(1053–1140), also known as in his priesthood, was a Japanese

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

, and the son of Minamoto no Takakuni.

Biography

Kakuyū was a high priest of Tendai Buddhism. He was advanced to in 1132 and then in 1134. In 1138, he became the 48th (the chief of the Tendai school). He is commonly known as Toba Sōjō, because he lived in , a temple funded by the imperial family and located at Toba,

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

As an artist

Kakuyū was also an artist proficient in both

Buddhist art Buddhist art is visual art produced in the context of Buddhism. It includes Buddha in art, depictions of Gautama Buddha and other Buddhas and bodhisattvas in art, Buddhas and bodhisattvas, notable Buddhist figures both historical and mythical, ...

and satirical cartoon and his work (confirmed to be authentic) includes Fudōmyō'ō-ritsuzō at Daigo-ji, an Important Cultural Property of Japan. Kokushi Daijiten - Kakuyū Perhaps the most famous one is the picture scroll Chōjū-giga, a National Treasure of Japan and one of the earliest

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

—however, this attribution has no proof and may be spurious. His works are held in the permanent collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

and the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

References

* Kōjien, 6th edition. 1053 births 1140 deaths Japanese religious leaders Japanese cartoonists Japanese Buddhist clergy Tendai 12th-century Buddhist monks 12th-century Japanese painters Buddhist monks {{Japan-bio-stub Tendai Buddhist monks