Mi Fu - Bei Fu

A Chinese calligrapher and painter from the Northern Song Dynasty. His pen name was Yuanzhang, and his pen names included Lumen Jushi, Xiangyang Manshi, and Haigaku Gaishi. He was from Xiangyang (Hubei Province). His mother served Empress Xuanren, so he was able to enter the civil service without taking the imperial examination, and in his later years he became a doctor of calligraphy and painting. He loved stones, worshipped strange rocks, and was extremely fastidious and often behaved strangely, so he was also called Miten and Beichi. He created a new style of painting called "Beihou Sansui". He moved away from the traditional thin, uniform, precise outlines, used shading, and added the original ink dot "Beiten" by placing the ink flat on top of the brush horizontally. Mi Fu, who opened up new possibilities in painting, was also a harsh painting critic, collected masterpieces of calligraphy and antiques, and appraised the calligraphy and paintings of the Huizong Imperial Court. He studied calligraphy under Wang Xizhi, and was known as one of the four great masters of the Song Dynasty along with Cai Xiang, Su Shi, and Huang Tingjian. His representative works of calligraphy include the Four Volumes of Cursive Script (Osaka Municipal Museum of Art), the Shu Su Volume, and the Three Volumes of True Traces. His works include the Baozhang Taibo Lu, the History of Painting, the History of Calligraphy, the History of Inkstones, and the Bao Jin Glory Collection.

His eldest son, Mi You-jin (1072?-1151?), was also skilled in calligraphy and painting. His pen name was Genki, and his pen name was Lazy Taoist. He held the positions of Military Affairs Minister and Direct Scholar of the Jibun Pavilion. In his later years, he appraised paintings and calligraphy as a close aide to Emperor Gojong. People at the time called the trees he painted "rootless trees" because he did not draw the roots. While his father Mi Fu was called Big Mi, Mi You-jin was called Little Mi.

[Kondo Hidemi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、北宋(ほくそう)の書家、画家。字(あざな)は元章(げんしょう)、号は鹿門居士(ろくもんこじ)、襄陽漫士(じょうようまんし)、海岳外史(かいがくがいし)など。襄陽（湖北省）の人。母が宣仁皇后に仕えたため科挙によらず官途につき、晩年書画学博士となった。石を愛し、奇石を拝し、極端に潔癖で奇行も多かったため、米顛(べいてん)、米痴(べいち)ともよばれた。画は「米法山水(べいほうさんすい)」という新しい画風を生み出した。伝統的な、細く均質精確な輪郭線から離れ、暈(ぼか)しを用い、その上に筆を横にして墨を平たく置く独創的な墨点「米点(べいてん)」を加えたものである。絵画に新局面を開いた米芾は、一方でまた辛辣(しんらつ)な絵画批評家でもあり、書画骨董(こっとう)の名品を収蔵し、徽宗(きそう)御府の書画の鑑定も行った。書は王羲之(おうぎし)を学び、蔡襄(さいじょう)、蘇軾(そしょく)、黄庭堅(こうていけん)とあわせて宋の四大家と称された。書の代表作には『草書四帖(じょう)』（大阪市立美術館）、『蜀素(しょくそ)帖』『真跡三帖』がある。著作に『宝章待訪録』『画史』『書史』『硯史』『宝晋栄光集』がある。

　長男の米友仁(べいゆうじん)（1072？―1151？）も書画をよくした。字は元暉(げんき)、号は懶拙(らんせつ)道人。官は兵部侍郎、敷文閣直学士に至る。晩年は高宗の側近として書画の鑑定を行った。彼の描く樹木を、根を描かないところから「無根樹」と当時の人は評した。父の米芾を大米(たいべい)とよぶのに対し、米友仁を小米という。

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