Articles

The monk Bodhidharma (Jap. Daruma) is usually presented as the founding
patriarch of the Chan/Zen tradition and he has become a favorite theme of Zen
ink-paintings. In early modern Japan, however, another image of Bodhidharma became
immensely popular: that of the tumbling Daruma dolls, which were initially used as charms
to protect children against small­ pox. Daruma thus became a protector of children and
bringer of good luck, and his image was also fraught with sexual connotations (as
attested by the widespread motif of "Daruma with a courtesan") and embryological symbol­ ism.
This paper is an attempt to understand the evolution that led from the orthodox Zen
patriarch to the smallpox deity and fortune god of the Edo pe­ riod. A clue is found in the Chan
tradition according to which Bodhidharma had been poisoned by his rivals. From the
likelihood that the circumstances of his death led to the belief that he became a malevolent
spirit that needed to be propitiated, the image develops into that of a crossroad deity, an
epidemic deity, and a god of fortune. Other legends and myths like those of Shoroku
Taishi and Shinra Myōjin may have contributed to this development. By removing Daruma
from his habitual context (that of the Zen tradition) to place him in another context
(that of popular religion and folklore), we are better able to understand his emergence
as a "fashionable god" (hayarigami) in Edo culture. The heuristic interpretation suggested
here also allows us to reconsider one widespread artistic motif, that of "Bodhidharma
crossing the Yangzi River on a reed." The monk Bodhidharma (Jap. Daruma) is usually presented as the founding patriarch of the Chan/Zen tradition and he has become a favorite theme of Zen ink-paintings. In early modern Japan, however, another image of Bodhidharma became immensely popular: that of the tumbling Daruma dolls, which were initially used as charms to protect children against small­ pox. Daruma thus became a protector of children and bringer of good luck, and his image was also fraught with sexual connotations (as attested by the widespread motif of "Daruma with a courtesan") and embryological symbol­ ism. This paper is an attempt to understand the evolution that led from the orthodox Zen patriarch to the smallpox deity and fortune god of the Edo pe­ riod. A clue is found in the Chan tradition according to which Bodhidharma had been poisoned by his rivals. From the likelihood that the circumstances of his death led to the belief that he became a malevolent spirit that needed to be propitiated, the image develops into that of a crossroad deity, an epidemic deity, and a god of fortune. Other legends and myths like those of Shoroku Taishi and Shinra Myōjin may have contributed to this development. By removing Daruma from his habitual context (that of the Zen tradition) to place him in another context (that of popular religion and folklore), we are better able to understand his emergence as a "fashionable god" (hayarigami) in Edo culture. The heuristic interpretation suggested here also allows us to reconsider one widespread artistic motif, that of "Bodhidharma crossing the Yangzi River on a reed."