Ink Drawing of Saigyō Looking at Mt. Fuji

Sengai Gibon (1750-1837) was a Zen monk of the Rinzai school in the late Edo period. He was called Entsū, Tenmin, Hyakudō, Kyohaku, and others. In Kansei 1 (1789), he became the resident priest of Fukuoka Shōfukuji Temple and devoted himself to its restoration. Shōfukuji Temple was founded in Kenkyū 6 (1195) by Eisai, the founder of the temple, and Minamoto No Yoritomo, the patron of a temple in its founding, and on the Sanmon (Main Gate), there is a plaque with the Retired Emperor Gotoba’s imperial inscription, “Fusō saisho zenkutsu (the first Zen temple in Japan).”

In Bunka 8 (1811), he retired to Kyohakuin in Shōfukuji Temple. He devoted himself to zazen meditation, and in the meantime, he excelled at calligraphy and painting. His caricatural style of painting and witty and unexpected content made him a popular lecturer on the essentials of Zen. Along with Hakuin Ekaku, he is a representative of early modern Zen painting of the Rinzai sect.

This painting depicts Saigyō (1118-1190), who was undergoing ascetic training in various countries, looking at Mt. Fuji. The inscription is the last part of Saigyō’s waka poem. This waka poem is included in the “Shin Kokin Wakashū.”