Daido Ichi'i

"A tune of non-being Filling the void: Spring sun Snow whiteness Bright clouds Clear wind."

"Also associated chiefly with Tofukuji was Daido Ichi'i (1292-1370), a native of Awaji Island. He came to the capital, studied under Kokan Shiren (1278-1346) and was eventually appointed to the most prestigious positions in Kyoto's monastic society: twenty- eighth abbot of Tofukuji and thirty-first of Nanzenji. Daido Ichi'i was renowned not only for his eminence in religious matters, but also for his scholarly accomplishments and literary talents as one of the leading Gozan literati of his days."

"The use of circle imagery became increasingly significant in formal portraits of various Zen masters, becoming standard beginning in the fifteenth century, and became known as Ensō-zo (circle portraits). In these images,the master is shown as if contained within a painted “halo”or round window frame within the larger format of the composition. One of the earliest examples is a set of portraits contained in an album depicting twenty-eight patriarchs, each one shown as a bust portrait contained within a round “frame.” The series of portraits begins with the first patriarch, Daruma (Bodhidharma), covered in a red robe..."