Suzuki Harunobu (鈴木春信) (artist 1724 – 1770)

Young man, as the bodhisattva of wisdom, Monju [文殊], sitting astride his vehicle, a lion

Print

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Date:1760s
Dimensions:4.875 in x 25.625 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:Japanese woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Harunobu ga (春信画)
Links British Museum
Legion of Honor, San Francisco
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - a very similar but different print Description:"This may form a pair with a design showing a courtesan seated on an elephant in a parody of the Bodhisattva Fugen (Sanskrit: Samantabhadra). The young man is almost certainly a prostitute from a 'tea house in the shadows' ('kagema-jaya') in the Kabuki theatre district. An elegant pipe and smoking set have been substituted for the sword od [sic] enlightenment normally carried by the Bodhisattva Monju (Sanskrit: Manjusri). The idea that a female prostitute may be a manifestation of a Buddhist deity has an ancient pedigree in scripture and literature, but the pairing with a male prostitute is novel. Although Koryūsai was the most prolific artist of pillar prints, his teacher Harunobu also designed large numbers - over 120 examples are presently known."

Quoted from the curatorial files of the British Museum.

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A subtle touch: the significance of the young man's sitting position

David Waterhouse in a brief reference to a similar print in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston said: "An elegantly dressed young man sits in a relaxed pose (the Buddhist hanka shii position) on the back of a recumbent shishi (fabulous lion)."

In reference to another print, this one by Komatsuken, in the same collection, Waterhouse wrote: "The vehicle of Monju Bosatsu (the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī) is a lion, and he appears on one of the Japanese Buddhist painting and sculpture from the late Heian times onwards..."

In the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism on page 58 the authors Robert E. Busswell, Jr. and Donald S. Lopez, Jr. discuss the Maitreyāsana (Jap. hankashiyui), "...the posture of Maitreya"; a posture (Asana) in which the figure sits on a raised seat with either both legs hanging pendant to the ground or with one leg pendant to the ground, the other leg crossed over the opposite knee. This pose is common in early images of Maitreya in China, Korea, and Japan, where the posture is translated as the "pensive pose" or "contemplative pose"... because in this form the right hand rests lightly on the right cheek, depicting Maitreya's musing over when he should take his final rebirth and reestablish Buddhist dispensation. This posture was also adopted in Japan in the representations of Nyoirin Kannon. This posture is also closely related to, and often synonymous with, the "auspicious pose"... and the "pendant leg posture"..."

Since there were a myriad number of Buddhas, it matters not that Harunobu took artistic license with the figure of the young man in this print to create a link to one of the basic concepts of Buddhism: the posture or pose is fundamental to understanding the visual message being conveyed.

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There is another interesting print on this same theme, with the same motifs by Harunobu in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. That one, however, is only 11 3/16 x 7 7/8 in, unlike this example which is about 25 x 4.9 inches. Yet both of these examples show the same young man, sitting on docile lions, and holding a basket like tray used to carry smoking utensils. He also hold a long tobacco pipe, the kind used by women at that time.

Is it possible that both this print and the one in Boston were underwritten by a well known tobacconist? Such things happened for advertising purposes, even when this is not spelled out directly with labels or text. Or, could it have been a design that struck Harunobu's fancy?

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Illustrated in black and white The Japanese Pillar Print by Jacob Pins, Roger G. Sawers Publishing, 1982, #225, page 129.
Related entities pillar print (hashira-e - 柱絵) (genre)
mitate-e (見立て絵) (genre)

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