Oda was born into the samurai clan of the same name in Japan, which meant that his career was already predetermined. His destiny was thus to become a Buddhist scholar in the temple. In this he was given the name Tōyō, while his real name was forgotten. He is still known by this name today: the most influential Japanese artist of the Muromachi period, Sesshū Tōyō. Even today, he is honored for his artistic influence. The scholarly monk who took inspiration from the nature around him and painted.

Even at a young age, Tōyō showed an artistic talent that would be nurtured in the temple. In the 15th century, Zen temples served not only as places of faith. In addition to religion, they combined culture and art under their roof. The Buddhist Zen temples were considered the cultural centers of the time, where the basics of calligraphy and painting were taught. It was there that Tōyō met his teacher Shūbun, another respected artist of Japan. The latter not only taught him painting and calligraphy, but also taught him his style of monochrome art. Just like his teacher, Tōyō would later become known for his brushstrokes and detailed landscapes. But before that, he had to travel to China to learn and adopt a tradition that his native Japan did not yet know.

In 1466 the life of the monk changed, who was not satisfied with the temple life and was not interested in politics. He was enabled to travel to China by a roundabout way, which he had to complete incognito as a buying monk. He gave up the name Tōyō, which had been given to him before. In its place, he gave himself a name of his own, which was to underline his aspirations as an artist: Sesshū. From then on, that served as his artist name, which was carried across national borders and also established itself in his homeland. Inspired by the beautiful landscapes of China and the landscape paintings of the Song dynasties, his style also changed. He adopted ink painting, an ancient Chinese tradition. With it, he created highly detailed landscape paintings of his surroundings or religiously inspired artworks. Sesshū gained the status of the master of monochromatic ink painting and with it an even higher popularity, now also in his homeland, to which he returned and set up his own studio. There he created his famous work Shikansui ("Long Landscape Scroll") with a length of 15.85 meters, which made him rise to become a legend. A legend that brought a traditional Chinese art form to Japan, where it was established as a tradition of Zen monks: the art of ink painting.