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Shokado Shojo [Takimotobo Shojo]
(b 1584; d 1639). Japanese Shinto–Shingon Buddhist priest, painter and calligrapher. Together with KONOE NOBUTADA and Hon’ami Koetsu (see HON’AMI, (1)), he is known as one of the three Kan’ei no Sanpitsu (‘Three Brushes of the Kan’ei era’ (1624–44)). He began his religious training at the age of 17 at Mt Otoko, near Kyoto, at the Shinto–Shingon Buddhist sanctuary of Iwashimizu Hachimangu, of which he became abbot in 1628. In 1634 he relinquished his position and in 1637 retired to his residence, the Shokado (Pine Flower Hall), at one of the sanctuary’s subtemples, the Takimotobo. He was highly respected by the Regent Konoe Nobuhiro, and by the leading intellectuals, priests and Confucianists of the day, such as KOBORI ENSHU, TAKUAN SOHO, ISHIKAWA JOZAN and Hayashi Razan (1583–1657). Shojo studied the Shoren’in calligraphy style (see JAPAN, §VII, 2(iii)(a)), as well as the elegant works by Heian-period (AD 794–1185) calligraphers such as ONO NO MICHIKAZE and Fujiwara no Kozei (see FUJIWARA (ii), (2)), and Chinese calligraphers such as Zhao Mengfu (see ZHAO, (1)) and Wen Zhengming (see WEN, (1)). He is said to have preferred the style of the priest KUKAI (Kobo Daishi), the founder of the Shingon sect to which he belonged, although models for close study were probably not available to him. Shojo’s distinctive calligraphy, to be seen, for example, in the Sanjurokkasen shikishi (‘Poem card on the 36 poetic immortals’; early 17th century; Tokyo, Umezawa priv. col., see Nakata, 1970–73, pl. 119), was a combination of strength and sinuous elegance. It came to be known as the Shojo style and developed a substantial following over the years (see JAPAN, §VII, 2(v)). In his paintings he drew much inspiration from the Chinese artists MUQI and LIANG KAI and later critics classed him as one of the Japanese exponents of the Southern school of Chinese painting, made up largely of amateur, individualistic artists (see JAPAN, §XXII). Elements of Shojo’s abbreviated and humorous style were taken up by artists of the Japanese Zenga school (see JAPAN, §VI, 4(vii)). He painted screens of Japanese birds and flowers, designed to be inscribed with verses (e.g. Watanabe priv. col.).
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