- Born: 1614/10/18
- Died: 1644/10/18
- Other Names: 自了 (Ji Ryou); 欽可聖 (Qin Kesheng)[1]
- Japanese/Okinawan: 城間 清豊 (Gusukuma Seihou)
Gusukuma Seihô was an official court painter at the royal court of the Kingdom of Ryûkyû.
Gusukuma was born to an aristocratic family in Shuri. His father was a musician, but Gusukuma was a deaf mute[2] and he focused his energies in a different direction, teaching himself to paint[3]. He sought out Chinese paintings, and was heavily influenced by them[1].
Hearing of the young painter, King Shô Hô called him to his court, and bestowed upon him the name Ji Ryô. It is said that the Chinese investiture envoys who witnessed his painting compared him to some of the top painters in China, and that Kanô Yasunobu, court painter for the Tokugawa shogunate, similarly praised the artist when one of Gusukuma's works was brought to Edo by the 1634 Ryukyuan embassy[3][2].
Most of Gusukuma's works were destroyed in the 1945 battle of Okinawa. There is only one extant work which bears a seal (rakan) confirming it to have been painted by Gusukuma[3][2]. It is held by the Okinawa Prefectural Museum, has been designated an Okinawa Prefectural Important Cultural Property, and depicts a fantastic creature known as bai ze in Chinese and hakutaku in Japanese[2].
References
- "Ji Ryô." Okinawa konpakuto jiten (沖縄コンパクト事典, "Okinawa Compact Dictionary"). Ryukyu Shimpo. 1 March 2003. Accessed 6 October 2009.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Gusukuma Seihô." Kotobank.jp. Accessed 6 October 2009.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Hakutaku no zu." Arts of Okinawa. Okinawa Prefectural Government. 2003. Accessed 6 October 2009.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Ji Ryô." Okinawa rekishi jinmei jiten (沖縄歴史人名事典, "Encyclopedia of People of Okinawan History"). Naha: Okinawa Bunka-sha, 1996. p 44.