Rush-Sandal Chen (Chen Puxie)
Inscription by Ikkyū Sōjun Japanese
Not on view
Ikkyū Sōjun, an erudite monk of the Rinzai Zen sect, built a reputation as one of medieval Japan’s great eccentrics and religious iconoclasts, in part through his poetry in Chinese. The four poems he brushed on this scroll originally appeared in his Crazy Cloud Anthology (Kyōunshū), forming the first half of the section Eight Poems about Chen Puxie, which addresses the internal conflicts among, and the decline of, the Buddhist schools.
Beneath is an unsigned, imaginary portrait of the Chinese monk mentioned in the section’s title. Muzhou Daoming (780–877) devoted so much of his daily routine to plaiting rush sandals that he became known as “Rush-Sandal Chen” (Chen Puxie). He would hang the shoes from the eaves of his temple to give or sell to passersby.
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