Closed | Mondays (except for 9/17, 24, 10/8), 9/18 and 9/25 |
---|---|
Hours | 10 am to 5 pm(Entrance closes 30 min. before closing) |
General admission | Adult 1100 yen, Student 800 yen |
Gallery | 1/2 |
During the Middle Ages, Buddhist monks from Japan and China crossed the seas on merchant vessels and built close relationships with each other. The highly individual writings of Zen Buddhist monks, and especially those handed down from master to disciple, tell us much about those relationships. Zen monks in Japan, inspired by their Chinese counterparts, gathered in literati circles. In those circles, they appreciated and critiqued paintings and added poetic inscriptions to them, giving rise to magnificent works combining poetry and painting. Some Zen monks, such as the renowned Sesshū, became specialists in painting.
This exhibition introduces a variety of writings and ink paintings born of the exchanges cultivated by Zen monks.