Cleveland Museum of Art

Calligraphy with Willow and Swallows

Ikkyū Sōjun

Date

1400s

Medium

hanging scroll, ink on paper

Culture

Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The famed Buddhist monk Ikkyū is best remembered for his calligraphy. Calligraphic conventions of his time called for brushwork that did not vary much in style from character to character. However, as Ikkyū’s lines progress, his brushwork wanders between standard script and a sort of shorthand, marked by an uneven distribution of ink and a reduction of the characters to only the most necessary strokes. Ikkyū’s direct communication of emotion via brushwork became characteristic of the works produced by monks affiliated with the temple Daitokuji later in the Edo period (1615–1868).

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