Liang K'ai was a painter in the Imperial Art Academy of the Southern Sung court, active in the first half of the thirteenth century. Statements about his biography are found in such books on art and artists as the T'u-hui-pao-chien and Hua-chien. Collections of poems by Zen priests and men of letters in the Sung and Yuan Dynasties also list pomes written on his paintings. The T'u-hui-pao-chien states that during the Chia-t'ai era (1201-'04) in the reign of Ning Tsung of Southern Sung he was given the title of tai-cha, the highest rank of academy artists, and was confered with the chin-tai (“gold belt”). The chin-tai was a decoration of honour given to especially excellent painters. It is told, however, that Liang K'ai did not esteem the great honour; that he never wore it but left it hanging on a pillar in the Art Academy. Sung Academy artists were usually sincere and stern, and painted in precise, elaborate styles of brushwork. In one way Liang K'ai shared this “academic” attitude. On the other hand, however, he was good also at the unconventional simple style known as chien-pi (“sparing brush”) which was far from the academism. His paintings existing in Japan can be roughly classified into these two groups. Of the nine pieces exhibited to-day, “Sakyamuni Descending the Mountain After Asceticism” (Shima Collection) and “Snow Landscape” (Tokyo National Museum) represent the elaborate type; and “Li po” (Commission for Protection of Cultural Properties), “Priest Hui-nêng Cutting a Bamboo” (Tokyo National Museum), “Pu-tai” (Murayama Collection), and “Han-shan and Shih-tê” (Hakone Art Museum), typify the chien-pi style. The elaborate type is characterized by careful drawing and sincere depiction, while the “sparing brush” group is characterized by free, flowing drawing and spiritual aloofness. Among the many distinguished artists in the Southern Sung art academy, Liang K'ai was notable especially for the rich variety of his styles and the powerful effect of his brush strokes. His teacher in art was Chia Shih-ku, who followed the art of Li Lung-mien of Northern Sung. Yü Hung, Li Ch'uan and Li Ch'üen are known to have been his pupils. Of these, probably Li Ch'üen alone has left his works to the present day. “Pu Tai” (Myōshin-ji Monastery) exhibted to-day is by this Li Ch'üeh. It illustrates how well Li Ch'üeh inherited the style of Liang K'ai. It appears that Liang K'ai's paintings were brought to Japan in the late fourteenth to fifteenth centuries. Considerably numerous paintings by him were acquired chiefly by Ashikaga Shogun's family and also by feudal lords, and were prized most highly among Japanese lovers of suiboku (black ink painting) side by side with works of Mu Ch'i, another great artist of the Southern Sung. Mentions of his paintings are found in various manuscripts of the time such as the Gyomotsu On-e Mokuroku, the list of Chinese paintings in the collection of the Ashikaga family; the Kanmon Gyoki, a diary of Gosukoin; and the Hekizan Nichiroku and Onryōken Nichiroku, diaries of Zen priests. Liang K'ai gave great influence on Japanese Suiboku painters of the Muromachi period. The priest-painter Josetsu in the early Muromachi, and the priest-painter Sesshū in the middle, especially reveal evident influence of Liang K'ai. From the late Muromachi, sixteenth century, to the Momoyama Period, early seventeenth century, there appeared a group of warrior-painters who respected the “sparing brush” art of Liang K'ai. Outstanding among them were Kaiho Yushō and MIYAMOTO Musashi.
