Ch: wanglianghua. Lit. apparition ghostly paintings.
A style of ink figure painting that contrasts ethereal forms created with pale
lines and wash against dark, sharply drawn facial features and so suggests the
Zen 禅 paradox of emptiness vs. form. Said to have originated with the Southern
Song Zen artist Zhirong (Jp: Chiyuu 智融, 1114-63), mouryouga was popular
with late Song and Yuan period painters of Zen subjects. Fine Chinese examples
often with inscriptions by unknown Zen masters were treasured in Japanese Zen
communities where the style was picked up by Japanese painters in the Muromachi
period. |