In 1832, at the age of eighty-two, Sengai erected a stone monument adjacent to his retirement residence at Shōkokuji, declaring his “farewell to brushes” (zeppitsu).
As always, a waka verse harbors various layers of meaning, but at the most literal level, Sengai declares that he has thrown his brushes (or his one symbolic brush) into Hakata Bay.
But Sengai’s declaration proved short-lived; he produced many more paintings in his remaining five years.
I am also informed by Nakayama Kiichirō that in advance of the actual stone monument declaring his zeppitsu, Sengai had produced paintings of the proposed monument itself.
- extracts from The Stuff of Dreams by Henry D Smith II
Into the Harbour of Sleeves
Wet with waves as the ink-dyed sleeves
Of a monk, I will cast away
These brushes, the shame of my works
Exposed in the wind and waves.
Early Autumn of the year of the Dragon
The End of the Brush
Gai
Monument to the End of the Brush (continued)
TAR Observation Point :
Looking Towards Mount Brushmore
Theatre of the Actors of Regard
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something...
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