Hotei, c. 1700

Hotei ("bag of hemp") leans against his large sack, a look of utter contentment on his face. With distinctive bald pate and bulging belly, the unkempt, carefree wanderer has several days' growth of facial hair. Behind him is the gnarled staff he uses to carry the bag of treasures over his shoulder. Figure and bag are outlined with a few, bold calligraphic strokes. The dark garment slipping from Hotei's shoulders is brushed with broad, wet strokes. The shape of his large head echoes that of his bag. Enlarged earlobes are a sign of his enlightenment.
A variant of this image appears in Korin hyakuzu (One hundred pictures by Korin), an album of woodcuts published in 1826 by Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1829).

Hotei is modeled on Qici, a mendicant Chinese monk in Zhejiang province, who was mentioned in a tenth-century collection of legends about Zen priests. By the twelfth century, when he was introduced to Japan, he had become the archetypal jolly vagabond. In the late sixteenth century, a time of civil wars, he became associated with prayers for peace. Images of Hotei were displayed in private homes as emblems of good fortune. Eventually, he was absorbed into Japanese popular religion as one of the Seven Gods of Good Luck.

Another Korin Hotei painting with the signature Jakumyo is in the Mary Burke Colletion, New York.