Preview
Buy Print
Send
Share
Download
Similars
X-Ray
DiaporamaPoem in Chinese about Sugar
301
31.0cm x 47.0cm
A prominent figure in early fourteenth-century Japanese Zen, Shiren was born into an aristocratic family in Kyoto and studied Zen in Kamakura with the Chinese émigré monk Yishan Yining (Japanese: Issan Ichinei, 1247–1317). Shiren’s calligraphy reveals a debt to his master in its crisp brushwork, long horizontal strokes, and overall rightward-leaning tendency. The seven-character quatrain, about sugar, reads:Now let fire and water fight it out:Heat and boil it many times,It will form naturally;Don’t say that it always tastes like honey.When you roll your tongueIt may also taste sour.—Trans. Yoshiaki Shimizu and John M. Rosenfield
kokan shiren (1278 – 1346)
Kokan Shiren (1278-1346) was a pivotal Japanese Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk, poet & calligrapher of the Gozan bungaku tradition. Known for his Genko Shakusho history & Chinese verse, he blended Zen philosophy with artistic expression.
About this artwork
- Title: Poem in Chinese about Sugar
- Artist: kokan shiren
- Year: 301
- Original dimensions: 31.0cm x 47.0cm
- Format: Landscape
- Copyright status: Public domain
- Color intensity: Balanced
- Perceived brightness: bright
QR Code
