Mitate of Bodhidharma (Daruma) crossing the Yangzi River on a reed

Masanobu’s mitate wittily evokes an episode known as “Bodhidharma crossing the Yangzi River on a reed” (Royō Daruma). According to legend, the river crossing occurred en route to the Shaolin monastery, where Bodhidharma sat facing a wall for nine years without speaking. While serious interpretations abound in Chinese and Japanese paintings, popular prints of the Edo period often playfully substituted a beautiful woman for the monk. This parodic version was reportedly invented in response to a courtesan’s comment that she was more enlightened than Bodhidharma because she had spent ten years sitting, on display in a brothel.
Other representations of the theme show a beauty who impersonates Bodhidharma by riding on a reed, on a knotted love letter, or even a shamisen. Here Masanobu makes her gracefully pole a reed carrying Bodhidharma, rendering his form with a surprisingly direct allusion to the erotic nature of the courtesan’s profession. The river bank ends abruptly at the top edge, and the dimensions of the print indicate that more than an inch of paper is now missing.