Ink Drawing of Bu-dai

Fūgai Ekun (1568-1654?), a Sōtō Zen monk of the early Edo period. He was born in Kōzuke Province. He was a skilled painter, especially famous for his paintings of Dharma and Budai. Fūgai Honkō, also known as “Tako Fūgai,” is a well-known Sōtō Zen monk, but Fūgai Ekun is called “Ana Fūgai” because he threw himself into a hole which was dug by himself as his own tomb.

Budai, famous in Japan as one of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune, was a Zen monk who actually existed in China during the Later Liang Dynasty (?-916). He is said to have carried a sack of cloth in which he kept his clothing and surplus goods that he had been given away. He was from Mingzhou (now Zhejiang Province), and his name was Qihong.He is said to be an incarnation of Maitreya, and his body is small and has a drum-shaped belly, and he is capable of divining good fortune and rainfall.