Toba Sōjō, byname Abbot Of Toba, also called Kakuyū (born 1053, Japan—died 1140, Japan), 47th head priest of the Enryaku-ji,
Toba Sōjō, byname Abbot Of Toba, also called Kakuyū (born 1053, Japan—died 1140, Japan), 47th head priest of the Enryaku-ji, which is headquarters of the Tendai sect of Buddhism, near Kyōto in modern Shiga Prefecture.
Toba is traditionally regarded as the artist of a series of important narrative scrolls featuring humorous secular subjects: “History of Mount Shigi” and “Scrolls of Frolicking Animals.” The “History of Mount Shigi” consists of illustrations of miracles and is notable for its lifelike crowds of people in action. In the “Scrolls of Frolicking Animals” the artist used a new technique of free-line ink drawing against a white background to depict the 