The great synthesizer of Japanese ink painting, a Zen-monk painter
A Zen monk and painter of Japan’s Muromachi era, revered as the summit of Japanese ink landscape. He traveled to Ming China to study painting, and on his return fused Chinese landscape technique with Japanese aesthetics, his brush powerful and his vision expansive. His Long Landscape Scroll and "splashed-ink" landscapes sketch ten thousand miles of rivers and mountains with the sparest gradations of ink — a representative of the East Asian ink spirit.
Legend says that as a boy in a temple, Sesshū was punished for painting too much and tied to a pillar. With his toe he dipped in his own tears and drew a few mice on the floor, so lifelike the abbot mistook them for real. The tale tells of a painter’s inborn obsession — even tears could be turned to paint.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.