Originally from Niigata Prefecture 新潟 in northern Japan, Hashimoto Dokuzan studied painting in his youth under the renowned bunjinga 文人画 artist Tomioka Tessai 富岡鉄斎. He later became a Zen Buddhist monk and rose to prominence within the Rinzai 臨済 school of Buddhism. From 1909 to 1933, he served as abbot of Shōkokuji 相国寺 in Kyoto. The paintings and calligraphies he created in meditative states are today highly esteemed in collections around the world.

This energetic and refined example of cursive script (sōsho 草書) presents a fragment from the poem Accompanying Prince Zheng to Weiqu 奉陪鄭駙馬韋曲 by Du Fu 杜甫, one of the most important poets of the Chinese Tang 唐 dynasty. The excerpt describes a spring landscape where birds do not return to their nests, celebrating the transient beauty of the season. The strength of Dokuzan’s brushwork contrasts with the subtlety of the scene evoked, creating a compelling dialogue between the expressive power of calligraphy and the subtle poetry of nature.