Born around 1420 in Bitchu Province (Okayama). Drawn to painting from childhood, he entered Shokokuji temple in Kyoto for training. The legendary story told of his boyhood is that when a monk tied him to a pillar to punish him for drawing instead of practicing — he used his big toe to collect tears on the floor and drew a mouse so lifelike that the monk was startled and untied him. Whether true or not, this story has been passed down as proof of his extraordinary gift. In 1468 he traveled to Ming China with the Japanese mission, studying ink painting at its source and breaking free of his teacher Shubun's style to establish his own. Back in Japan, he worked under the patronage of the Ouchi clan in Yamaguchi, later moved to Bungo (Oita), and spent his final years active in Suo (Yamaguchi). Works like "View of Amanohashidate," "Autumn and Winter Landscape," and the "Long Landscape Scroll" reached a realm unlike any other — fusing Chinese technique with Japanese sensibility. He lived to 86, never setting down his brush. After death he was called "the Painting Sage" and he reigns to this day as the supreme master of Japanese painting.

Combined the boldness typical of genius with the spiritual depth of a Zen monk. Remarkable for his determination to study at the source in China and for his independence in pursuing a distinctly Japanese expression. An indomitable painter who held his brush to the very end.

Left numerous National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties including "View of Amanohashidate" and "Autumn and Winter Landscape." As the "Painting Sage," he stands at the pinnacle of Japanese ink painting and continues to exert enormous influence on later Japanese painters.