Account of the Three Springs of Jiangsu Province in China

Sakugen Shūryo, the artist of the present piece, was among the small number of Japanese who had the opportunity to visit China during the Muromachi period. Sakugen did not make the voyage to study Buddhism, although he had begun Buddhist training at the age of nine. A gifted child, he soon became known as a prodigy with a special talent for Chinese-style poetry.[1] Ordained at age eighteen at Tenryūji in Kyoto, one of the leading Zen temples of Japan, Sakugen's reputation in Zen circles as a learned monk was soon firmly established.

In 1530 the Ashikaga shogun Yoshiharu (r. 1523–1545) directed Ōuchi Yoshioki (1477–1528), lord of Suō province (modern Yamaguchi prefecture), to organize a mission for kangō bōeki (tally trade) with Ming-dynasty China. This type of restricted trade involved the issuance of a kangō––proof of permission to conduct commerce––to the Japanese trade mission by the Ming government. Sakugen was chosen as an aide to the chief envoy and stayed in China for almost two years, returning home in 1541. In 1547 he served as chief envoy for another mission and was granted an audience with the Ming emperor, before returning to Japan in 1550. Sakugen was able to bring back many rare objects and books, and during his years in China he also visited well-known sites and met prominent men of letters with whom he exchanged poetic and calligraphic works.[2] He kept daily records of his travels, the Sakugen Oshō shotoshū (The First Voyage to China of the Monk Sakugen) and the Sakugen Oshō Saitoshū (The Monk Sakugen's Second Voyage to China)[3]

In the present work Sakugen displays his intimate knowledge of the comparative merits of spring water in south China, a region that he and many other Japanese pilgrims had visited. The text reads:

The spring named Zhong Lingquan on Mount
Jin at the heart of the Yangzi River is called the
Number One source of water under Heaven
That of the Huishan Temple at the Jinlong Feng is called Number Two.
Jianchi Pond at Huqiu Temple in Suzhou is called Number Three.

Ki'in Kensai sho [written by Ki'in Kensai], seal [Sakugen]

Sakugen had visited all three springs and recorded the proclamations inscribed on the ubiquitous plaques and tablets located at these famous sites.[4] His visits to these places, all in the Jiangsu region north of Ningbo, where he landed, took place during his first China trip and are recorded in his diary: Number Two spring at Huishan temple on November 21, 1539, Number One spring at Zhong Lingquan, on December 3 of the same year, and Number Three spring at Huqiu temple, on August 23, 1540, just before his return to Japan.

Sakugen's firsthand knowledge of south China's famous places, which had been immortalized in literature, made his descriptions of the sites––inscribed in his own hand––desirable to collectors who were unable to travel. He created other calligraphic pieces on request, describing such sites as the famous West Lake,[5] other examples of his calligraphy contain transcriptions of well-known Chinese poems, suggesting that there was a demand for such works.

Like the present piece, most of Sakugen's calligraphy features well-controlled movement of the brush; every character is well formed and maintains its independence. The clarity and restrained quality of the writing create a sense of solemnity and orthodoxy. For this work, written in a combination of cursive and semicursive scripts, Sakugen manipulated the brush carefully, maintaining a consistency of speed and motion. Formal and precisely modulated, each letter possesses a singular rhythm that contributes to the overall balance of the composition.

Seal: Sakugen
Literature: Shimizu and Rosenfield 1984–85, no. 55; Richardson 1992–93, p. 50

Miyeko Murase. In Miyeko Murase, The Written Image. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2002, cat. no. 43.

[1] For his poetry, see Sakugen Oshō shishū (Collection of Monk Sakugen's Poems) in Zoku Gunshoruijū 1926, no. 352, pp. 811–85.
[2] Murase 1970.
[3] Reprints in Makita 1955–59, vol. 1.
[4] These visits are entered in his diary. See Makita 1955–59, vol. 1, pp. 107, no, and 14–6, respectively; also the map of his travels after p. 396.
[5] Komatsu, ed. 1978–80, vol. 10, no. 116.

Sylvan Barnet and William Burto , Cambridge, MA (until 2014; donated to MMA).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Written Image: Japanese Calligraphy and Paintings from the Sylvan Barnet and William Burto Collection," October 1, 2002–March 2, 2003.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Brush Writing in the Arts of Japan," August 17, 2013–January 12, 2014.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Celebrating the Arts of Japan: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," October 20, 2015–May 14, 2017.

Kyoto National Museum 京都国立博物館. Zen no bijutsu 禅の美術 (Art of Zen Buddhism) Kyoto: Hōzōkan, 1983, pl. 103.