Jittoku, Puppies, and Hotei

These three paintings are probably from a set of twelve once mounted on a pair of screens showing well-known Japanese and Chinese sages. The figure leaning on his staff is Hotei (Chinese: Budai), a Chinese Buddhist monk who was generally portrayed with a round belly, laughing or smiling, and carrying a bag containing his few possessions as he wanders the countryside. He became identified with the bodhisattva Maitreya and later was worshipped as a god of good fortune.

Carrying his broom, the other figure is Jittoku (Chinese: Shide), the constant companion of the eccentric poet Kanzan (Chinese: Hanshan), whose name literally means “Cold Mountain.” Kanzan, a foundling in the care of a Buddhist monastery where he swept the kitchen floor and did odd jobs, was brought left-over food from the kitchen by Jittoku, who came to be revered as a local manifestation of Fugen, the bodhisattva of compassionate wisdom.

The central painting, depicting three puppies and bamboo, was no doubt intended as a rebus for the Chinese character for “laughter” 笑, which is written with components that resemble the characters for bamboo 竹 and for dog 犬. Hotei, Kanzan, and Jittoku were all famous for liking to laugh.