Born at Soja-Akahama in Okayama prefecture, Sessyu (1420–1508) is called the “saint of painting”. According to tradition, he drew a mouse with his own tears on a corridor when he was a novitiate at Houhukuji-Temple in Soja City. Afterwards he went to Ming (now People’s Republic of China) and was initiated into the mysteries of ink painting-monochrome painting characterized by the use of sumi (black ink). In Japan he then laid the foundation for Japanese ink painting. (M 33787; M 34673) _ _.