WU TAU-TZï:“Nirvana”. From a Japanese Wood-cut reproduced in Anderson's Pictorial Arts of Japan”. Cf. also the photogravure and Dr. Paul Carus' notes in “The Open Court”, Vol. XVI (No 3), March, 1902.

, the last character being now exchanged for yüan, 元 because it had to be tabooed on forming part of the Emperor K'ang-hi's personal name, for which reason the name of his contemporary Hüan Tsang has in recent texts also been changed into Yüan Tsang). Although Wu Tau-tzï is looked upon as the greatest painter of all periods not only in China, but also in Japan, where his name, pronounced Godoshi, is as familiar to art lovers as that of any among the indigenous masters, we know but little about the detail of his life. The dynastic histories, which have preserved the biographies of thousands of men highly distinguished in politics, yet not worthy to unloose the latchets of his shoes, do not say a word about China's greatest artist. The little we know about his life comes from the works of Chinese art critics and the occasional records of biographical anecdotes (for which I refer the reader to Giles, p. 42 seqq.), and of these many bear the stamp of legendary inventions. He was born towards the close of the seventh century at Yang-ti near K'ai-föng-fu. His parents were poor and left him an orphan in early youth. But his pictorial talent broke forth with such power that the reputation of his ability drew on him the attention of the Emperor Hüan-tsung, who caused him to come to his capital, where he received his technical education in an institution devoted to the study of fine arts, when he soon rose to be the facile princeps among his colleagues. His manner, when seen at work, was easy to a degree, and he combined extreme decision with extreme quickness. To illustrate this his biographers tell us the somewhat childish story, preserved by Chu King-hüan (10. century) and quoted with fuller detail from the T'ang-huu-ki (J), an apparently lost work on Tang painters, in the great archaeological description of the old capital, the Ch'ang-an-chi (, chap. 9, p. 3), how the Emperor

Hüan-tsung, during the T'ién-pau period (A.D. 742–756) was suddenly seized by the idea of having the picturesque shores of the river Kia-ling, disemboguing into the Yang-tzï at Chungking and being, in its upper course, not so very far from Ch'ang-an, represented in a picture, and he sent Wu Tau-tzï there to study the scenery. When, after his return, the Emperor asked him about the results of his excursion, the artist replied, that he had not made a sketch, but that he had it all in his mind. The Emperor then sent him to the Ta-t'ung Palace, and there he painted "three hundred Li of the Kia-ling river landscape" all within a single day. At that time Li Ssi-sün's landscapes claimed high reputation. The emperor had caused him to paint the same river scenery on one of the walls of the Ta-t'ung Palace and he had been at work on it for several months. The Emperor, who may have wished to test the capacity of his protégé, thereon remarked: here is Wu Tau-tzï, who does in a single day what Li Ssï-sün did not bring about but after several months. This did him much credit. I do not know whether another event, noticed in the city description referred to, is connected with this event, but it seems to throw light on a side question, for which reason I shall mention it. It is said that, in A.D. 748, certain agarics (yü-chi, E) were produced from the pillars of the Ta-t'ung Palace, which shone through the hall with a magic splendour(天寳七載大同殿 桂產玉芝有神光照殿). This seems to be one of the many wonders which find an easy explanation on being referred to well-known natural phenomena. The yü-chi, lit. "Precious Fungus", is apparently identical with the ling-chï, or yü-lingchi (E, P'eï-wön-yün-fu, chap. 4, p. 148), so conspicuous in Chinese art as a symbol of long life, and may repre