Kaiso - Kaiso

A calligrapher and monk from the mid-Tang Dynasty in China. He was from Changsha in Hunan. His common surname was Qian, and he was the cousin of the poet Qian Qi. His pen name was Zangzhen. He entered the Buddhist priesthood at an early age, and loved calligraphy from an early age, with his worn-out brushes forming a mound. He was taught the Zhang Xu method by Yan Zhenqing, and it is said that one summer evening, he saw the clouds drifting in the wind and realized the meaning of the calligraphy. He was skilled in the ever-changing and free-flowing form of crazy cursive writing, but he also loved alcohol, and when he got drunk, he would write whatever he could get his hands on, so he was also called a mad monk. He stood out alongside Zhang Xu as a master of cursive writing in the Tang Dynasty, and is known for his works such as "Thousand Characters in Cursive Writing," "Autobiography," and "Book of the Virgin Mother."

[Hiroshi Kakui]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、唐代中期の書家、僧侶(そうりょ)。湖南長沙(ちょうさ)の人。俗姓は銭氏、詩人銭起の従甥(じゅうせい)にあたる。字(あざな)は蔵真。早くから仏門に入り、幼少より書を好み、使い古した筆は塚をなしたという。顔真卿(がんしんけい)から張旭の法を授けられたが、ある夏の夕方、風に漂う雲のありさまを見て筆意を悟ったという伝えがある。縦横自在、千変万化の狂草(きょうそう)を得意としたが、酒を愛し、酔うと手当たりしだいに草書を書いたので狂僧とも称された。唐代における草書の大家として、張旭とともに異彩を放っており、『草書千字文』『自叙帖』『聖母帖』などの作品が世に知られている。

［角井　博］

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