Sesshū, Tōyō (1420-1506)

Japanese painter. Influenced by several Chinese landscape painters, he established a tradition of realism in landscape painting that was maintained by succeeding generations of Japanese painters.

A pupil of the Zen Buddhist monk Strubun, he visited China 1467-68, where he acquired an intimate knowledge of landscapes of the Tung dynasty. The naturalism he developed combined subtle tones and a freedom of brushwork that created vigorous marks and splashes.