Sun Rise Enso

Nantenbo was one of the most important Zen monks of the Meiji and Taisho eras, and he is now considered the finest early 20th century Zen painter and calligrapher. Like many earlier monk-painters, he did not take up painting and calligraphy in earnest until his sixties, and this work was brushed when he was eighty-two. As a high-ranking priest, Nantembo was highly regarded for his bokuseki or "traces of the brush," which were believed to reflect not only his own spirituality but also to resonate with the accumulated enlightenment of the Zen lineage.

This intimate fan was probably a gift to a friend or admirer. A circular image representing the complex Zen concept of enso—variously representing perfection, the enlightened consciousness, or even the Zen sect itself—was rendered in a meticulous subdued fashion. The accompanying texts reads, "The sun rises, illuminating the cosmos."