National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

　 Jixiu Qiliao (1269–1351) was a Zen monk during China’s Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). He lived in Beishan Jingdian Temple in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Later, he also lived in Jinshan Temple (Jinshan Longyuzenji) in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province.
　 In Jixiu Qiliao’s later years, a Japanese Buddhist priest called Guchū Shūkyū (1323–1409) visited Jinshan and practiced Zen for about seven years before inheriting the Dharma. Jixiu trusted Guchū and ordered him to carry out various tasks for the temple, such as ordering him to write a letter to monks and write commemorative speeches when the Buddhist temple was rebuilt after a fire.
　 This Chinese poem in five lines written in running-cursive script is undated, but the calligraphic style, signature, and inscriptions are similar to those of Song of Farewell (Important Cultural Property, Gotoh Museum of Art), which Jixiu is said to have given to Guchū a year earlier, suggesting that this is his last work.