{{Short description|Form of Japanese calligraphy}} {{Italic title|reason=:Category:Japanese words and phrases}} '''''Bokuseki''''' (墨跡) is a Japanese term meaning “ink trace”, and refers to a form of Japanese calligraphy (''shodō'') and more specifically a style of ''zenga'' developed by Zen monks.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Levine |first=Gregory P. A. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Daitokuji/SYafGw5XMAMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Bokuseki&pg=PA151&printsec=frontcover |title=Daitokuji: The Visual Cultures of a Zen Monastery |date=2005 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-98540-4 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fontein |first=Jan |last2=Hickman |first2=Money L. |date=1971-07-01 |title=Calligraphy of Ch'an and Zen Monks |url=https://www.journals.uc.edu/index.php/vl/article/view/5108 |journal=Visible Language |language=en |volume=5 |issue=3 |issn=2691-5529}}</ref>
''Bokuseki'' is often characterized by bold, assertive, and often abstract brush strokes meant to demonstrate the calligrapher’s pure state of mind (see ''Samadhi''). The aim in making ''Bokuseki'' is to represent one’s single-moment awareness by brushing each word or passage with a single breath, ultimately realizing Zen and manifesting one’s ''zazen'' practice into physical and artistic action. Fundamentally ''bokuseki'' is a reflection of one’s spontaneous action (see: Buddha-nature, ''katsu'') free from one’s superficial or rationally oriented mind.
== Gallery == {{Gallery |title= Bokuseki |footer= |width=250 |height=220 | File:Meto Monrai bokuseki (Masaki Art Museum).jpg | Meto Monrai bokuseki (Masaki Art Museum) | File:Bokukan Kyokan bokuseki (Masaki Art Museum).jpg | Bokukan Kyokan bokuseki (Masaki Art Museum) | File:Ryoan Keigo bokuseki (Masaki Art Museum).jpg | Ryoan Keigo bokuseki (Masaki Art Museum) | File:Kido Chiku bokuseki (Masaki Art Museum).jpg | Kido Chiku bokuseki (Masaki Art Museum) | File:Jikuden Goshin bokuseki (Masaki Art Museum).jpg | Jikuden Goshin bokuseki (Masaki Art Museum) | File:Unpo Myoko Bokuseki (Kitamura Museum).jpg | Unpo Myoko Bokuseki (Kitamura Museum) | File:Seisetsu Shocho Bokuseki (Nomura Art Museum).jpg | Seisetsu Shocho Bokuseki (Nomura Art Museum) | File:Shuho Myocho Bokuseki (Nomura Art Museum).jpg | Shuho Myocho Bokuseki (Nomura Art Museum) }}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== See also == *Japanese calligraphy **''Zenga'' **''Hitsuzendō''
== External links ==
{{Buddhism topics}} {{Authority control}}
Category:East Asian calligraphy Category:Japanese calligraphy Category:Zenga Category:Japanese art Category:Zen art and culture Category:Buddhism in the Edo period Category:History of art in Japan
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