Portrait of Jifei Ruyi (Sokuhi Nyoichi, 1616-1671). Artist: Kita Genki (active 1664-98). Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image: 43 1/8 × 17 5/16 in. (109.5 × 44 cm)Overall with mounting: 79 1/4 × 22 1/4 in. (201.3 × 56.5 cm)Overall with knobs: 79 1/4 × 24 3/8 in. (201.3 × 61.9 cm). Date: 1666.Genki, a Nagasaki artist, painted this portrait of the Obaku master Jifei Ruyi, which was inscribed in Chinese by the subject himself while he was resident at Fukujuji, a temple patronized by the daimyo of Kokura (present-day Kita Kyushu). The port of Nagasaki was one of the few places under the tightly regulated Tokugawa government where contemporary Chinese culture and learning could be openly discussed and studied. In the mid-seventeenth century, new ideas on Confucianism and Zen (Chinese: Chan) Buddhism were brought to Japan by Chinese monks travelling through Nagasaki (including Jifei Ruyi) and by envoys from Korea. These monks formed what was known in Japan as the Obaku school, after the Japanes