National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

Daruma (Ch: Damo) is the founder of the Zen (Ch: Chan) school of Buddhism. He is traditionally believed to have come to China from the West and meditated facing the wall for nine years at the Shaolin Temple. Although the refined expression of the face and the lines of the drapery folds in the garment are a demonstration of the painter's skill, the rocks are painted rather artlessly, and the clouds in the background are expressed with contour lines. These factors indicate that it was painted in the early stage of the introduction of suiboku-ga (water-ink painting). Issan Ichinei (–1317) is a monk from Gen (Ch: Yuan) who arrived in Japan in Shōan 1 (1299). The time of production is thought to be the early fourteenth century.