Fenggan, Hanshan, and Shide

From their perch on a rocky precipice, three figures look out over clouds rising from a valley below. At left are Hanshan and Shide (Japanese: Kanzan and Jittoku), Chan (Japanese: Zen) monks who held low-level positions at Guoqingsi, a temple on China’s Mount Tiantai. The reclusive monk-poet Hanshan, shown carrying a bucket, was said to have gathered leftover food from the temple kitchen, where he worked. Shide holds a broom indicating his role as the temple janitor. The older, contemplative figure at right is their teacher Fenggan (Japanese: Bukan) who lived, according to legend, with a pet tiger, easily overlooked as he naps by a rock. Although these paintings—once the flanking scrolls of an iconic triptych—bear no seals or signatures, they have long been attributed to Reisai based on style. Reisai was a follower of Kichizan Minchō (1352–1431), an artist active in the painting atelier of the Zen monastery Tōfukuji in Kyoto.