( fl 1342–66). Japanese painter, poet, calligrapher and Zen monk. He was a disciple of MUSO SOSEKI, the founder of Tenryuji in Kyoto. He went to China during the Yuan period (1279–1368) to study devotional poetry with the Chan (Zen) monk Gulin Qingmou. In addition to his Zen training, Tesshu also studied suibokuga (ink painting) (see JAPAN, §VI, 4(iii)), and his style shows the influence of the Yuan-period painter Xuechuang Puming, who specialized in ink paintings of orchids (see CHINA, §V, 3(vi) and 4(ii)). Tesshu’s representative work is Ranchikuzu (‘Orchids and bamboo’; Princeton U., NJ, A. Mus.), which bears an inscription by Gido Shushin. Other extant works include the Ransekizu (‘Orchids and rocks’; Tokyo, Gotoh Mus.) and the Roganzu (‘Reeds and wild geese’; New York, Met.). After his return to Japan in 1347 he became head of Hodaji in Awa (now Tokushima Prefect.), and in 1362 he served as abbot of Manjuji, one of the gozan (‘five mountains’) temples in Kyoto. In his later years he retired to Ryukoin in Saga (Kyoto Prefect.). Tesshu is also known for his calligraphy in the sosho (‘grass style’) cursive manner, and he was a skilled poet, his two-volume poetry anthology Enbushu (‘Jambu [‘temporal life’] collection’) testifies.

• Tesshu Tokusai
  • Japan, §VI, 4(iii)(c): Ink painting in the Muromachi period: The amateur tradition