Artist: Momokawa Shikō
Date: 701
Size: 89.0cm x 29.6cm
Technique: Silk
A magnificently attired woman adjusts one of the hairpins keeping in place her double-bunned hyōgo-mage hairstyle. The array of hair ornaments and the elaborate layers of her richly colored robes declare her to be an oiran, or a highly ranked courtesan of the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. The inscription by the artist quotes the Rinzai Zen monk Takuan Sōhō (1573–1645), weaving in famous Zen sayings: Buddha tried to sell religious law; Our founding patriarch [Bodhidharma] tried to sell the Buddha; We, monks of the Final Age of the Law, try to sell our founding patriarch. And you sell your five-foot-tall body to allay the passions of mankind. “Form is none other than emptiness; emptiness is none other than form” “Willows are green, and flowers crimson”
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