View source for Sengai

{{Short description|Japanese artist (1750–1837)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{family name hatnote|Sengai|lang=Japanese}}

[[File:Sengai 3.jpg|thumb|{{lang|ja|○△□|italic=no}} or ''[[Marusankakushikaku]]'' or ''The Universe'']]

{{nihongo|'''Sengai Gibon'''|仙厓 義梵||extra=1750–1837}} was a Japanese monk of the [[Rinzai]] school (one of three main schools of Zen Buddhism in Japan, the others being the [[Sōtō]] school and the much smaller [[Ōbaku]] school). He was known for his controversial teachings and writings, as well as for his lighthearted [[sumi-e]] paintings. After spending half of his life in Nagata near [[Yokohama]], he secluded himself in [[Shōfuku-ji (Fukuoka)|Shōfuku-ji]] in [[Fukuoka Prefecture|Fukuoka]], the first Zen temple in Japan, where he spent the rest of his life.

Though the Rinzai sect is particularly known for its hard-to-understand teachings, Sengai tried to make them accessible to the public.

==Works==
One of his most notable paintings depicts a circle, a square and a triangle. Sengai left the painting without a title or inscription, save for his signature. The painting is often called ''[[Marusankakushikaku]]'', written as "{{lang|ja|○△□|italic=no}}", or "The Universe" when referred to in English.

{{quote|My play with brush and ink is not calligraphy nor painting; yet unknowing people mistakenly think: this is calligraphy, this is painting.|Sengai Gibon<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HeNIAQAAIAAJ&q=%22My+play+with+brush+and+ink+is+not+calligraphy+nor+painting%22;+yet+unknowing+people+mistakenly+think:+this+is+calligraphy,+this+is+painting.&dq=%22My+play+with+brush+and+ink+is+not+calligraphy+nor+painting%22;+yet+unknowing+people+mistakenly+think:+this+is+calligraphy,+this+is+painting|title=Arts of Asia|date=21 July 1986|publisher=Arts of Asia Publications|via=Google Books}}</ref>}}

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode=packed>
Sengai Welcher Monat.jpg|{{Ill|Praise to Hotei Pointing to the Moon|ja|指月布袋画賛}}
File:Sengai 4.jpg|Year of the Dog Celebration
File:仙厓義梵《坐禅蛙画賛》19世紀、江戸時代、出光美術館、東京.jpg
File:仙厓義梵 《鳥鷺争局（囲碁）画賛》19世紀、江戸時代、出光美術館、東京.jpg
File:Sengai-gibon-cat-1800.jpg
Jittoku and Kanzan LACMA M.68.18.1-.2.jpg
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Buddhism in Japan]]
*[[List of Rinzai Buddhists]]

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |url=https://terebess.hu/zen/seng.pdf |title=Sengai. The Zen Master |last=Suzuki |first=Daisetz T. |author-link=D. T. Suzuki |publisher=New York Graphic Society Ltd |place=Greenwich, Connecticut |year=1971}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://idemitsu-museum.or.jp/collection/sengai/ Idemitsu Museum Sengai Collection (Japanese)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090120192525/http://record.museum.kyushu-u.ac.jp/sengai/ Kyushu University collection of images (Japanese)]
* [http://metropolis.co.jp/arts/art-reviews/sengai-and-the-world-of-zen/ Review of the exhibition at the Idemitsu Museum]

{{Buddhism topics}}

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[[Category:1750 births]]
[[Category:1837 deaths]]
[[Category:Japanese painters]]
[[Category:Rinzai Buddhists]]
[[Category:Buddhist artists]]
[[Category:Japanese Zen Buddhists]]
[[Category:Buddhist clergy of the Edo period]]
[[Category:Zenga]]

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