yamaguchi was where many japanese expeditions to china started, and perhaps sesshū's choice of the city was dictated by a wish to visit that country. he secured an invitation from ōuchi clan, the lords of yamaguchi and one of the most powerful families in japan, and joined a trading trip; in 1468 he landed in southern china. his duties were to buy chinese works of art for wealthy japanese patrons, and to visit and study at chinese zen temples. although the artist himself was disappointed in the art of ming dynasty, which deviated very far from song models, he was very taken with chinese nature and temples. he was quickly recognized as an important painter, and a contemporary source indicates that he may have received a commission from the imperial palace at beijing. whether this is true, or whether he accepted is unknown; the best surviving works of the period are four landscape scrolls currently in the collection of tokyo national museum.