Early Heian period Buddhist priest (774-835), patriarch of the Shingon 真言 sect of Esoteric Buddhism mikkyō 密教 and famous calligrapher. As a cult figure and culture hero credited with everything from inventing kana かな script to introducing homosexuality to Japan, Kūkai is the subject of numerous portraits (see *Kōbō Daishi 弘法大師 and *Chigo Daishi 稚児大師) as well as being the legendary creator of many famous works of art. Born noble family in Zentsūji 善通寺, Sanuki 讃岐 Province (Kagawa Prefecture), at age fifteen Kūkai went to Nara where he studied Confucian classics. At seventeen he entered the National University where he wrote a treatise, Sangō shiki 三教指帰, comparing the relative merits of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, praising the latter. At nineteen he was ordained at Tōdaiji 東大寺 and took the name Kūkai, meaning Sea of Void. In 804, Kūkai went to China where he studied with the great Esoteric master Huiguo (Jp: Keika 恵果; 746-805) at Qinglongsi 青竜寺 in Chang'an (Jp: Chōan 長安). Not only did Kūkai receive the highest level of ordination (which allowed him to transmit the teaching) but he also gathered ritual implements, several hundred texts, and ten mandala *mandara 曼荼羅 paintings during his stay. In 806 Kūkai returned to Japan, and in 810 began to petition the government for official recognition of the Shingon sect. In 816 he obtained land for a Shingon meditation center on Mt. Kōya 高野, and in 822 got exclusive control over Tōji 東寺 in Kyoto, making it the center of Shingon practice and worship. In 836 Kūkai died and was entombed at the *Oku-no-in 奥の院 on Mt. Kōya, although Shingon orthodoxy teaches that he became a Buddha and waits there for the coming of *Miroku 弥勒. Kūkai was given the posthumous title of Kōbō Daishi. Kūkai's contributions to art are numerous. As patriarch of Japanese Shingon, he transmitted to Japan a sect which was to quickly become a leading patron of the arts. The Shingon emphasis on ritual led directly to the creation of variety of new subjects in painting and sculpture, as well as to the production of numerous ceremonial implements. Key among painting themes are the *Taizōkai mandara 胎蔵界曼荼羅 (Womb Realm Mandala) and *Kongōkai mandara 金剛界曼荼羅 (Diamond Realm Mandala), the first versions of which were brought by Kūkai from China to Japan. In addition, Kūkai's Shingon, with its close adaptation of central Asian Tantrism, led to the production of both fierce and benevolent multi-armed and multi-headed deities whose heavy proportions reflect the Hindu sculptural tradition. Kūkai is also credited with founding hundreds of temples across Japan, many of which are located on remote mountains. Thus Kūkai is at least indirectly related with the establishment of the asymmetrical Heian period mountain temple centered on the pagoda, a sharp contrast to the balanced orthodoxy of Nara period *garan 伽藍 temples centered on the lecture hall *kōdō 講堂. The mandala-like sculptural arrangements in temple buildings is also attributed to Kūkai. More common but even less grounded in fact are the numerous legends which ascribe Kūkai's hand to both famous and obscure paintings and sculpture. For instance, the sculpture group in the Tōji Kondō has long been attributed to Kūkai and legend similarly attributes the stone Buddhas on Sado 佐渡 Island to his hand. By the late Heian period Kūkai was reputed to have done both Buddhist portraits and even paintings in ink. Far less plausible is the legend that Kūkai created many of the hot springs in Japan, striking the ground with his magic staff to unleash curative hot waters. Kūkai's greatest, and undisputed, contribution to Japanese art is in calligraphy, where he revolutionized the Japanese approach to the art and served as a model for generations of later calligraphers. Considered one of the Three Brushes, sanpitsu 三筆 or Three Great Calligraphers, Kūkai excelled in calligraphy as a youth, but achieved greatness after learning Chinese grass script sōsho 草書, seal script tensho 篆書, square script reisho 隷書, mixed script zattaisho 雑体書, and even Sanskrit siddham writing in China. Kūkai was influenced by the calligraphy of the 3th-century master Wang Xizhi (Jp: *Ō Gishi 王義之) as well as that of his near contemporary Yan Zhenqing (Jp: Gan Shinkei 顔真卿; 709-84). After going to China, Kūkai produced his greatest works, including the Sanjūjō sōshi 三十帖策子, Fūshinjō 風信帖 (letters from Kūkai to Saichō, Tōji), Kanjō rekimei 灌頂暦名 (List of Individuals Receiving Rights, Jingoji 神護寺). Kūkai's unique flying white style hihakutai 飛白体 is perhaps best seen in his inscriptions on the portraits of the Seven Shingon Patriarchs Shingon Shichisozō 真言七祖像, Tōji.