Gesshin

Gesshin — a title that may refer to a lunar deity, a specific Buddhist figure associated with the moon, or a concept related to the moon-mind relationship in Zen thought — appears in this 1937 print from Munakata's landmark year of Buddhist imagery. The moon in Japanese religious and poetic culture has always been a figure for enlightenment — its clear, cold light illuminating without warming, reflecting the sun's light without being the sun itself — and Gesshin as a sacred subject would place Munakata squarely within this rich tradition of lunar spiritual imagery.