Yamada Kanzan (山田寒山)
Kanzan YAMADA (male, 1856 - December 26, 1918) was a Japanese Tenkoku artist (artist of seal engraving) of the Meiji period. He was a Zen monk of Eihei-ji school and was proficient in poetry, calligraphy, and painting.
His first name was Junshi (潤子), and his pseudonym was Kanzan. He was born in Nagoya City.
Brief biography
Although he was a Zen monk of Eihei-ji school, he visited Kendo KOZONE to learn about Tenkoku (seal engraving) at the age of 18, and became a disciple of Tanin FUKUI at the age of 24, where he studied Japanese Tenkoku that followed the school of Fuyo KO. In 1883, he was appointed chief priest of Saimyo-ji Temple (Nigishima-cho, Kumano-City), but in 1886, he resigned the position and went to Osaka. In 1895, he moved to Tokyo and built an Iori (a hermitage) called Shisendo (芝仙堂) by Asakusakoen Rokku, Shiba (Minato-ku, Tokyo Prefecture). In 1897, he moved to Qing, and had a close relationship with Changshuo WU and became his disciple.
After he engraved a seal of Hirobumi ITO for personal use, he was favored by ITO and had close contact with him. As Bonsho (temple bell) of Kanzan-ji Temple in Suzhou, which was said to have been taken away by Wako (pirates, largely but not exclusively made up of Japanese, who raided the Korean and Chinese coasts between the 13th to 16th century), was not found despite a search within Japan, a new Bonsho was casted and he then asked Hirobumi for a selection of an inscription to be on it. He was subsequently named to a representative of the supporters of Kanzan-ji Temple. After returning from Qing, he built a branch temple of Kanzan-ji Temple in Shitaya, Tokyo, under the patronage of Hirobumi and so on, and became its chief priest.
In 1907, he established Teibiinsha with Senro KAWAI, Randai NAKAMURA the first, Zoroku HAMAMURA the fifth, Chinsho OKAMOTO and so on. In addition, he actively did works such as publication of "Insho Bisei" written by Ekisai TOMITORI, organizing Shokai (calligraphy session) with Fusetsu NAKAMURA, etc, and made great efforts in fostering of young successors and developing Tenkoku art.
He shared a hometown, Niigata, with Tenkoku artist Chikko KIMURA, and maintained a lifelong friendship. "Rakan Inpu"("羅漢印譜"), a famous Inpu (compilation of seal marks) edited by Chikko, includes Kanzan's masterpiece. Also, he took Chikko's second son, Shohei YAMADA, as a son-in-law, who took over Kanzan's Tenkoku works.
Kanzan's Tenkoku was known for its dynamic style following the orthodox school of Fuyo KO, and he proclaimed himself as Fuyo KO the fifth.
Fuyo KO - Iryo GEN- Kakuan OMATA - Tanin FUKUI - Kanzan YAMADA - Shohei YAMADA
For Tenkoku, other than Tensho (the ancient seal style of writing), he freely and vigorously used Reisho (the demotic semi-square style of writing), Kaisho (the block style of writing), Gyosho (the semi-cursive style of writing), Sosho (the fully cursive style of writing), Yamato kointai (the old seal style of writing created in Japan), Kana (Moji) (Japanese syllabary characters), Bonji (Sanskrit characters), etc, and not only stone seal, he created seals with various materials, such as casting seal, ceramic seal, wood seal, etc. He was versatile, and other than Tenkoku, he was proficient in Chinese poetry and calligraphy, as well as Sansui-ga (Chinese-style landscape painting) and ceramic art. He lived in honest poverty throughout life.
Literary works
"Rakan Inpu"("羅漢印譜")
"Gareki Hoko"
"Kinseki Ketsuen"("金石結縁")
"Nihon Inso" ("日本印叢")