虎関師錬筆　墨跡「糖」|Poem in Chinese about Sugar

Kokan Shiren

14th century · Hanging scroll; ink on paper · Asian Art

A prominent figure in early fourteenth-century Japanese Zen, Shiren was born into an aristocratic family in Kyoto and studied Zen in Kamakura with the Chinese émigré monk Yishan Yining (Japanese: Issan Ichinei, 1247–1317). Shiren’s calligraphy reveals a debt to his master in its crisp brushwork, long horizontal strokes, and overall rightward-leaning tendency. The seven-character quatrain, about sugar, reads: Now let fire and water fight it out: Heat and boil it many times, It will form naturally; Don’t say that it always tastes like honey. When you roll your tongue It may also taste sour. —Trans. Yoshiaki Shimizu and John M. Rosenfield

Artist

Kokan Shiren

Date

14th century

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Sylvan Barnet and William Burto, in honor of Elizabeth and Neil Swinton, 2014