“Morning and evening, from Hakozaki Beach you can see in the middle of the sea Shikashima Island.”

While not technically a Zen subject, the Shinto shrine of Hakozaki, located in Fukuoka, Kyushu, was a location favored by Sengai, who painted many landscapes of the region. The interesting inscription seems to ignore the shrine structures entirely, emphasizing that the viewer is to look past them at Shikashima, which, as an island, is far older than any of the famous buildings of Hakozaki. This contrast between a human experience of time and the seeming eternity of the natural landscape transforms this vista of a Shinto shrine into a contemplative and transformative experience, which embodies the principles of Zen.

—Bradley Bailey