Returning Birds Bring Mountain Fragrance

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Returning Birds Bring Mountain Fragrance

A scroll with one vertical line of characters in thick, black ink.

Artist Shi Jietau (Japanese, 1611–1684)

Artist Mokuan Shōtō (1611–1684)

Artist Mu-an Xingtao

Culture Chinese

Culture Japanese

Title Returning Birds Bring Mountain Fragrance

Date 17th century

Medium Ink on paper

Dimensions Image: 52 1/4 x 11 in. (132.7 x 27.9 cm)
Mount: 74 3/4 x 16 1/8 in. (189.9 x 41 cm)

Credit Line Purchased with funds from the Thomas T. Solley endowed fund for the Curator of Asian Art, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

Accession Number 2013.159

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About this Work

Mokuan Shōtō was born in China and ordained at the age of nineteen. In 1655 the head of his order asked him to move to Japan and take over the position of abbot of the Fukusai temple in Nagasaki. In 1664, he became the abbot of the most important Obaku temple in Japan, the Manpukuji. In addition to being an important Buddhist cleric and thinker, Mokuan was one of the seventeenth century’s most famous calligraphers.

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"Returning Birds Bring Mountain Fragrance | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2024. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2013.159