The Chinese Taoist Immortals, Han-shan and Shih-te (Kanzan and Jittoku)

The Chinese hermits known in Japanese as Kanzan (Hanshan in Chinese) and Jittoku (Shide in Chinese), lived near the sacred mountain Tiantaishan during the Tang dynasty (618-907). They appear frequently in Zen Buddhist paintings, in which they represent rejection of the secular world. Here Kanzan opens a scroll of his poetry, while Jittoku, a servant at a monastery, looks on.