Fuke　普化

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

Ch: Puhua. An itinerant priest of the Tang dynasty depicted in paintings as wandering the streets of Zhenzhou 鎮州 in a state of feigned or near madness while ringing a bell. Little is known of Puhua's place of birth or background, but he is said to have achieved sudden enlightenment upon hearing the ringing of a bell. Even after his death, probably in the mid-9c, legend claims that the residents of Zhenzhou could still hear Puhua's bell. Puhua's dialogues with the Zen patriarch Linji (Jp: *Rinzai 臨済) are recorded in Linjilu (Jp: RINZAIROKU 臨済禄 ; The Records of Linji) and other sources. Puhua is credited with founding one sect of Zen Buddhism which, at least in later times, believed in playing the bamboo clarinet shakuhachi 尺八 as a spiritual discipline. Supposedly Puhua's chanting led to the creation of the shakuhachi piece kyotaku 虚鐸 or empty bell, and this association with the shakuhachi may have contributed to his popularity as a painting subject in Japan. Extant paintings of Puhua include works by the Southern Song artists Liang Kai (Jp: Ryou Kai 梁楷, act.1201-4) and Muqi (Jp: Mokkei 牧谿, late 13c) as well as ink monochrome works by Japanese artists of the Muromachi and Momoyama periods, including Shoukadou Shoujou 松花堂昭乗 (1584-1634).

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