a five-character poetic couplet in cursive script, horizontal hanging scroll, ink on paper

26.3 cm x 60 cm (114.5 cm x 63.5 cm)

Reading: 道　有道之士為国宝 己酉春                                                                        

Signed: 法苑高泉書 Hōen Kōsen sho

 Seals:              1. 臨済正宗Rinzai Shōshū = True sect of Rinzai

                        2. 一字高泉 Ichiji Kōsen = One Name Kosen

                        3. 性潡之印 Shōton no In

Calligraphy of Muan (1611 - 1684)木菴性瑫 at Philadelphia Museum of Art

http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/303399.html?mulR=980253270|2

Original Patriarch Daruma Daishi

Mokuan Shōtō, Chinese, 1611 - 1684

Geography:
Made in Japan, Asia
Period:
Edo Period (1615-1868)
Date:
Mid- 17th century
Medium:
Ink on paper, mounted as a hanging scroll
Dimensions:
Exclusive of mount: 55 × 11 1/2 inches (139.7 × 29.2 cm)
Curatorial Department:
East Asian Art
Object Location:
Currently not on view

Accession Number:
2008-87-1
Credit Line:
Purchased with funds donated by Andrea M. Baldeck, M.D., and William M. Hollis, Jr., 2008

Label:
Mokuan was the second patriarch of the Japanese Obaku Zen sect, which still has its headquarters at Mampuku-ji, a Chinese-style temple located at Uji, near Kyoto. He emigrated to Japan from Fukien, China in 1655. The following year he assisted the first patriarch, Ingen (1592 - 1673) in founding Mampuku-ji, and Mokuan became the second abbot in 1664.

The six characters inscribed on this hanging scroll translate to "the first patriarch Daruma." This is a reference to the founder of Zen Buddhism in India, whose name is pronounced "Daruma" in Japanese. Mokuan may have also meant this phrase to serve as an homage to Ingen (as the first patriarch of the Obaku sect in Japan).

Mokuan was renowned during his lifetime for his outstanding calligraphy, with its strong, thick brushstrokes and subtle gradations of ink. As in this one line calligraphy, the even spacing and rounded characters have a powerful yet elegant effect, balanced by the wiry, angular signature at the left.

Patricia Graham: Expert of Obaku Art

Glad to meet Patricia Graham this afternoon in my home. She is an accomplished scholar and professional appraiser of Japanese art. She has published a lot on seventeenth-century Japanese art, especially Obaku art and Sencha tradition in Japan. We had a wonderful conversation and a relaxing afternoon with tea. She has a business of appraising Asian arts: log in  http://www.patriciagraham.net/. If you have a Japanese art object, she is the ultimate authority. She also kept a blog on Asia art market at http://patriciajgraham.blogspot.com/. Here are a few books she has published. She is right now working on a biography on Langdon Warner, a former Harvard professor and East Asian art historian.

BOOKS
Japanese Design: Art, Aesthetics, & Culture (Tuttle Publishing, 2014), 160pp.  Can be ordered from Amazon.com.
Faith and Power in Japanese Buddhist Art, 1600-2005 (University of Hawai’i Press, 2007), 353pp.
Tea of the Sages: the Art of Sencha (University of Hawai’i Press, 1998), 259pp.

Obaku monk's long scroll at Tokyo National Museum

Displays in a national museum in any country are not a small matter. They are reflections of a nation's historical memory. During my recent stop in Tokyo, I went to Japan's National Museum at Ueno Park to see how the Obaku art by immigrant Chinese monks is displayed. To my surprise, Yinyuan and other Chinese monks' works are featured prominently as the art of Japan. One of them is this long scroll of calligraphy by eighteen Chinese monks led by Yinyuan. Apparently, Yinyuan and these Chinese monks wrote at the same time on a long piece of paper. It must be a magnificent event. This piece of art has been adorned by late Edo Confucians as well and became the collections of Saitō Setsudō  斎藤 拙堂（さいとう せつどう) and Koga Seiri 古賀 精里（こが せいり）.