“Bamboo in Ink”

Mihō Enki

Click the image to enlarge.

Artist Name: Mihō Enki
Title: “Bamboo in Ink”
Dimensions: painting：92.1×40.0cm
full length：181.5×59.5cm
Medium: Ink on Silk
Description: Mihō Enki was an Ōbaku Zen monk active in the mid to late Edo period.
His religious name (dōgō) was Mihō, his Dharma name (hōki) was Enki, and he also used the art names Raihō and Bokuchi.

He was born in 1730 (Kyōhō 15) and entered the priesthood at Fukusai-ji, a temple of the Ōbaku sect in Nagasaki. He studied under Taihō Shōkun and later served as one of the Thirteen Supervisory Monks (jūsan kanji) of Fukusai-ji. He passed away in 1817 (Bunka 14).

Enki learned ink painting from Taihō and became particularly known for his ink bamboo paintings (bokuchiku-ga).