Duli Xingyi

CHINA, Zhejiang, Hangzhou; Ming to Qing dynasty

Duli Xingyi, also known in Japan as Dokuryu Shoeki, was a monk, scholar, and calligrapher. He traveled in 1653 at the age of 58 to Nagasaki, Japan and renounced under Zen Master Yinyuan Longqi of the Obaku school of Japanese Buddhism. Master Duli then devoted himself to spreading the essence of the Obaku school teachings. In addition, he aspired to further benefit society by complementing his extensive learning of Buddhism with practicing medicine.
Equally renowned for calligraphy and seal carving, Master Duli is regarded as one of the founding fathers of Japanese seal engraving alongside Chan Master Donggao Xinyue. Also a masterful teacher, he was attributed with nurturing the Japanese calligraphers, Fukami Gentai and Ikeda Seichoku. Merging aspects of clerical, semi-cursive, seal, and cursive scripts into one, Master Duli formed the Obaku style of calligraphy.
Tianwai Yi Xianren is a well-known seal work by Master Duli. In addition, his calligraphic piece, Self Poem, is kept at the Ho’s Calligraphy Foundation in Taipei, Taiwan. He was profoundly dedicated to the spread of knowledge in the areas of Chinese arts, Buddhism, and medicine throughout Japan, having an enormous influence on Japanese calligraphy and seal engraving in particular.