Calligraphy in Semi-Cursive Style (xing-caoshu)

This bold calligraphy written by Yueshan, an Ōbaku school monk, consists of five characters tentatively translated as “Pine trees singing in the wind.” The line is from <em>Cold Mountain Poems (Hanshan shi)</em>. Cold Mountain is the pen name (<em>hao</em>) of the poet monk Han Shan, as well as the name of a place. In one poem Han describes getting lost on the road to Cold Mountain, perhaps an allusion to the search for religious enlightenment.