was a painter and landscape

Landscape art

Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works landscape backgrounds for figures can still...

 artist in the service of the Ashikaga shogunate

Ashikaga shogunate

The , also known as the , was a Japanese feudal military regime, ruled by the shoguns of the Ashikaga clan.This period is also known as the Muromachi period and gets its name from Muromachi Street of Kyoto where the third shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu established his residence...

 who is claimed to have designed the rock garden of the Ginkaku-ji

Ginkaku-ji

, the "Temple of the Silver Pavilion," is a Zen temple in the Sakyo ward of Kyoto, Japan. It is one of the construction that represents the Higashiyama Culture of Muromachi period....

. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Sōami's paintings were in the style of China's Southern School; some of his greatest pieces covered over twenty panels, and depicted Japanese landscapes using Chinese methods. His work was among the first nanga or Southern School work in Japan.

Soami was the grandson and son of the painters and art connoisseurs Nōami

Noami

Nōami was a Japanese painter and renga poet in the service of the Ashikaga shogunate. An astute art connoisseur, Nōami collected Chinese paintings and other works of art for the shogunate, and served as an advisor in the ways of Japanese tea ceremony, incense and a variety of other elements...

 and Geiami, respectively.