Beauty and Daruma Reverse Roles

Catalog note / 解説

Frontispiece illustration for a novel published in the very popular literary magazine, Bungei Kurabu. The founder of Zen Buddhism, Darma, is sitting in gorgeous kimono which was the kind worn by the high ranking courtesans. A beauty in red-brown robe and with a "hossu" is talking with him. There was a famous poem by a courtesan who lamented in the essence, "Dharuma meditated in front of a wall for 9 years and got enlightenment and the respect for being the zen master. I had to work in the Hell for 10 years bounded by a contract and got out nothing but misery and scorn..." At the end, though, she apparently attained enlightenment through her real world hardship.