Sitting Daruma Under Large Character

With a few powerful brushstrokes, this depicts Bodhidharma, the monk known in Japan as Daruma, who is regarded as the first patriarch of Zen Buddhism, or Chan Buddhism. According to tradition, he brought the teaching from India to China toward the end of the 5th century, where it developed into one of the most influential spiritual movements in East Asia.

Above the seated figure, with its striking character rendered in sweeping calligraphy, unfolds the reduction to the essential that is typical of Zen paintings: no superfluous detail distracts from the concentrated gaze and meditative posture of the figure depicted. This pictorial language, known as Zenga, aims to convey less a portrait than a spiritual insight into the essence of being.

The kakemono was hand-painted on paper in the Heisei period and fitted with wooden jikusaki. Signature and red seal of the painter attest to its execution as an independent unique work. For collectors of Zen art and Buddhist iconography, this hanging scroll is an expressive addition with a palpable meditative calm.