around 1440 sesshū left bitchū for kyoto, a large city which was then the capital of japan. he lived as a monk at shōkoku-ji, a famous zen temple. there, sesshū studied zen under shunrin suto (春林周藤), a famous zen master, and painting under tenshō shūbun, the most highly regarded japanese painter of the time. shūbun's style, like that of most japanese zen painters, was inspired by chinese song dynasty painters such as ma yuan, xia gui, guo xi, and others. there are no surviving works by sesshū from this period, but even his late work shows similar influences. sesshū spent some 20 years in kyoto, and then left for yamaguchi prefecture to become chief priest of unkoku temple. it was around this time that he started calling himself "sesshū" ("snow boat").