Traditional Japanese Painter Finds Happiness as a Buddhist Nun

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Buddhist nun and artist Monka Nakata is a stickler for historical details.
Before she paints, she “fact checks like crazy.” (The Asahi Shimbun)

JAPAN---Monka Nakata loves Japanese temples and can't get enough of them. It is fitting then that the 46-year-old became a Japanese-style painter who depicts scenes that highlight traditional Japanese culture, including ceremonies and rituals at Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Along the way she also became a Buddhist nun. Nakata is the self-proclaimed "chief priest" of her art studio "Atelier Bunchoji" (Java sparrow temple). Her pet "buncho" (Java sparrow) serves as the principal image that is enshrined inside her "temple." [link]