Calligraphy Fuku Happiness 福 | Banjin Shūtai 万仭宗岱 | 1654-1704

Banjin Shūtai is a Zen priest of the Rinzai sect who was appointed the 264th abbot of a temple in the Daitokuji complex in Kyoto. This temple mountain is rich in first-class calligraphers, and Banjin Shūtai can also boast of this image of “happiness”. count. (Next to the large symbol, the smaller symbols on the left indicate the time of creation and the signature.)

This style – a large character on the right and various small characters in a few lines to the left – goes back to the Ōbaku school, whose founders and members were Chinese who had found refuge in Japan during the unrest of the late Ming period. As a gift, they brought new calligraphy traditions to Japan, which were greatly appreciated by the Japanese.

We do not know how much and for how long (or even directly) Banjin Shūtai studied with an Ōbaku master, but one can sense the superior spirit of this school in this one sign of good luck.

The calligrapher started with the free-standing dot at the top left, which probably helped him to gather energy. He then quickly drew the left half of the sign and jumped up to the beginning of the right half with the brush broken off. A brush stroke that became increasingly thinner and fibrous communicates a fast tempo. This swing, as fast as a flash of enlightenment, makes the viewer amazed at the certainty with which the balance of the strokes, the weight of the resulting shapes and the clever arrangement of the empty spaces were nevertheless possible. But impulsive calligraphy, enlightened by Zen experience, only makes an impression when formal considerations and intelligent balancing are also involved.

 The mount is original.