Hotei

1616

Not on view

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

Artwork Details

狩野孝信筆　布袋図
Title: Hotei
Artist: Kano Takanobu (Japanese, 1571–1618)
Calligrapher: Tetsuzan Sōdon (Japanese, 1532–1617)
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: 1616
Culture: Japan
Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions: Image: 27 1/2 x 15 in. (69.9 x 38.1 cm)
Overall with mounting: 59 1/2 x 18 3/4 in. (151.1 x 47.6 cm)
Overall with rollers: 59 1/2 x 20 1/2 in. (151.1 x 52.1 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Funds from various donors, 2006
Object Number: 2006.115
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

By Kano Takanobu

In the same medium

From the same time and place

Hotei Admiring the Moon, Ikei Shūtoku 惟馨周徳 Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink on paper, Japan — Hotei Admiring the Moon
Formerly attributed to Ikei Shūtoku 惟馨周徳
probably 19th century

Meeting between Emperor Wen and Fisherman Lü Shang, Kano Takanobu Japanese, Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on gilded paper, Japan — Meeting between Emperor Wen and Fisherman Lü Shang
Attributed to Kano Takanobu
ca. 1600

Helmet (<i>Zukinnari Kabuto</i>), Iron, lacquer, Japanese — Helmet (*Zukinnari Kabuto*)
Japanese
16th century

Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu, Ni Zan Chinese, Hanging scroll; ink on paper, China — Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu
Ni Zan
dated 1372

Women’s Kabuki, Kano Takanobu Japanese, Six-panel folding screen; ink, color, gold, silver, and gold leaf on paper, Japan — Women’s Kabuki
Studio of Kano Takanobu
mid- to late 1610s

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