Zhang Ruitu - Chozuito

A Chinese calligrapher and painter from the late Ming Dynasty. Along with Mi Wanzhong, Dong Qichang, and Xing Dong, he is one of the four great calligraphers of the late Ming Dynasty. His pen name was Changgong, and his pen names were Ershui and Bai Haoan. A native of Jinjiang County, Fujian Province, he became a Jinshi in 1607 (the 35th year of the Wanli era) and was ranked third in the Jinshi (appointment examination for Jinshi). He was promoted from editor of the Hanlin Academy to Minister of Rites in the Ministry of Rites, and during the Tianqi era he rose to the rank of Wuying Palace Grand Scholar, a key administrative position, but was dismissed due to factional conflict and spent the rest of his life devoted to poetry, calligraphy, and painting. He wrote passionate cursive script and excelled in painting. His landscape paintings, which he learned from Huang Gongwang's style, have a sense of blue power. In China, he was looked down upon as a person and his works because of his background, but in Japan, many people liked his calligraphy and paintings, and his works were imported and praised. Tanomura Chikuden also praised his ink bamboo in "Sanchujin Jozetsu" (The Tale of the Mountain People), and expressed sympathy for his life, including the story of his younger brother, Seno, who came to Japan with their mother.

[Shinya Hoshiyama]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、明(みん)末の書家、画家。米万鐘(べいばんしょう)、董其昌(とうきしょう)、邢侗(けいどう)とともに明末の書の四大家の1人。字(あざな)は長公、号は二水、白毫菴(はくごうあん)など。福建省晋江県の人で、1607年（万暦35）に進士となり、殿試（進士の登用試験）で第三番となったので、翰林院(かんりんいん)編修から礼部尚書に至り、天啓年間には武英殿大学士にまで上り、行政の枢要な地位についたが、派閥の対立のなかで失脚し罷免され、余生を詩書画の生活に送った。熱情的な草書を書き、画(え)にも優れ、その山水画は黄公望(こうこうぼう)の画風を学んで、蒼勁(そうけい)の趣(おもむき)がある。中国ではその経歴のため人物、作品ともに軽視したが、日本では彼の書画を好む者多く、舶載されて称賛された。田能村竹田(たのむらちくでん)も『山中人饒舌(じょうぜつ)』中でその墨竹をたたえ、弟の潜夫が母を連れて日本にきたという伝えも載せて、彼の人生に同情を寄せている。

［星山晋也］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例