Artists

Iwasaki Hajin

Iwasaki Hajin (岩崎巴人, 1917–2010) was an ink painter and became a Buddhist priest in 1977. He combined painting and spiritual practice.

Published on: Jun 17, 2025

Work by Iwasaki Hajin: the characters Kissako in ink on paper. — Kissako – work by Iwasaki Hajin (岩崎巴人) (detail)

In a nutshell

Iwasaki Hajin (岩崎巴人) was a Japanese ink painter and Buddhist priest of the Jōdo school (1917–2010). His civilian name was Yasuhiko; he was born in Tōkyō. From 1938 he studied under Kobayashi Kokei; in the same year his work was accepted at the Inten and praised by Yokoyama Taikan. In 1958 he was among the founders of the group Nihon Hyōgen-ha, which he left again in 1968. In 1977 he received ordination at Zenrin-ji in Kyōto. In the years 1987 and 1988 he hosted an NHK series introducing ink painting.

Iwasaki Hajin (岩崎巴人): Painter and Priest

Iwasaki Hajin (岩崎巴人, 1917–2010) was a Japanese ink painter who became a Buddhist priest in the second half of his life. He was born in Tōkyō; his civil name was Yasuhiko. He died in 2010 at the age of 92 in Tateyama in Chiba Prefecture.

From the Inten to His Own Group

From 1938, Hajin studied under Kobayashi Kokei. In the same year, one of his works was accepted at the Inten and praised by Yokoyama Taikan – a remarkable start for a twenty-one-year-old. After the war, he broke away from the established exhibition system: in 1958 he was among the founders of the group Nihon Hyōgen-ha, which he left again in 1968. Such foundings and departures characterize Japanese painting of the 20th century; they were the way to escape the tutelage of the large exhibition societies.

The Ordination of 1977

In 1977, Hajin received the ordination of the Jōdo school at Zenrin-ji in Kyōto. From then on, painting and spiritual practice merged into one – a path that several Japanese painters had walked before him and which has a long tradition in ink painting. His body of work encompasses landscapes and figures as well as Buddhist pictorial narratives. In 1987 and 1988 he hosted an NHK series introducing ink painting, reaching an audience far beyond the art world.

Kissako: Two Characters from Zen

"Kissako" – drink your tea – goes back to the Chinese Zen master Zhaozhou, who gave visitors the same answer to every question. As a hanging scroll, the phrase is among the most popular texts in the tea room, because it makes the gathering itself the subject: there is nothing to explain, there is tea. For the painter, the task lies in capturing this casualness in the brushstroke – written too carefully, the line misses its meaning.