Lot 168: Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768)

Namu Nikko Tosho daishinkun (I call on the Lord of Nikko Toshogu Shrine)
Sealed Hakuin, Ekaku and Kokanki, dated and inscribed by the artist Meiwa daiyon hinoto-i (1767) bussei dobi sarasojuka hachijusansai rodo izukunzo kore o akasu (why an eighty-three-year old man under a bodhi tree could attain enlightement on the same day of the year that Buddha attained enlightement)
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
32 1/8 x 13 7/8in. (81.5 x 35.3cm.)
Box authenticated by Yamamoto Hatsujiro

Hachiuma Yasuji, Ashiya City
Yamamoto Hatsujiro, Ashiya City

PUBLISHED:
Takeuchi Shoji, ed., Hakuin (Tokyo: Chikuma shobo, 1964), no.121.
Nichobo shuppansha, ed., Hakuin no Zenga--Taishu Zen no bi (Zen painting by Hakuin--Beauty of popular Zen) (Tokyo: Nichibo shuppansha, 1985), no. 25.

Shoki, the demon queller, stands protectively behind the benign figure of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616), the shogun who is buried in the mausoleum at Nikko Toshogu Shrine. Ieyasu holds a sacred jewel, and wears the auspicious character ju (longevity) on his crown.