Hanshan and Shide / the eccentric laughing monks
About the work
Imported from the workbook's Full reassessment sheet, revised 7 October 2026 (record ID 98). The assessment below is the workbook's comparative judgment under its stated criteria; source links and limits are retained.
Workbook assessment: Spread only
Date or witness: Recurring painting theme by Song–Yuan periods; securely cited works 14th–15th centuries
Region: China and Japan
Workbook date-sort bounds: 960 CE to 1499 CE; these bounds are not automatically invention or disappearance dates.
Description
Recognizable eccentric monks recur as a pair in Chan/Zen painting, with unconventional appearances and behavior.
Evidence of adoption or transmission
Hanshan and Shide recur as recognizable figures in Chan/Zen religious paintings.
What remains uncertain
Repeated religious iconography may become grassroots, but this entry supplies monastic/painting transmission without independent evidence of ordinary adoption. Humor or lack of humor is not the deciding issue.
Workbook revision note: Reassessed using grassroots criteria