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Jurōjin closely resembles in other respects and with whom he is often confused.
Both Jurōjin and Fukurokuju are frequently depicted with animal companions,
usually either a crane or a deer, the two most commonly represented auspicious

animals of the Rinpa canon. The crane, a symbol of longevity in East Asian cul-
ture, is also a companion of the Chinese poetic immortal Lin Hejing (J: Rinnasei;
967 – 1028), who is adroitly brushed in ink and light color in a leaf from a painting

album by Kōrin and his circle (cat. 28). A highly regarded poet of his day, later in
life Lin Hejing lived as a recluse by West Lake, in Hangzhou, and earned a repu-
tation for eccentricity, eventually achieveing the status of a Daoist immortal in
the annals of East Asian lore.
Felicitous paintings of holy men, sages, and poetic immortals would remain a

popular theme of Rinpa artists even into the modern period. The final two works
in this section — hanging scroll paintings by Sakai Ohō and Kamisaka Sekka —
demonstrate how the theme of Jurōjin was perpetuated by Rinpa artists of later

generations. In Ohō’s version, Jurōjin is precariously mounted on an auspicious
white deer while his boy attendant looks on (cat. 30). Sekka, in contrast, garbed
the sage in the costume of a Confucian scholar and showed him holding a walk-
ing stick (cat. 31).

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