Child of the Cranes Sesshu's Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons and the Painterly Profession in Muromachi Japan

The monk-painter Sesshu Toyo (1420-ca. 1506) is among the most heralded of Japanese artists. This reputation is due in large part to his heroization in art-historical texts of the early modern period. Earlier scholarly emphasis on Sesshu's artistic individualism has obscured our understanding of the professional nature of his activity as a painter in service to a regional military clan. This article reexamines Sesshu's career through consideration of the pair of folding screens known as Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons. As the only firmly attributed painting in this format in the painter's oeuvre, Birds and Flowers offers illuminating insight into the ways in which Sesshu performed the role of painter-in-attendance for the Ouchi clan. Sesshu's travel to China as part of an official diplomatic delegation in the fifteenth century was the most defining experience of the painter's career. In style and subject matter, Birds and Flowers provides insight into Sesshu's encounter with imperial painting at the Ming academy during this time. This symbolic analysis also offers a fresh approach to deciphering the heretofore mysterious patronage context surrounding the screens.