Tenshō Shūbun (1414 – 1463)
Nationality | Japanese |
Where Artist Lived | Kyoto, Japan |
Associated Movements | Muromachi Period |
Famous Artworks | Reading in a Bamboo Grove (1446) Hue of the water, Light on the peaks (c. 15th century) Ox-herding Series (c. 15th century) |
Tenshō Shūbun was born in the Ōmi Province of Japan in the late 14th century. He later moved to Kyoto, becoming director of the court painting bureau, an institution consisting of influential Japanese art patrons. Shūbun is considered by historians to be the father of Suiboku ink wash painting, a style that originated in China, but one which Shūbun helped incorporate into traditional Japanese art.
- No. 6. Riding the Bull Home (c. 15th century) by Tenshō Shūbun. This is one of a series of ten images, generally known in English as the Ox-herding (or Bull-herding) pictures, by the 15th century Japanese Rinzai Zen monk Shūbun. They are said to be copies of originals, now lost, traditionally attributed to Kakuan, a 12th century Chinese Zen Master; Tenshō Shūbun, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
After studying Chinese masters such as Ma Yuan and Xia Gui, Shūbun took elements of their work and created a style of ink-wash painting, promoting it until it became the local style of that era. Shūbun then went on to become a tutor of Japanese painting for future masters like Kanō Masanobu and Sesshū Tōyō. Reading in a Bamboo Grove, painted in 1446, is considered Shūbun’s most well-known painting, having received the honor as a Japanese national treasure.
Reading in a Bamboo Grove (1446)
Date | 1446 |
Medium | Light color on paper |
Dimensions (cm) | 134.8 x 33.3 |
Where It Is Housed | Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan |
Reflective of earlier works by the Southern Song Chinese painters, this early example of ancient Japanese art depicts a landscape and poetry painted onto the surface of a scroll. It was owned by a Zen monk from a temple in Kyoto but was said to be created by Shūbun, another monk from a temple in Shôkoku-Ji.
- Painting detail of Reading in a Bamboo Grove (1446) by Tenshō Shūbun. Full scroll: 134.8 x 33.3 cm; Tenshō Shūbun, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Many Zen monks added a preface and extra poems to the scroll, making it hard to identify exactly who created this ancient Japanese artwork. However, it has been considered to be one of the only existing examples of Japanese drawings from that era that fit Shūbun’s signature style.
As such, this painting has been passed down the generations in the Myôchi-in Temple in Kyoto as a Shūbun original.
