Ebisu, Daikoku and Hotei

Shimmering gold leaf on paper forms the background for this image of three of the popular gods of good fortune. Hotei dances while Ebisu and Daikoku laugh in delight; the ewer holds the wine that has put the three in high spirits. Ebisu, god of fishermen, sits cross-legged next to a large red snapper while Daikoku, god of wealth, leans on containers of rice. Hotei shoulders his cloth sack and carrying stick, emblematic of his life as a wandering hermit. He is also a popular deity in China, where legends about him evolved within a Zen Buddhist context.

Made to ornament a folding fan, this painting depicts two other kinds of fans—the Japanese-style flat fan that Ebisu waves and the Chinese-style flat fan in Hotei’s hand. Folding fans were in great demand and were painted by nearly all artists of the Edo period (1615–1868), including the Kano-school painters who served the Tokugawa shoguns. Nevertheless, because they were objects for use in daily life, fans often did not survive. Occasionally, fans painted by important artists were saved and mounted for display on hanging scrolls.