Minneapolis Institute of Art

Courtesan Plucking Daruma's (Bodhidharma) Beard

Inoue Setsuzan

Date

first half 19th century

Medium

Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The courtesan is plucking the beard of Bodhidharma, known in Japan as Daruma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. Reversing the sacred and the profane in a kind of parody was a favorite motif during the Edo period—in Edo slang, to “pull out one’s nose hair” implied a man enslaved by a woman. An especially popular theme was that of the Daruma and the courtesan, a play on the familiar subjects of Daruma’s nine years of meditation facing a stone wall, which caused the loss of his arms and legs, and the courtesan’s 10 years of trial-laden life at a brothel—the word “daruma” was slang for a courtesan. Asia

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