Lot 164: HAKUIN EKAKU (1685-1768) Edo period (1615-1868), mid-18th century Kak

HAKUIN EKAKU (1685-1768) Edo period (1615-1868), mid-18th century Kakejiku (vertical hanging scroll), ink on paper in silk mounts, depicting the one-eyed monster Hitotsume Kozo looming over a smaller figure, perhaps intended for Hakuin himself, wearing tall geta (clogs), holding a staff in his right hand and with a folded fan tucked into his collar, beneath an inscription, a dharmic succession seal at top left and two seals Hakuin and Ekaku at right; with an inscribed wooden tomobako storage box. Overall 171cm x 35.5cm (67 3/8in x 14in), image 79.5cm x 28.5cm (31¼in x 11¼in). (2).

Similar examples of this subject by Hakuin are reproduced in Hanazono Daigaku Kokusai Zengaku Kenkyujo (Hanazono University International Centre for the Study of Zen), Hakuin Zenga bokuseki (1050 Paintings and Calligraphies by the Zen Master Hakuin), Tokyo, Nigensha, 2009, cat. nos.452-456 (pp.350-351). Hitotsume Kozo is depicted frequently in Edo-period paintings and illustrated books; for an early example dated 1685, compare a scroll of strange beings and happenings by Hishikawa Moronobu in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, inv. no.21.262.