Wu Zhen - Gochin

An independent literati painter from the Yuan Dynasty in China. One of the so-called Four Great Masters of the late Yuan Dynasty (Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen, Ni Zan, and Wang Meng), he established a new style of landscape painting with a strong individuality that became a benchmark for literati painting in later generations. He was also a master of ink and bamboo. His pen name was Zhonggui. He loved plum blossoms so much that he called himself the Plum Blossom Taoist. He was from Weitang, Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. He never served the government, but instead lived a poor literati life in his hometown, practicing divination and opening a village school. The other three of the Four Great Masters had interactions with each other, but Wu Zhen did not. In his later years, he studied landscape painting under Dong Yuan and Ju Ran, and in his later years, he adopted a more simplified style of brushwork, while in his later years, he studied Wen Tong. In the Ming Dynasty, he published "Plum Blossoms of the Taoist Iboku," a collection of poems by Wu Zhen.

[Shinya Hoshiyama]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、元(げん)代の在野の文人画家。いわゆる元末の四大家（黄公望(こうこうぼう)、呉鎮、倪瓚(げいさん)、王蒙(おうもう)）の一人で、新しい山水画様式を、強い個性で樹立し、後世の文人画の指標となった。また墨竹の大家。字(あざな)は仲圭。すこぶる梅を愛し、梅花道人と号した。浙江(せっこう)省嘉興魏塘(ぎとう)の人。終生官に仕えず、易卜(えきぼく)をしたり、また村塾を開くなどして、郷里で貧しいまま文人的生活を送った。四大家の他の3人は互いに交流したが、呉鎮は交渉をもたなかった。画風は、山水は董源(とうげん)、巨然(きょねん)を学び、晩年は略筆化を進め簡略な筆致を特徴とし、墨竹は文同を学んだ。明(みん)代に呉鎮の題詩を集めた『梅花道人遺墨』がある。

［星山晋也］

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