courtesan offering a pipe to Bodhidharma, Suzuki Harunobu

Teaching Gallery Label:
“Eyes on Icons: Exploring Japanese Buddhism at the Spencer Museum of Art,” Apr-2008, Alison Miller
The hairy figure with wide-eyes that emerges from the hanging scroll in this print is Bodhidharma, also known as Daruma in Japanese, the legendary founder of Zen Buddhism. Many folk beliefs are associated with Daruma, who meditated in a cave in central China for many years. According to legend, Daruma pulled off his eyelids so he would not fall asleep while meditating, thus the large appearance of his eyes in prints and paintings. Although not the case here, in other imagery he is shown with no arms or legs, as many people believe that they fell off from lack of use during his extensive periods of meditation. Daruma, an Indian monk who lived in China around the year 500 C.E., hands a pipe to a courtesan in surroundings of Japan in the 1700s, when the image was made. The artist Suzuki Harunobu was well known for his images of courtesans, as well as his use of humor, both exemplified in this image. While Daruma may be an important Buddhist icon, here we see him depicted in an amusing fashion, a possible reminder of the humanity of this legendary figure.

Exhibition Label:
“The Sacred and the Secular: Buddhist Imagery in Religious and Popular Contexts,” Oct-2005, Hillary Pedersen
In this print, the artist has depicted a courtesan in lavish dress seated in front of a recessed alcove, or tokonoma. Hanging in the tokonoma is a painting of the Zen (Chan) Buddhist patriarch Bodhidarma who has come to life as he reaches out to take the pipe the courtesan has offered him. The use of Bodhidarma, known in Japan as Daruma, as a somewhat humorous subject is typical in Zen Buddhist imagery, and represents the freedom from convention emphasized in this school of Buddhism. See the related Daruma imagery on display in the museum’s tokonoma.