Jifei Ruyi

CHINA, Fujian, Fuzhou; Ming to Qing dynasty

Jifei Ruyi, known in Japan as Sokuhi Nyoichi, was a monk and a calligrapher. He renounced at the age of 18 and received the Bodhisattva Precepts under Master Yinyuan Longqi at Wanfu Temple in Fujian in 1637. Thereafter, he traveled extensively to study. He went to Japan in 1657 to lecture on the Dharma, and in 1664 he founded Fukushuji Temple in Kyushu.
Jifei was a skilled calligrapher, having developed a specialized cursive script with forceful brushstrokes at a young age. His poetry, essays, and paintings were considered just as exquisite. During his time in Japan, he sought to promote Chinese calligraphy, and together with Master Yinyuan Longqi and Master Mu’an Xingtao, he is regarded as one of the Three Brushes of Obaku. His works, widely collected in various museums, include Seven-Character Quatrain, kept at Ho’s Calligraphy Foundation in Taipei, Taiwan; Opening One’s Eyes, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia; and Reading a Sutra Under the Moonlight, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA.