Page 152 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

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Self-identical (sama) is that dharma, and Yoshimochi created his own ink paintings, Chan (J: Zen) Buddhism, which survives
nothing is therein at variance several of which survive in public and pri- vigorously ttfihis day. Many different
(vishama).... vate collections, including some outside types of portraits of Daruma exist, all
Those who by my form did see me, Japan. Yoshimochi's paintings, like the imaginary representations of the patriarch
And those who followed me by voice works of most amateurs, vary in quality. based on various narrative accounts. Here
Wrong the efforts they engage in, Stylistically, this Hotei painting fol- Daruma is represented in half-length, cast-
Me those people will not see lows both the Chinese and Japanese prece- ing a concentrated stare with bulging eyes:
... Everything has potential Dharma, dents of the fourteenth century. The He is clad as a monk, in a plain cassock,
even as a dream, a faulty vision, dynamic brushstrokes that make up Ho- and his arms are folded in front of him.
a bubble or a shadow; tei's sleeves and cane are reminiscent of The long fingernail of the left thumb
As dew drops or a lightning flash. the style associated with Yintuoluo (c. marks Daruma as an ascetic; the earring
So should one view what is conditioned. 1350$), an Indian (or Central Asian) painter on the left earlobe marks him as a princely
active in China. Hotei's head shape, his personage. At the lower right are stamped
In both public and private life, Yoshi-
mochi showed enthusiasm for the Zen grinning face, and large ear recall another a two-character relief seal, Bokkei, and a
school, and he himself was tonsured in painting of Hotei by Mokuan Reien (active circular relief seal, Saiyo, below it. They
1423. As the Ashikaga shogun he fre- 13405), a Japanese painter-monk and pil- are the seals of the artist of the Soga clan,
quently issued economic policy directives grim in China. YS Bokkei Saiyo, otherwise known as Hyóbu
favorable to the Zen monasteries. His cul- Bokkei.
tural activities in Kyoto, especially after 81 Daruma (S: Bodhidharma) The written history of Zen Buddhism
his father, Yoshimitsu, died in 1408, were Bokkei Saiyo (fl. 1452-1473) starts with the pseudobiography of
closely linked to notable scholar-monks, in- hanging scroll; ink on paper Daruma, the founding patriarch of the
cluding Gyokuen Bonpô (cat. 84). Yoshi- 110.0x58.3 (431/4x23) school, which informs us that the teaching
mochi often sponsored poetry gatherings Muromachi period, no later than 1465 he transmitted to China was fundamen-
for scholarly monks talented in Chinese- Shinjuan, Kyoto tally different from that which had been
style poetry. The seventeenth-century Important Cultural Property taught and practiced by other traditioinal
biography of painters, Honchd gashi, Buddhists. Daruma taught that the Bud-
mentions that Yoshimochi learned paint- Bodhidharma (J: Daruma) was an Indian dha's doctrine should be transmitted from
ing from the artist-monk Minchó (1351- prince of the early sixth century AD who mind to mind, by directly pointing at the
1431), and Minchó's biography in the same went to south China to spread the practice heart of a man so that he would see his na-
source mentions the painter's close con- of meditation. At first unsuccessful, he ture and attain his own Buddhahood.
tact with Yoshimochi. There is, however, crossed the Yangzi River and went north The history of Daruma portraiture
little visual evidence that Minchó directly to Mount Song, where he meditated for dates as early as the eighth century AD in
influenced Yoshimochi's painting. In the nine years facing the cave wall at the China. As the commemorative portrait of
close-knit cultural sphere of Kyoto Zen Shaolin monastery. Daruma's teaching the founding patriarch of the Zen school,
temples, Yoshimochi had opportunities to subsequently evolved into a forceful reli- a Daruma portrait would be displayed by
see Chinese paintings. A talented ama- gious movement, which became known as the Zen adepts on the fifth day of October
teur, like Winston Churchill at his easel, for the memorial ceremony honoring his

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