Image of Jurojin

Object Details

• Artist

  Sesson Shukei 雪村周継 (1504-1589)

• Label

  This painting of an introspective, pensive old man rendered in bold, contrastive, overlaid and occasionally rough brush strokes is Sesson’s version of the Daoist Immortal (sennin) Jurōjin. The image is an excellent representative of Japan’s embrace and utter transformation of received Chinese styles and themes, a process most highly pronounced in the 16th century. Sesson, as he is known through roughly sixty generally agreed upon extant works and a scattering of other documentation, worked in a dramatic style that generally accentuated idiosyncrasy, humor and exaggeration in his approach to subjects, whether figural or landscape.

  Specifically, the inherent eccentricity of the Daoist Immortals and other characters of Chinese and Buddhist lore—in action and in appearance-- provided a ready-made template of unusual types with which Sesson would experiment.

  The immortals’ personae arrived in Japan mostly as part of a repertoire of icons favored by Chinese Chan (J. Zen) Buddhist monks who sought refuge from the Mongol takeover on the continent in the early 13th century. The ecumenical inclusion of Daoist and Confucian iconography was characteristic of Buddhist approaches to indigenous belief systems. Welcomed by the Kamakura-based shogunal government, Chinese Zen Buddhists created major temple complexes in Kamakura and Kyoto, suddenly infusing the areas not only with religious vital centers but with a range of highly articulated Chinese cultural practices, painting and calligraphy prominent among them.

  Understood from ancient times to be the personification of the southern polar star, Jurōjin is a lover of wine and female companionship. He is usually depicted as an ancient with long white beard and a remarkably large head. Often he is seen with the attribute of a scroll tied to a staff and on the scroll is written the record of all deeds—good and bad—of humankind. As well he sometimes seen holding a fungus and accompanied by a deer, both attributes symbolizing immortality. While the distinctions are slight, he is confused with a later, virtually identical Japanese type, Fukurokujin, one of the seven gods of good fortune. These gods were an Edo period (1615-1868) devolution of the earlier Daoist immortal concept. Fecundity, longevity, vitality and a rakish well-being in ripe old age were all associated with this figure. Thus, Sesson’s solitary, deeply focused elder, shown with none of the usual accoutrements, is distinctive. It may well be that this was a work of Sesson’s more advanced years and the painting is his wry commentary on the talismans and life-enhancing hopes inspired by the character of Jurōjin.

• Provenance

  Likely by at least 1705-no later than 1960

  Sakai-daimyo Family, Japan, possibly acquired from the artist [1]

  About 1960-1999

  Private collection, possibly Mayuyama Junkichi, Japan, method of acquisition unknown [2]

  Possibly 2007-2015

  Klaus F. Naumann, Tokyo, Japan, method of acquisition unknown [3]

  From 2015

  National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, purchased from Klaus F. Naumann, Tokyo, Japan [4]

  Notes:

  [1] See Frank Feltens, “Ogata Kōrin: Art in Early Modern Japan” [book] (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2021), pp. 144-146, figs. 100 and 101. Feltens wrote, “The archetype for Kōrin’s renderings of Jurōjin during the last years of his life may have been works by Sesson, such as a large hanging scroll that Kōrin could have seen in Edo (fig. 100). The work was once in the collection of the Sakai family, one of Kōrin’s main Edo patrons, and it is possible that he examined the painting when he served the Sakai family from around 1705.” See also Tanaka Ichimatsu, Kokka No.815, (February 1960) pp.51-57, as well as Shimao Arata, Kokka no.1340, (June 2007) pp.26-29. Shimoa wrote that, “Tanaka stated that this Jurōjin image was the central work in a hanging scroll triptych flanked by two paintings of monkey. This triptych is known to have been handed down in the Sakai family, clan lords of the Himeji clan. The Sakai family sold the paintings after World War II, and they were dispersed in the marketplace. After their introduction in Kokka [no. 815, 1960], these paintings were taken to America, and the monkey paintings were later repatriated, [and] today are in the collection of the Ibaraki Prefectural Museum of History. In recent years, this remaining Jurōjin image has also returned to Japan.”

  In the curatorial justification for acquisition, the curator notes that shortly after the Tanaka article was written, the paintings of the monkeys were sold to the New York dealer Alice Boney (1901-1988), who had moved to Japan in 1958, by Mayuyama Junkichi (1913-1999) and taken to the United States. The paintings returned to Japan about 1979, when they were acquired by the Ibaraki Prefectural Museum. Furthermore, see Frank Feltens and Yukio Lippit, “Sesson Shūkei: A Zen Monk-Painter in Medieval Japan” [exhibition catalog] (Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, 2021), p. 217. Lippit wrote, “The provenance of this work can be traced to the Sakai-daimyo family. The hanging scroll was also once owned by the antiquities dealer Mayuyama Junkichi (1913-1999).”

  The Sakai Daimyo was a prominent clan that originated in the fourteenth-century in Mikawa Province. The painter Sakai Hōitsu (1761-1828), an artist of the Rinpa school, descended from the Himeji branch, or Domain, of the Sakai Daimyo.

  [2] See note 1. It is possible that the unidentified private collector was Mayuyama Junkichi, and he may have held all three paintings when Alice Boney acquired the two paintings of the monkeys from him after publication of the 1960 Tanaka article.

  Matsutarō Mayuyama (1882-1935) began Mayuyama & Co in Beijing during April 1905, where he specialized in the sale of Chinese antiquities. In 1916, Mayuyama relocated to Tokyo, Japan, opening a store in the Ginza district and later in Kyobashi. In Japan, the store featured Japanese works of art. After Matsutarō Mayuyama’s death, his eldest son, Junkichi (1913-1999) inherited the business.

  [3] See object file for copy of Smithsonian Purchase Order #339304 dated November 4, 2015, and Klaus F. Naumann invoice to the Freer/Sackler Gallery, dated September 25, 2015. See also Bunka-cho export certificate from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Division of Arts and Sciences, dated March 27, 2015 and approved April 9, 2015, noting that the object described as “Jurōjin hanging scroll” (with attached image) does not fall under the category of works of art designated as national treasures or important cultural property.

  [4] See notes 1 and 3. This object is in the Museum’s Freer Gallery of Art collection.

  Research updated December 3, 2024

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Mind Over Matter: Zen in Medieval Japan (March 5, 2022 - July 24, 2022)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Sakai Daimyo Family

  Klaus Naumann

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Harold P. Stern Memorial Fund and Friends of the National Museum of Asian Art in appreciation of Peter Kimmelman and his exemplary service to the Galleries as chair of the Board of Trustees (2015-2019)

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1580s, 1560s

• Name

  Sakai Daimyo Family, Naumann, Klaus

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Art, Muromachi period (1333 - 1573), Japanese Art, Jurojin

• Culture

  Buddhists, Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings