Ch: lanyemiao. Lit. "orchid-leaf drawing." A style of ink-painting using fluid, modulated lines that resemble the leaves of an orchid plant ran 蘭. The thickness of the line in ran'yōbyō is varied by increasing or decreasing pressure on the brush point. This modulation can beused to indicate the folds of drapery in figural representations or various other representational effects. Wu Daozi (Jp: Go Dōshi 呉道子, early 8th century), the near legendary Tang painter, is credited with having developed the ran'yōbyō technique.This brush style is particularly prevalent in Southern Song Taoist and Chan (Jp: Zen 禅) figure painting *dōshakuga 道釈画. It is unclear when the style of painting was first transmitted to Japan but it became widespread there during the 12th century. A famous Japanese example of orchid-leaf drawing in figural painting is the pair of folding screens Twelve Kings, Jūniten byōbu 十二天屏風 by Takuma Shōga 詫磨勝賀 (fl. ca.1166-1209) dated 1191 in Tōji 東寺, Kyoto.