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Liang Kai was a Chinese painter of the Southern Song Dynasty. He was also known as 'Madman Liang'. He was born in Shandong and worked in Lin An (later Hangzhou). He is known to have studied with the master Jia Shigu.<br/><br/> The painting is marked with the <i>zakkeshitsu-in</i> seal found on Chinese paintings imported to Japan by the Ashikaga (also called Muromachi) Shogunate.
Kano Motonobu (1476-1559 CE) was a Japanese painter born in 1476, in the Kano district (modern-day Shizuoka Prefecture). Motonobu was a member of the Kano school of painting, which was founded by his father, Kano Masanobu, though it was Motonobu that established the distinctive techniques and styles the school would become famous for.<br/><br/> Motonobu's clients were primarily from the imperial court and merchant classes of Kyoto and Sakai, which gave him a lot of political pull and influence, and allowed the Kano school to grow and prosper. His most famous achievement was a new technique of painting known as <i>wa-kan</i>, a mixture of Chinese and Japanese painting styles.<br/><br/> The Kano family would go on to dominate the Japanese painting world from the end of the Muromachi Period all the way through to the end of the Edo Period, their creativity and flexibility allowing them to survive for centuries.
Hosokawa Takakuni (1484-1531) was the most powerful military commander in the Muromachi Period under the 12th shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiharu. He was a member of the Hosokawa clan, and adopted brother to Hosokawa Sumimoto.<br/><br/> In 1507, he aided his brother in avenging the death of their adopted father, Hosokawa Masamoto, at the hands of Hosokawa Sumiyuki. However, he betrayed his adopted brother and the head of the Hosokawa clan when the previous shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiki, was returned to power in 1508. He became the new head of the clan, monopolising much of the shogunate's power in the next few years, turning Yoshiki into a puppet shogun.<br/><br/> When Yoshiki escaped his 'captivity' in 1521, Takakuni made Ashikaga Yoshiharu the new shogun. He was eventually purged from Kyoto, the capital, in 1527, by an alliance between Myoshi Motonaga and Hosokawa Harumoto. His army was defeated in 1531, and he tried to hide in an alcohol storage room in Amagasaki, Settsu Province, before he was discovered and, rather than be captured, committed suicide.
Hosokawa Sumimoto (1489-1520) was a samurai commander who lived during the Muromachi Period, in 16th century Japan. A member of the Hosokawa Clan in Awa Province, he succeeded his adopted father Hosokawa Masamoto as leader of the clan, creating a rift between Sumimoto and Hosokawa Sumiyuki, who was originally going to succeed.<br/><br/> In 1507, Masamoto was killed by a servant of Sumiyuki's, while Sumimoto was attacked by a retainer but managed to escape to take refuge at Rokkaku Takayori, in Omi Province. A loyal follower of Sumimoto's, Miyoshi Yukinaga, raised an army and destroyed Sumiyaki, allowing Sumimoto to return and succeed the house in proper form.<br/><br/> When Ashikaga Yoshiki, the previous Shogun who had been deposed by Sumimoto's adopted father, was returned to power in 1508, Sumimoto was forced to flee and rebel. He fought and lost multiple battles, and eventually died after fleeing back to his home province of Awa.
Huang Chuping, sometimes known as Wong Cho Ping, was the human form of the Chinese Daoist deity Huang Daxian, also known as Wong Tai Sin. The name Huang Daxian translates as 'Great Immortal Huang (Wong)'.<br/><br/> Huang Chuping was a Daoist hermit from Zheijang, born in 238 CE, though some Western sources list his birth as c. 284 to 364 CE. Huang Chuping was said to have experienced great hunger and poverty in his youth, becoming a shepherd by his eighth birthday. One day, when he was fifteen years old, he met an immortal on Red Pine Mountain, and began practising Daoism as a result. After forty years, he was able to transform stones into sheep, and eventually became known as the Red Pine Immortal.<br/><br/> Worship of him is popular in Jinhua, Zhejiang and Hong Kong, where he is often prayed to for his powers of healing.
Kano Motonobu (1476-1559) was a Japanese painter born in 1476, in the Kano district (modern-day Shizuoka Prefecture). Motonobu was a member of the Kano school of painting, which was founded by his father, Kano Masanobu, though it was Motonobu that established the distinctive techniques and styles the school would become famous for.<br/><br/> Motonobu's clients were primarily from the imperial court and merchant classes of Kyoto and Sakai, which gave him a lot of political pull and influence, and allowed the Kano school to grow and prosper. His most famous achievement was a new technique of painting known as <i>wa-kan</i>, a mixture of Chinese and Japanese painting styles.<br/><br/> The Kano family would go on to dominate the Japanese painting world from the end of the Muromachi Period all the way through to the end of the Edo Period, their creativity and flexibility allowing them to survive for centuries.
Guanyin, short for Guanshiyin, is a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism often associated with compassion and mercy. While she is often portrayed as a woman, she is beyond gender and can be depicted as both male and female.<br/><br/> Guanyin is often referred to as the 'most widely beloved Buddhist Divinity', due to her miraculous powers and her loving compassion. She is not only worshipped in Buddhism, but also in Taoism and Chinese folk religion, with various stories and legends about her. Guanyin plays a very important role in the classic Chinese novel 'Journey to the West.'<br/><br/> She is known by various names in different nations, with the Japanese calling her Kannon/Kwannon, or more formally Kanzeon, while in Thailand she is called Kuan Im. She is extremely popular, with temples dedicated to her found throughout South and East Asia, especially in China and Chinese folk religion.
Yamato-e is a style of Japanese painting inspired by Tang Dynasty paintings and developed in the late Heian period. It is considered the classical Japanese style. From the Muromachi period (15th century), the term Yamato-e has been used to distinguish work from contemporary Chinese style paintings (kara-e), which were inspired by Song and Yuan Dynasty Zen Buddhism paintings.<br/><br/> The Yamato-e often tell narrative themes with text along with them, show the beauty of nature, e.g. famous places (meisho-e), and the four seasons (shiki-e). The pictures are non-symbolic and have the objective of depicting the beauty in nature. The pictures are often on scrolls that can be hung on a wall (kakemono) or handscrolls (emakimono) that could be read from right to left with the accompanying story or on a folding screen (byoubu) or panel (shouji).<br/><br/> Although they received their name from the Yamato period (250-710 CE), Yamato-e pictures rather stand for a style and are not restricted to a particular period. Although the most famous artists painted in sumi-e style in the Muromachi period, this was not characteristic of early pictures.
Taira no Tomomori (平 知盛, 1152–1185) was the son of Taira no Kiyomori, and one of the Taira Clan's chief commanders in the Genpei War at the end of the Heian period of Japanese history.<br/><br/> He was the victor at the Battle of Uji in 1180, and also at the Battle of Yahagigawa in 1181, where, after forcing the enemy Minamoto forces to retreat, Tomomori fell ill, and so the pursuit was ended. Tomomori was again victorious over the Minamoto in a naval battle at Mizushima two years later. The Taira forces tied their ships together, to create a larger stable surface to fire arrows from, and to engage in hand-to-hand combat.<br/><br/> At the Battle of Dan-no-ura, when the Taira were decisively beaten by their rivals, Tomomori joined many of his fellow clan members in committing suicide. He tied an anchor to his feet and leapt into the sea.
Ashikaga Yoshihisa ( December 11, 1465 – April 26, 1489) was the 9th shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1473 to 1489 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshihisa was the son of the eighth shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (September 25, 1358 – May 31, 1408) was the 3rd shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate who ruled from 1368 to 1394 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshimitsu was the son of the second shogun Ashikaga Yoshiakira. In the year after the death of his father Yoshiakira in 1367, Yoshimitsu became Seii Taishogun at age 11.
Sesshū Tōyō (1420 – 26 August 1506) was the most prominent Japanese master of ink and wash painting from the middle Muromachi period. He was born into the samurai Oda family, then brought up and educated to become a Rinzai Zen Buddhist priest. However, early in life he displayed a talent for visual arts, and eventually became one of the greatest Japanese artists of his time, widely revered throughout Japan and China. Sesshū studied under Tenshō Shūbun and was influenced by Chinese Song Dynasty landscape painting. In 1468–9 he undertook a voyage to Ming China, where too he was quickly recognized as an outstanding painter. Upon returning to Japan, Sesshū built himself a studio and established a large following, painters that are now referred to as the Unkoku-rin school—or 'School of Sesshū'.