Ch: Guiguzi. The Chinese eccentric and recluse Wang
Xu (Jp:Ou Ku 王く) who lived approximately 3-4c BC. After a prophetic dream,
he entered the mountains to gather medicine and achieved enlightenment. He was
associated with the Gui 鬼 valley in Shanxi 山西 province, thus earning the nicknames
Guiguzi and Guigu Xiansheng (Jp:Kikoku Sensei 鬼谷先生). The scholars Su Qin 蘇秦 (Jp:
So Shin 蘇秦, ?-317 BC) and Zhang Yi (Jp: Chou Gi 張儀, ?-310 BC) are said to have traveled
into the mountains to study with the young hermit. Kikokushi's portrait (a work
of imagination) was painted usually together with other Zen 禅 eccentrics. Notable
is a picture by Kanou Sanraku 狩野山楽 (1590-1651). |