Portrait of Daruma

Daruma (the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of the Sanskrit Bodhidharma) was among the most common subjects for Zen monk-painters. Born in India in the 6th century A.D., Daruma is recognized as the first patriarch of Chan (Japanese: Zen) Buddhism in China.

Unkoku Tōgan’s portrait of Daruma is presented in full profile—a somewhat uncommon rendering, though precedents exist in surviving works attributed to Sesshū and his celebrated Chinese predecessor Muqi (active until 1279). Usually the Buddhist saint is presented in three-quarters profile, or in a full-frontal view. Since Daruma came from India, he is inevitably rendered as South Asian, hirsute, and with a bulging nose. Here the outline of his cranium, from the back of the neck to the curve of the nostril, is skillfully rendered in a single modulated stroke—a trademark of many later ink renditions of the monk by other artists. The facial expression is captured with the utmost economy of brush strokes. The elongated earlobes and earring serve as a signal of a connection to the historic Buddha, who was born into a royal family, and thus wore jewelry. The outlines of the robes are rendered in boldly brushed, almost calligraphic lines. The figure of the master is left mostly in reserve except for the grey lines of his shaggy hair and beard, silhouetted against the surrounding in gray wash that creates an amorphous blank space—not darkness, not bright sky—just nothing.

Tōgan was an artist trained in the Kano atelier who positioned himself as an heir to the legacy of Chinese ink painting in the style of Tōyō Sesshū (1420–1506). Born into a wealthy samurai family in Nagasaki, Tōgan eventually moved to Yamaguchi to serve as an official painter for the daimyō Mori Terumoto. While based in Yamaguchi, Tōgan was allowed live in the temple building Unkoku’an, “Hermitage in the Valley of Clouds,” once occupied by Sesshū. By taking Buddhist vows himself and immersing himself in the study of Sesshū, Tōgan created numerous Zen-inspired works.