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

Liang Kai's figure painting inherits from the Hakubyôga style (painting expressed using only brush lines, without shades, in India ink) by Li Gonglin, a literary artist in the end of the Northern Song dynasty. Its main characteristic is its simple and hurried expression in India ink called "Genpitsu tai." The sixth patriarch cutting the bamboo is, together with Li Bo in stroll, one of the masterpieces of figure paintings in India ink by Liang Kai. It used to be paired with the sixth patriarch breaking a Buddhist scripture (owned by Mitsui Bunko). Both hanging scrolls have the seal of "Dôyû" by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. It has the glorious history of having been handed down, after the Ashikaga clan, to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Nishihongan temple, and the Sakai clan in Wakasa.