Artistic Legacy of the Fifteenth Century: Selections from Japan: The Shaping of Daimyo Culture, 1185-1868

Kyoko Selden translated the Japanese contributions to the catalogue for the exhibit on Japan: The Shaping of Daimyo Culture, 1185-1868, held at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. from October 1988 to January 1989. This expansive exhibit was the first anywhere, including Japan, to present the artistic legacy of daimyō (regional lords) from the rise of warrior rulers at the end of the Heian period in the twelfth century to the dissolution of the feudal system in 1868. Featured were portraits, calligraphy, religious sculpture, painting, armor, lacquer, ceramics, textiles, tea-ceremony utensils, and artwork related to Noh theater. The following two excerpts convey Kyoko’s appreciation of art, her ability to translate classical poetry and various genres of prose across the centuries, and her knowledge of Japanese history and culture.

Daruma (S. Bodhidharma)

Bodhidharma (J. Daruma) was an Indian prince of the early sixth century A.D. who went to South China to spread the practice of meditation. At first unsuccessful, he crossed the Yangzi River and went north to Mount Song, where he meditated for nine years facing the cave wall at the Shaolin Monastery. Daruma’s teaching subsequently evolved into a forceful religious movement, which became known as Chan (Zen, in Japanese) Buddhism, which survives vigorously to this day. Many different types of portraits of Daruma exist, all imaginary representations of the patriarch based on various narrative accounts. Here Daruma is represented in half-length, casting a concentrated stare with bulging eyes. He is clad as a monk, in a plain cassock, and his arms are folded in front of him. The long fingernail on the left thumb marks Daruma as an ascetic; the earring on the left earlobe marks him as a princely personage. At the lower right are stamped a two-character relief seal, Bokkei, and a circular relief

14.1.

Daruma (S: Bodhidharma), Bokkei Saiyo (fl. 1452-73), hanging scroll; ink on paper, 110.0 x 58.3 (43¼ x 23). Muromachi period, no later than 1465, Shinjuan Kyoto, Important Cultural Property.

Courtesy of Shinjuan, Daitoku Temple.

seal, Saiyo, below it. They are the seals of the artist of the Soga clan, Bokkei Saiyo, otherwise known as Hyōbu Bokkei.

The written history of Zen Buddhism starts with the pseudo-biography of Daruma, the founding patriarch of the school, which informs us that the teaching he transmitted to China was fundamentally different from that which had been taught and practiced by other traditional Buddhists. Daruma taught that the Buddha’s doctrine should be transmitted from mind to mind, by directly pointing at the heart of a man so that he would see his nature and attain his own Buddhahood.

The history of Daruma portraiture dates from as early as the eighth century A.D. in China. As the commemorative portrait of the founding patriarch of the Zen school, a Daruma portrait would be displayed by Zen adepts on the fifth day of October for the memorial ceremony honoring his death. Many different types and styles of Daruma portraits were painted in both China and Japan. The half-length type had appeared already before the twelfth century in China.

The inscription above is by the famous Zen monk of Daitokuji Ikkyū Sōjun (1394-1481). As Daruma faces to the left, the inscription is written from left to right:

Followers in China and India conjure your spirit;Half the figure, a portrait, reveals your entire body;What did the grass mat at Shaolin [Temple] accomplish?At the Palace of King Xiangzhi, spring of plums and willows.

The sixth year of Kansei [1465], day of spring; [signed fifth generation descendant of Daitō] [Kokushi or the National Master] and formerly of the Tokuzenji Temple [subtemple], Jun Ikkyū respectfully eulogizes [Stamped with a square relief seal Ikkyū].

The poem is recorded, with slightly different wording, in Ikkyū’s collection of literary works Kyōun shū (Mad Cloud Collection). The Palace of King Xiangzhi mentioned in the last line of Ikkyū’s poem is...