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the brigands. At the lower right Jiro, who turns his head away from her (section transmission line of the Zen (C: Chan)
dressed in casual clothes of dappled pat- seven). school. In the most important canon-
terns of blue against white, unarmed and The tale narrated in this scroll is in- ical collection of biographies of Zen
ill-prepared, squats on the ground before a complete. Although it begins with the partriarchs, Transmission of the Lamp (J:
helmet and a box containing the rest of his story of the two different brothers, the Keitoku dentdroku; C: Jingde quandong lu)
armor. His men are getting it out. A bloody heart of the story seems to be Jihi's misfor- (1002 AD), Hotei is included among ten
battle ensues, ending in slaughter of many tune and eventual compensation through "who reached the gate of Zen," that is, en-
men on both sides (section three). her marriage to Naniwa no Taró, and the lightenment. More significantly, Hotei be-
Jiro died in the battle; Saburó had re- intercession of Kannon, the Buddhist de- gan to be regarded generally in Chinese
turned from the capital too late to rescue ity. Although the painter of the scroll is Buddhism as the reincarnation of the Fu-
his brother. Before Jiro died, he asked Sa- unidentified, the painting is stylistically ture Buddha Maitreya, who would appear
buró to make sure that his possessions, in- comparable to another work, Ise shin- in this world as the salvation figure after
cluding lands, be distributed among his meisho utaawase (Poetry contest on the the Laws of the Buddha had lost their ef-
vassals. He asked in particular that his themes of the newly selected places-with- fectiveness. In popular Buddhism Hotei
mansion be left to his wife and daughter names around Ise), dated to c. 1295, now in acquired additional benevolent attributes;
Jihi. letsuna, one of Jirô's faithful men, the collection of the Ise Shrine. YS he was revered as the bestower of wealth
took Jiró's head home, but on his way the and the lovable companion and protector
Buddhist deity Kannon appeared before 80 Hotei of children.
him. The deity told him that, in compas- Ashikaga Yoshimochi (1386-1428) Soon after Hotei's death in 917 A. D.,
sionate response to Jihi's cries of grief, hanging scroll; ink on paper his colorful exploits and enigmatic charac-
Jirô's soul would be assured of rebirth in 31.O X 56.0 (l2 V4 X 22) ter, reinforced by the belief that he had
paradise. The painting depicts the miracle Muromachi period, 1st quarter of been a living Buddha, began to appear as
of the deity Kannon over an ocean. The fifteenth century literary and pictorial motifs in Chinese
rays of divine light emanate from the Buddhist literature and art. By the twelfth
crown of the deity and shine upon the Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka century, Hotei's image had been carved in
head of Jiro, which, wrapped in the clothes Important Cultural Property stone and modeled in clay; he had been
he wore, lies by letsuna, who dozes on the Hotei (C: Budai; cats. 99,101), an eccentric painted by notable artists and had become
shore (section four). Chinese figure with a special status among a subject of distinguished poets and offi-
Meanwhile, at home, Jirô's wife and the Chinese Buddhist saints and sages, is cial scholars such as Su Dongpo (1037-
Jihi anxiously awaited the news. Earlier, shown grinning and leaning on a bulging 1101). During the reign of Emperor Gao
Jihi dreamed of letsuna, carrying a hawk sack. A wisteria wood cane lies on the Zong (r. 1127-1163) the emperor himself
perched on his left hand and a helmet in ground nearby. The six-line inscription composed a poem on Hotei:
his right. The hawk flew toward the west quotes stanzas of aphoristic verse from the
and the helmet fell to the ground—a pre- Buddhist philosophical text, the Diamond In the blue sky, a small cloud; high above in
monition. The hawk was the soul of her Sutra (S: Vajracchedika prajnaparamita Su- the sky, a solitary moon,
father and the helmet his head. The paint- tra; J: Kongo hannya haramitsu kyd, or the [He] manages to dwell outside this world,
ing depicts letsuna, now back at Jirô's "Perfection of Wisdom which cuts like a secretly in a faraway place,
mansion, delivering the head to Jirô's wife thunderbolt"). At the lower right of the Naturally seeking to hide in the market
and daughter (section five). sack is the square intaglio seal of the artist, place, strange is this hero.
The next text relates the fate of Jirô's Kenzan no shd (seal of Kenzan), and a kad Wherever he goes he carries the cane and
family after his death. Saburó, ignoring is brushed below it. The cipher is that of cloth bag,
Jirô's parting request, steals, his lands and the fourth Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimochi To satisfy his hunger, what's wrong with
the mansion, evicts Jirô's wife and Jihi, (1386-1428), and Kenzan (Prominent wine or meat fresh with dripping blood?
and makes them his servants. The next Mountain) is Yoshimochi's Buddhist title Farewell to the Jade Palace, farewell to the
painting in this sequence, now lost, proba- (dôgô). beautiful pavilion,
bly included a scene of the takeover of The name Hotei literally means Where the snow continues to fall.
Jirô's mansion by the unruly Saburó and "cloth bag," a reference to the sack, his Hotei's human eccentricities and his
his ugly and ambitious wife, and the oust- only possession aside from the cane. In supernatural attributes were enough to es-
ing of Jirô's wife and Jihi. A fragment be- Chinese and Japanese Zen Buddhist hagi- tablish independent pictorial themes
lieved to be a part of the missing section ology, Hotei is considered an extraordinary within the artistic tradition of Zen monas-
was discovered and published in 1962. It figure, revered for his eccentric behavior teries.
depicts Jirô's wife and daughter, clad in and cryptic sayings. Hotei's legend can be The verses inscribed on this painting
humble rustic clothes, drawing water from traced to the biography of Qici, an early are not directly related to Hotei's biogra-
a well for Saburó's horses. From this sec- tenth-century Chinese Buddhist (though phy nor to the literary nor artistic tradi-
tion on, then, the tale turns to the fortune not of the Zen school) priest. He is said tions established around the Hotei theme.
of Jihi and her mother. to have walked around city market- Rather Yoshimochi included the verses as
Jihi and her mother have become the places carrying his cloth bag and cane, at a way of eulogizing Hotei as an enlight-
servants of Saburó. The house is visited by times begging for money, and putting just ened being. The verses are transcribed to
the provincial governor, who notices Jihi's about everything he came across into his form three pairs of couplets in an unusual
beauty and proposes marriage to her. bag, including pickled fish. He uttered order: they are read from the third line
Through trickery, Saburó's wife substi- strange, incomprehensible words. Among from the right to the last line on the left
tutes one of his ugly daughters, thwarting his supernatural attributes were the ability and backward from the second line to the
Jihi's marriage to the governor, who de- to forecast the weather and to defy the first on the right. Edward Conze trans-
parts, brokenhearted. The last painting cold and even death—after he died at lated the verses from the Sanskrit as:
shows the governor dressed in courtly Fengchuan he was mysteriously seen in
robe, preparing for a meeting with Jihi. To another province. ... dharmas should be forsaken, still more
his right, the curly-haired daughter of Sa- By the eleventh century AD Hotei had so no-dharmas....
buró, excited by her prospect of marriage, become widely recognized as a truly en-
tries to draw the attention of the guest, lightened being outside the traditional

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