A bold calligraphy work by eclectic Zen Priest Hashimoto Dokuzan enclosed in the original signed double wood box (niju bako). Ink on paper mounted in rough silk with red lacquered rollers, the scroll is 33 x 215 cm (13 x 84-1/2 inches). There is light foxing throughout the image. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hashimoto Dokuzan was a leading figure in early twentieth-century Zen Buddhism, serving as abbot of the major monastery Shokokuji in the city of Kyoto and served as chief, kancho, of the Shōkokuji branch of the Rinzai sect of Zen from 1909 to 1933. Before he entered the priesthood, he trained to be a painter under the celebrated literati artist Tomioka Tessai and continued to paint throughout his life.
Hashimoto Dokuzan (Gengi, 1869-1938) was born in Niigata, and was sent to Kyoto at the age of 16 to study painting and philosophy under Tomioka Tessai. At the age of 20 he entered Tenryuji under Gazan. He received Inka from Ryuen. In 1910 he moved to Shokokuji, and then was assigned the foundation of Nanonji Temple in Tottori Prefecture. He served as abbot of Tenryuji Temple and Shokokuji, both important Zen temples in Kyoto. Works by him are held in the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the Freer Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian, the Honolulu Museum, the aforementioned New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art among others.
