Lu Dongbin

One of the Eight Immortals of China, Lu Dongbin was greatly venerated. In Liexian Zhuan, an anthology of biographies of exemplary immortals, he is shown as a figure holding a military staff and carrying a sword on his back. This is the subject depicted here by Jakuchū.
The calligraphy on the left of the painting was written by Imei Shūkei, the 115th chief priest of Shōkoku-ji Temple. As someone who learned painting from Jakuchū, the priest is a plausible guarantor. Translated, the text says, "Imei verifies that this painting was done by now-departed Jakuchū." Indeed, you can see signature features of the artist in the powerful, majestic lines of the black ink of the robe, in how it flutters from right to left in the wind, and in the sotoguma dark clouding around the figure outline to make it more prominent. There is no reason to doubt Imei’s appraisal.
In his study of painting, they say that Jakuchū copied 1,000 Chinese heirloom paintings held by temples in Kyoto and other places. This work may be one of those studies.