Humor in Japanese Paintings (II)

choi

(ii) "More layered, 'Snowman Daruma' by Fukuda Kodojin (1865-1944) presented a charming portrait of the founder of Zen Buddhism. Infused with puns that the label decodes, it is also one of the show’s many amusing reminders that Buddhist practice isn’t the beatific experience people like to believe."
(A) Stephen Addiss, The Haiku of the 'Old Taoist' Fukuda Kodojin. Simply Haiku: An E-Journal of Haiku and Related Forms, vol 2 (2004)
http://www.simplyhaiku.com/SHv2n ... Addiss_Feature.html

Quote (there is the painting in the Web):

"A second haiga by Kodojin shows a folk-subject, the Snow Daruma. Since there is a legend about the First Patriarch of Zen that his legs fell off during his nine years of meditation, a snowman is known in Japan as a Snow Daruma. In this work there is a stress on the word 'jakumetsu,' which can mean both 'nirvana' and 'fading away.'

Yuki Daruma                Snow Daruma
sude ni jakumetsu        already extinguished—
itaku kana                what joy!

The calligraphy of the haiku encloses this sad-faced figure with a touch of whimsical humor— is melting away a sadness or a joy?")


Japanese-English dictionary:
* haiga 俳画 【はいが】 (n): "briefly drawn picture; haiku picture"
* yuki-daruma 雪だるま; 雪達磨 【ゆきだるま】 (n): "snowman"  (雪達磨 appears in the painting.)
* sudeni すでに 《既に(P); 已に(oK)》 (adv): "already"  (已に appears in the painting.)
* jaku-metsu 寂滅 【じゃくめつ】 (n,v): "(1) {Buddh} nirvana (san[skrit had the exact spelling]; (2) death"
* itaku 甚く 【いたく】 (adv): "exceedingly"
* kana かな: "(at sentence end) I wonder"

(B) Other paintings of

Fukuda Kodōjin 福田古道人. The Manyo'an Collection, undated.
www.manyoancollection.org/artist/fukuda-kodojin/
(C) 福田 "名は世耕,"  号 (plural) taken from 漢詩 was 静処, and from 和歌 was 古道人.