Nakahara Nantenbo (Japanese, 1839-1925), Calligraphy

Hanging scroll, ink on paper, a bold painting of the calligraphy, the expressive brush work has both a energy and a quiet elegance, artist's signature together with two red artist seals to left side, another red seal to upper right corner, wooden rollers, comes together with a tomobako wooden storage box.


DOA 79 x 15 3/4 in., Image size 51 1/2 x 11 3/4 in.

Private Collection, Florida

Nakahara Nantenbo lost his mother at the age of seven and was sent to the Yukoji Monastery as a novice when he was eleven. There he received instruction in Chinese classics in addition to Zen texts. Between the ages of eighteen and thirty Nantenbo trained at various centers and ultimately obtained a certification of enlightenment. Nantenbo was installed as abbot of Daijoji temple in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

A few years later, in 1873, he cut from a nanten tree a staff and used it to discipline students. He became known as Nantenbo (Nanten staff) (bo means staff or stick). When a student approached Nantenbo, who was always armed with a stick and presented them with a koan (a Zen riddle), Nantenbo would give them his trademark warning: ‘Whether you speak or not, thirty blows from my staff!’ A disciplined Zen teacher and prolific Zen painter, Nantenbo learned to use painting and calligraphy as a means of expressing the Zen spirit that lies beyond words. He created most of his paintings and calligraphy when he was in his late seventies and early eighties.

Very good condition.