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About the Artwork
A monk sits in contemplation below an overhang covered with pine. The poem, titled "Monk in the Mountains Listening to the Wind in the Pines," refers to two Chinese Chan (Zen) Buddhist monks active in the ninth century. It may be translated as follows: Why must the Zen of Rinzai (Linji Yixuan) and Tokusan (Deshan Xuanjian) reside in a single temple for thirty years? Once he's solved his kōan, (the monk) ends his practice and falls asleep in the quietness of the wind among the tall pines. (translated by Osvaldo Mercuri) According to an inscription following the poem, both painting and verse were done by an eminent Japanese Buddhist monk known for revitalizing the Kyoto temple Daitokuji.
Inscriptions
山居僧聴松風/何須臨済徳山禅一箇住山/三十年公案工夫了畢後/長松風静罷参眠 (transcribed by Trevor Menders with Zheng Xiaoying 2017, revised by Osvaldo Mercuri 2021); 紫野龍寶門客东海純一休老和尚畫と詩一筆; 落款 一休
Provenance
?–1985: (Yabumoto Kōzō, Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1985–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
The Year in Review for 1985. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 12-April 20, 1986). Mountains, Rocks, and Water: Landscape Painting in Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 2-December 13, 1987). Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 2-July 9, 2018).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Ikkyū Sōjun (Japanese, 1394–1481)
- Date
- 1400s
- Medium
- hanging scroll; ink on paper
- Dimensions
- Painting only: 76.8 x 32 cm (30 1/4 x 12 5/8 in.); Including mounting: 153.7 x 38.1 cm (60 1/2 x 15 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Accession no.
- 1985.89
More by Ikkyū Sōjun in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009630
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