”Grapes with Squirrels”

Essan dōshū, Sōken

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Artist Name: Essan dōshū, Sōken
Title: ”Grapes with Squirrels”
Dimensions: painting：97.6×28.8㎝
full length：174.7×31.6㎝
Medium: ink on paper
Year: July 16
Description: This painting of squirrels and grapes was executed by Sōken. Grapes, which spread their vines and bear abundant fruit, together with squirrels, believed to produce many offspring, form an auspicious subject symbolizing prosperity and the flourishing of descendants. Such imagery was frequently depicted as a felicitous theme.
In this work, the squirrels and grapes are rendered in a lively manner using the mokkotsu (boneless) technique, without defining contour lines. An inscription appears in the upper portion of the composition by the Ōbaku monk Dōshū Etsuzan.

Dōshū Etsuzan (1629–1709) was a Chinese-born Ōbaku Zen monk active in the Edo period. Born in Fujian Province, his secular surname was Sun. In 1657, he was invited to Japan by Unken Kaiwan of Fukusai-ji Temple in Nagasaki. He later studied under Mokuan Shōtō and Ingen Ryūki, receiving Dharma transmission from Mokuan.

He went on to found Jifuku-in, a subtemple of Manpuku-ji, and established Shari Sonshō-ji in Osaka. Eventually, he served as the seventh abbot of Manpuku-ji.