Tengen Chiben (1737-1805)

Popularly know by his painter's name, Gako, the Rinzai-sect Zen monk Tengen Chiben was a student of Daikyu Eho at Hofukuji Temple in Okayama Prefecture. He lived at Onsenji Temple in Kami-Suwa, Shinano province, for 27 years. Onsenji is located on the shore of Lake Suwa and Tengen took his favorite art name, Gako (Goose Lake), from a nickname for the lake.

The poems may be translated: "My heart is like the autumn moon, pure and unsullied in the blue green pool" (left scroll). "A barren woman drops a child of stone, the turtle's head is a few inches longer" (right scroll).