Description
This is the oldest extant portrait of Ikkyū Sōjun (1394–1481), a Zen priest in the Daitokuji branch of the Rinzai school. Ikkyū himself inscribed this painting when he was 54. There is a sword in a large vermillion sheath beside him, though it is in fact a wooden sword: this is a subtle critique of society’s value only for what is beautiful on the outside.
Data source
ColBase
"ColBase: Integrated Collections Database of the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan" is a service that enables a multi-database search of the collections in the four national museums (To...
Contents holder/Provider
Aggregator
National Institutes for Cultural Heritage
The National Institutes for Cultural Heritage (NICH) comprise four National Museums (Tokyo National Museum, Kyoto National Museum, Nara National Museum, and Kyushu National Museum) and two National Research Institutes for Cultural Properties (Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, and Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties), as well as the International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI) in Sakai City, for a total of seven institutions.
Last updated
July 20, 2026