A lone figure wearing a wide-brimmed hat and sandals trudges through a murky landscape. Above, five prominent Japanese Zen monks from the monasteries in Kyoto have brushed poems in Chinese, celebrating China’s most famous literatus, Su Shi (1037–1101), here called by his sobriquet “Dongpo.” Su Shi and his writings were beloved in medieval Japan. The event recalled in the quickly brushed image and poems occurred when the aged scholar was in exile on the remote southern island of Hainan. Caught in a sudden downpour, he borrowed a peasant’s straw hat and clogs and continued on his way, while the villagers laughed at his outlandish appearance. The opening poem by Zuigan Ryūsei sets the scene.

• Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

  Inscription: Inscribed by five Zen monks: Zuigan Ryūsei (1384-1460), Chikkō Zengo (died after 1464), Kyūen Ryūchin (died 1498), Nankō Sōgen (1389-1463), Kōshi Ehō (act. 1414–ca. 1465)

• Timeline of Art History (2000–present)
  Thematic Essays

  Muromachi Period (1392–1573)

  Zen Buddhism

  Timelines

  Japan, 1400–1600 A.D.
• MetPublications
  "The Arts of Japan": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 45, no. 1 (Summer, 1987) (1987)