Portrait of Yogetsu Ryosaku

Portraist of Zen priests are called chinso in Japanese. Typically, after a student completed his initial training for priesthood, he was given a chinso portrait of his master. As the lineage of transmission was extremely important in Zen practice, chinso served as visual proof of a priest’s spiritual heritage. The realistic appearance and minute details of the portrait reflected the priest’s state of enlightenment, or what is called his "Buddha mind." His robes and accoutrements, such as the disciplinary rod seen in this hanging scroll, were markers of institutional rank.

Pictured here is the Zen priest Yugetsu (died 1615), formerly of Nanzenji, the principal temple of the Rinzai sect of Zen in Kyoto. Another Zen priest named Taiden later inscribed the painting with a dedication at the top.