Oguri Sōtan 小栗宗湛
Japanese, 1413–1481
BiographyAs is the case for so many Muromachi monk-painters, only the barest outlines of Sôtan's life are known. He was born Oguri Sukeshige (Sôtan was a style name he adopted later) in Kyôto, the city in which he lived for most of his life. At age thirty he became a monk at the Shôkoku-ji, where he studied under the great painter Tenshô Shûbun (1414-1463). As a monk-painter, his career was devoted to serving both his temple and the Ashikaga shôguns then in power. Upon the death of his teacher in 1463, Sôtan attained the post of official painter to the bakufu, the shôgunal government. He is believed to have died in 1481, survived by a son, Oguri Sôkei, also a painter.