Vintage Japanese Zen Ink Painting Calligraphy Scroll Bamboo Staff Bell

The Verse
滿室風清涼々古鐘 ("Manshitsu fū seiryō, ryōryō koshō") — "The room fills with a cool, refreshing breeze, echoing with the sound of an ancient bell." In Zen Buddhism, "seiryō" (清涼, coolness/refreshment) is more than a physical sensation — it represents a mind free of the heat of worldly anxiety, restored to calm clarity. Paired with the resonance of an old temple bell, the verse conjures the hushed atmosphere of a Zen hermitage at rest, mind and space equally stilled.

The Painting
Below the text, bold ink strokes depict a gnarled, curving bamboo staff, its natural nodes and irregular bends rendered with loose, confident brushwork. Where classical literati painting almost always renders bamboo as perfectly upright — a symbol of moral rectitude — this staff is left in its raw, unaltered natural form, evoking the well-worn walking stick of a wandering hermit or itinerant monk (行脚僧, angyasō). Read together with the verse above, the image suggests a quiet hermitage scene: a staff set down at rest, the room around it filled with cool air and the distant toll of a temple bell — stillness after the journey.

Artist
Signed 石峰書 ("Sekihō sho") — "respectfully brushed by Sekihō," with a square red seal beneath the signature confirming the work as an original.

Condition & Presentation
Ink painting and calligraphy on paper, showing notable age and patina consistent with a well-preserved antique scroll