This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  "Itsunen Shoyu" –  news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2017) ( Learn how and when to remove this message)

Itsunen Shoyu ( Chinese: 逸然性融, 1601 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China – 1668 in Nagasaki, Japan) is famous as a Buddhist monk and painter who helped to establish Chan (Zen) in Japan. He was also the third abbot of Kofukuji Temple. ^[1] In addition to his skill of painting, he also practices the art of Seal carving and cemented the popularity of this art in Japan. ^[2]

In 1642 he travelled to Nagasaki as a trader in Chinese medicine, and in 1644 entered Kofukuji Temple, becoming its 3rd abbot in 1645. Established by monks immigrated from China, the temple was then a base of the Ōbaku school of Zen Buddhism in Japan. In 1654 after multiple requests he succeeded in persuading Yinyuan Longqi (Ingen Ryuki), the 33rd abbot of Wanfu Temple ( Mount Huangbo, Fujian) to emigrate to Japan, where he founded Ōbaku, the third and final major Japanese Zen sect.

Itsunen was a talented late Ming style painter of Buddhist figural subjects, and is known to have copied works by Chen Xian brought to Japan by Yinyuan Longqi.

See also

• Japanese Buddhism
• Zen

References

This article about a member of the Buddhist clergy is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This biography of a Japanese religious figure is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This Chinese religion-related biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This Zen biography-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e