狩野孝信筆 布袋図「拄杖擊破三千界。彌勒撫掌笑呵呵，明月清風無。」|Hotei

Kano Takanobu|Tetsuzan Sōdon

1616 · Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

Hotei, a popular figure in the Zen pantheon, is often depicted as a rotund, good-humored monk carrying a large sack. A semihistorical figure, he is believed to have lived in southern China in the late ninth century and was eventually recognized as a manifestation of Miroku, Buddha of the Future. The poetic text here, from a eulogy for Hotei by the Chinese Daoist Bai Yuchan (1194–1229), was inscribed by Tetsuzan Sōdon, a leading monk-scholar who served as abbot of the Zen monastery Myōshinji in Kyoto. Hotei’s sack encompasses the Great Emptiness. Holding a staff, he tramps around three thousand worlds. Miroku claps his hands, and laughs— ha, ha! The bright moon shines, the wind disappears. —Translated by John T. Carpenter

Artist

Kano Takanobu|Tetsuzan Sōdon

Date

1616

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Funds from various donors, 2006